The tea also celebrates Atascadero as a whole

ATASCADERO — The 46th Annual Colony Days Tea took place on Sunday, Sept. 29, at Atascadero Bible Church once again this year. The tea, which is put on by Quota of Atascadero, is the kickoff for a week of Colony Days fun. Like in the four decades prior, the tea is still invite-only and is made up of Atascadero residents who are 55 and older and have lived here for over 40 years. Around 100 locals, sometimes including multiple generations in one family, showed up to honor the incoming 2024 Colony Days Grand Marshal and Royalty. 

“It’s exciting for us to see how many children of longtime residents are now involved and have been here long enough they’re coming with their parents, so it’s passing it on to another generation. We’ve seen that over the years, obviously,it’s not just now,” said Quota board member Deena Pangborn.

This year’s King and Queen will be none other than Don and Janey Giessinger, while Karen McNamara will be taking over the role of Grand Marshal. 

“I was the athletic director of Atascadero High School for a long time, and the first place I always went to get an ad sold for the football program or whatever we were selling, there were always a lot of things. I would go to Don Giessinger first. I would go to Don Giessinger first because he would always say yes,” said outgoing Colony Days King Donn Clickard about the incoming King. “So I got to start whatever campaign I was on with a yes, and those of you who get to do things like that, selling for your clubs or your organizations, will know that first yes is really important. I appreciate that, Don and I always have appreciated you.”

Every year, the tea features a time slot where residents share stories about what being a part of the Atascadero landscape for so many years has looked like. They tell stories about other residents and how things have changed. There were plenty of laughs, and nostalgia filled the room. Atascadero Mayor Heather Moreno spoke during that time and brought up that she’d been thankful to be at the tea every year since the City Council also started being invited. 

“I know so many of you, and you have been warm and welcoming,” Moreno said. “I have so many friends in this room. So many people that I get to just be in community with and I’m so grateful for all of you. This will probably be my last year, but thank you for having me, and thank you for decades for creating this amazing community that more and more of us get to come into.”

McNamara also spoke during the story portion of the tea and thanked everyone at Colony Days for the honor of being Grand Marshal when she herself was part of the committee up until this year.

“I just wanted to actually say thank you to the Colony Days Royalty Committee for selecting me for Grand Marshal,” McNamara said. “I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever be at this table. So I’m really grateful. And to all the Colony Days Committee, Colony Days is such an important part of Atascadero.”

The fanfare continued when last year’s Royalty and Grand Marshal passed on their crowns and pins to the 2024 recipients. 2023’s King Donn Clickard passed his pin along to 2024’s King Don Giessinger, while his wife, Christine Clickard, passed her crown off to Janey Giessinger. 2023’s Grand Marshal, Robert “Grigger” Jones, pinned McNamara and passed the honor onto her.

Local musician Lance Robison played music in the background while old friends reconnected over delightful tea snacks.

“I just talked to a couple of people coming in, and they were like, ‘Oh, I got to see so and so, and I haven’t seen them.’”Pangborn added. “That’s one of the things that happens here. They [the attendees] are not out in the community running around like on Sip and Shop Friday nights and all of that. This is a place they get to see people that they haven’t seen for a long time.”

At the end of the festivities, next year’s Colony Days Parade theme and date were also announced. The theme will be The Road to Atascadero, Butterfly Drive, and the parade will take place on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025.

The Colony Days fun continued with the Colony Days Mixer, which took place on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at Colony Cinemas. The mixer was open to the public and featured McNamara and The Giessinger getting their Colony Days plaques. All three will lead the Colony Days Parade, which starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5.

Featured Image: Last year’s Colony Days Queen Christine Clickard (right) crowns the 2024 Queen Janey Giessinger. Photo by Christianna Marks