Who’s Who: Carla Betts—Service Station Entrepreneur and Party Starter

Name: Carla Betts

Age: “60-ish”

Occupation: Service station, car wash and towing business owner, community party planner

You've been chairman of the Piedmont 4th of July Parade for a decade. What inspires you to take on this task year after year?

I love doing it, it’s my favorite thing ... There’s nothing that’s not wonderful about it, except people who call and ask if it’s going to be on the Fourth. When else would it be?

So what’s special about this year’s parade?

There are about 70 cars of various ages and about 50 entries of neighborhood floats. It’s a diverse parade line-up that ends with samba. What a great way to end a parade!

What’s involved in getting a parade together?

As chair, I send out a letter and form inviting people who have been in past parades to come back. We have some very special entries every year. I make sure I’ve got them all together ... This year, we have a new fellow who will be the MC in the park, Luke Heller.

The parade starts at 11 a.m., but prior to the parade, people line up by number according to a map we send them, starting with police, fire, and colors. Roland Lazarrotto is the parade starter.

We’ll have the Piedmont Community Band, with the motto: one practice, one parade—their only charge is to show up on evening of July 2 in front of  band leader Ray Perman’s house and have their one rehearsal in his front yard and out into the street.

The band is in the beginning of the parade, but Ray is [also in another group], so after he finishes [with the band] he’ll race back to join the last group.

We’ve often thought about making a horizontal parade since everyone wants to be first, where one long line would go down the street. But the East Bay Community Samba School wanted to be last [this year]. They dance and they shake, and dress Caribbean, and are a fabulous end to the parade. We were excited because nobody ever wants to be last.

Whew! Sounds like quite a day!

Everyone has the best time. ...

You’ll notice two or three days before parade that people line the streets with chairs and blankets.

After the parade, everybody goes to the . People dance and listen to the music by Dave Martin's House Party. No fireworks—it's against the law.

What else are you up to these days?

I’m [chairing the Oakland Zoo's] absolutely dynamite once-a-year [fund-raising] event—a Walk in the Wild ... It’s the 75th anniversary of the zoo. The first part of the event is for the big donors, but later the main party is throughout the zoo, with a dance later in the evening. ...

My husband is on the [zoo] foundation board. I’m just chairing the event. Board work is important, but it’s not my idea of fun. I think putting on a party is fun. But we need the fund-raisers and board members—otherwise we don’t get to have a party. ...

For Oakland Children's Fairyland, basically, I work on the annual gala every year. And my friend Elizabeth Susman and I do a fairy godmother party. It’s a women-only tea party that raises about $15,000. It’s not a lot of money, but we have a lot of fun. You have to have grandchildren to attend, but we don’t bring or talk about grandchildren. We always have someone come and talk about some fun thing—about tea, or about hats.

You seem to have a knack for finding ways to enjoy life while making a difference.

Well, my husband and I ... own several service stations and towing services and a couple of car washes … all fairly local. But I don’t have time to be working, I have to do all this other stuff.

And we have a darling granddaughter, Marissa Betts, who has lived with us since she was small. She  and will be going to Chico State in the fall. That’s what I do with the extra time that’s left over—teenagers take a lot of time!