The Family Who Hatched Petaluma's Annual Cutest Little Chick Contest

PETALUMA, CA — Jonathan Mahrt doesn’t remember a life without the annual Cutest Little Chick In Town contest. It has always been an all-hands-on-deck project to put on the contest that is the pre-pageant of pageants during which contestants are known to fall asleep, or cry, and catch the judges’ attention with the cuteness that only tiny humans have.

“My dad came up with the contest very early on in the history of the parade,” Jonathan Mahrt, 33, told Patch. “We missed the first one because my dad didn’t start our farm until after the first parade.”

That was in 1984 and Petaluma Farms has participated in the parade and held the contest every year for 39 years except for two years during the pandemic, one of which they held a virtual contest, Jonathan said. Back in 1984, Steve Marht of Petaluma Farms put an ad in the newspaper every year to get contestants. Nowadays, people start calling in January for a spot in the contest held in April during Petaluma’s Butter and Egg Days. Usually, they must limit the number of participants to 60 or 70.

Every year, Steve Mahrt and his wife Judy, who are now in their 60s, count on their four sons, Jonathan, Jeremy, Jordan and Justin to help build the float. The brothers have even come home from college specifically to help with the parade. They also get help from farm employees.

Jonathan was never dressed up as a little chick, at least he doesn’t recall it. But for as far back as he can remember, his family starts floating ideas for the float about two months before the annual Butter and Egg Days Parade. Then about a month prior, the work starts.

“It’s always my family, and our employees on the farm, people who work with us, and on the day of the event we have a great team and great judges,” Jonathan said. “The float is designed to be dual purpose; it is both a float and the stage for the contest. Any participants who want to be in the parade are then able to ride on the float with us.”

On the day of the parade, it is tradition for all the little chicks in their adorable costumes to take the stage on Kentucky Street in front of Copperfield’s Bookstore. Dressed in yellow, white, orange, or a mixture of colored feathers, the contestants between 0 and 5 years old woo the judges and the crowd with their sweetness.

Contestants are no longer being accepted for this year's Cutest Little Chick In Town contest, which will be held April 22.

It’s a labor of love for the Marht family, whose roots in the North Bay egg business go back to 1904 when Judy’s great-grandfather and grandfather started the A.P. Ward & Son Chicken Hatchery & Poultry Farm in Calistoga. Around the time when Johnny Mahrt came from Germany in the 1920s and started a ranch in Petaluma, Petaluma became known as “The World’s Egg Basket” and there was an annual Egg Queen Ball.

“It is a fun way for us to be involved with the community,” Jonathan said. “We are proud to be a part of the tradition every year.”