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BY CAROL ARNETT

Lance Lombardo has been involved in the Valley of Flowers festival planning for several years, but this is the first year as chairman. Lombardo said he has learned as he involving in his new job, working long hours, but having a great time organizing the festival.

Lombardo has been a member of the Knights of Columbus since 1995, and began working at the Knights of Columbus grounds during the festival that year.

Lombardo said he got further involved in the festival in 2001, when his oldest daughter was the festival queen. The next year, his other daughter was named first runner-up.

“I started going with them,” he said in an interview last week. “I went to so many parades with them, people thought I was an expert…so they let me be the parade director.” He has been served as the parade director for the last four years.

As the parade director, he was one of the seven members of the festival’s planning board. “When Geri Debo retired last year, the board thought I should take it over” he said.

Planning the festival takes a lot of time, Lombardo said. For the last few months, he has put in 10 to 15 hours a week on the festival. His full-time job is with Boeing in the information technology department.

Lombardo said he was looking forward to some new additions to the festival this year. The big new event will be a Cinco de Mayo festival at the Eagan Center.

“Gary Gaydos, the theater manager, came to me asking if they could be in the festival, after the organizers of the Cinco de Mayo contacted him” Lombardo said. The festival has previously been held at Keiner Plaza downtown. The group that plans the festival has had success with the Fiesta in Florissant, held during the summer on the Knights of Columbus grounds, and wanted to try the Cinco de Mayo festival in Florissant as part of the Valley of Flowers Festival.

Another new event this year is the charity auction on the Knights of Columbus grounds on Saturday afternoon.

Lombardo said he looked forward to continuing as festival planner next year. “It’s been a big learning experience,” he said. “I’ve already seen a couple of things we could have done better, and I’d like to do it again.”

Also new with the festival is Katie Mahoney of Florissant who is the festival coordinator. Her job includes processing and calling all the festival applicants, working with the media on coverage of the festival, answering the phone at the festival officials and anything else that comes up. “I have a great board that has helped in all aspects of the Valley of Flowers, ” she said.

To kick-off the festival, Charlie Brennan of KMOX Radio will be broadcasting from the James Eagan Center on Friday at 10 a.m. His guest will be former Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver, now the lead broadcaster with Joe Buck on Fox Baseball.

Mayor Robert Lowery said he hopes “we can fill up the Civic Center theater. Charlie Brennan and Tim McCarver will make this a full-filled, informative show for all baseball and sports fans.”
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