The Bakersfield Guy's Newsletter! Issue #13

From a Grammy-winning headliners at the Kern County Fair to local theatre, paint nights, flea markets, and even a dachshund parade — Bakersfield is packed this week. With 44 events happening across the city, here’s your full guide to what’s going on.

Author

Bakersfield Guy
September 18, 2025

Local Business Spotlight

La Rosa Fruit Bars & Ice Cream—— 1317 Niles St.

La Rosa Fruit Bars.

La Rosa Fruit Bars have been a Bakersfield classic for decades. I can still remember hearing the jingling bells of the small white carts rolling through the neighborhood. The sound that meant it was time to run inside and ask my parents for money for my favorite flavor: lime.

Chances are, you’ve had one too, or at least seen them around town. But did you know they’re actually made right here in Bakersfield?

Yes, the legendary La Rosa Fruit Bars and Ice Cream are made at their factory on the east side, 1317 Niles St. You can even walk in during business hours and pick up a box or a single bar. My daughter and I stopped by just a few weeks ago, and they were just as good as I remembered.

La Rosa was founded in 1980 by Jesus and Rosa Diaz, who started small and built a local legacy. Today, the business is run by their daughter Norma Diaz, who has kept the tradition alive for a new generation. Thank you to Norma for carrying on the family dream. Bakersfield loves these fruit bars!

Which flavor is your favorite? 🍉🍓🥭

Make sure to check out their website and follow them on instagram.

Remembering the past. Bakersfield History.

A Rock Band Out of Bakersfield, CA.

The original members of Korn in 94.

It’s July 1999. Half a million people head to New York for the revival of Woodstock. In this mix are the biggest bands of the era— Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Red Hot Chili Peppers— On the same stage was a group of kids that started right here in Bakersfield, California. Their name? Korn.

A group of friends formed right here in our city in the early 1990s. They attended different high schools. Jonathan Davis and Reginald Arvizu attended Highland High. James Shaffer and Brian Welch went to East Bakersfield High. David Silveria went to South High.

However that’s not where the story of Korn starts. They were in a few different bands, but Brian and James were on the verge of leaving a live show in Huntington Beach when they got wind of Jonathan singing for the first time. They were amazed at the performance and stage presence. They tracked him down about getting together and having him audition for a new band they were forming. Fun fact, at the time the band was known as Creep.

In the early days they split time between L.A. and Bakersfield, and by 1994 they had a record deal. They even recorded some material in the recording studio owned by Bakersfield legend Buck Owens. (Don’t worry guys I will be putting together a piece on Buck Owens at some point)

Korn reached the pinnacle of their powers in 1999. Dropping their debut album Korn in 1994 that went x2 platinum, Life is Peachy in 1996 which debuted #3 on the Billboard 200 and also went x2 platinum, but the third Album Follow the Leader in 1998 had been their biggest success yet. This album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, sold 268,000 copies its first week, sold over 5 million in the U.S. alone, and even resulted in a Grammy Award from the music video Freak on a Leash!

You read that right, a Band from Bakersfield won a grammy shortly after the turn of the century.

This lead to what they themselves believe to be their biggest and best performance. Jonathan said “One of the highlights of my whole career” in an interview with Steve-O—— Woodstock 99. Here’s the video of the opener when Korn was on stage. Just look at the crowd. Looks absolutely electric.

An estimated 500,000 people were in attendance of Woodstock ‘99. This was not at the time of Korn being on stage, but I wanted to show you guys the scale.

Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn and a Bakersfield native, performing on the Woodstock stage in front of an endless crowd.

A plaque at the now Dignity Health Arena

Needless to say, this is just a short synopsis of the band that started here in Bakersfield. There’s much more to their story, including the fact that they haven’t performed here in Bakersfield in well over a decade even though some of the band members still live in Bakersfield. Should we start a petition to show the band Bakersfield would love to see the hometown band perform in the city again?

Absolutely we should! The good news is I already started one! Now I need everyone’s help to get this petition moving. Please sign and share the petition whoever you can. It would be awesome to have Korn perform in Bakersfield again, and show them we really appreciate them.

🎟️ Events This Week: September 18th-24th

More events for this week. I thought this week would be slow with the Kern County Fair but no lol

💡 Click the underlined event name for tickets or more info.

Thursday, September 18

Friday, September 19

Saturday, September 20

Sunday, September 21

Monday, September 22

Tuesday, September 23

Wednesday, September 24

That’s it for this week.

Another week in the Books! I love you guys.

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The Bakersfield Guy