
Students from Taft Oil Technology Academy ride a float during the Oildorado Grand Parade, themed "Make Oil Great Again," on October 18, 2025 in Taft, California, a town of about 7,000 residents built atop the Midway-Sunset Oil Field. Every five years, the fading town of Taft puts on a days-long "Oildorado" festival to celebrate its glory days at the center of California's black gold rush. This year, nine months into Donald Trump's second term, the tone of the event has shifted from reminiscence to renaissance as the US president has embraced fossil fuels with a stated goal of "unleashing American energy" and removing "impediments" to domestic energy production. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

