October 12th, 2014 – Welcome to The Pulse of Scotts Valley where we discuss and dissect the latest in Scotts Valley news. If it has happened, is happening or will happen in and around Scotts Valley, chances are you will read about it here!
FYI: Links on stories usually go to posts on the MSV Facebook page about that topic where you can read and also join the discussion.
Dedications
On Saturday, October 11th there was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Annette Marcum Scotts Valley Community Garden as many gathered from Scotts Valley and SLV to honor a wonderful woman who did so much for so many people. The garden, although at this moment does not yet have flowers or plants growing on it yet, was very well put together and spearheaded by Scotts Valley Vice-Mayor, Dene Bustichi. Gotta give kudos to that man for making it happen!
If you are interested in putting flowers and growing and caring for them in the garden, please contact Scotts Valley Rec at 831-438-3251.
Speaking of dedications, have you seen what they are putting up in the mural facing the community center on the Scotts Valley library building? One of my all time favorite people, Donna Lind has an image of her being added to the wall and it could not be more fitting. I don’t know how she gets done what she gets done. Surely, she MUST find time to sleep! We are lucky to have her in our comUNITY. I mean it.
But she is not the only person being added to the mural. So can you guess who else is being put up? Go check it out for yourself and tell us if you know.
New Faces
I had the pleasure of meeting the new man in charge at Valley Churches United Missions, David Mills at the Annette Marcum Garden ceremony and we had a discussion on how important it is to get more people of Scotts Valley involved with VCUM. I am looking forward to getting to know him more and sharing more info with our commUNITY about VCUM. I think that if you don’t know much about the organization, you should. More to come in the near future.
Gatherings
I went to the Vine Hill Elementary Movie Night that was held at Siltanen Park and it was a blast! What was cool about it was so many families meeting and greeting each other and kids of all ages participating and getting to know each other. We need more events like this as it brings us all together more. And yes, there is another Movie Night taking place at Skypark this coming Friday, October 17th from 7-9pm. The movie will be “Hotel Transylvania”. Click here for more info.
Another awesome event that is coming up next Sunday, October 19th from 12-4pm is being put on at Scotts Valley’s Newest Learning Farm – Bee Fruitful Farms. You may have seen the farm on Lockhart Gulch Road off Mt Hermon Road, just past the storage center on the left side. The event is being put on my Matt and Sue Draper, who have built a pretty awesome and amazing farm with lots of vegetables and flowers, in addition to a great place to gather with family and friends. It has a creek that runs through it, lots of grass areas and a great place to cook outdoors and just take it all in. Their event that is coming next Sunday is somewhat of a “grand opening” and introduction to the community, but I can’t wait to know more about their plans. I was invited by Matt to check it out and I fell in love with the place. It is pretty awesome stuff.
The upcoming event is free and has had a lot of people who have RSVP’d. I am not sure if they still have room for much more, as of this writing there was still 71 spots remaining. Go make it happen if you want to go by putting in your RSVP at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bee-fruitful-farms-open-house-tickets-13301624517
The Holidays are Coming!
Nooooooooo! Say it isn’t so! Yes, it is so and actually, I really enjoy the holiday season and we are just weeks away from being thrown into the holiday spirit as Halloween is coming in just under 3 weeks. Remember the first My Scotts Valley Christmas Lights Contest we had last year? Well this year will be even better than last year as there is a lot of anticipation and residents that are already letting me know that they will be participating in the contest. But a whole new twist will be the placing of barrels in various homes in the contest where residents can drop off canned goods and needed items and they will be gathered and picked up as they become full by Second Harvest Food Bank. Not all homes in the MSV Christmas Lights Contest will have barrels, only those where the contestants have requested them.
A map of all the homes will be provided for everyone online once we get closer to the season.
Don’t know if you had a chance to stop by the Scotts Valley Senior Center this weekend as they had Chris Johnson as well as other artists showing off the glass blown pumpkins that you could also buy. It was a successful event put on by the Scotts Valley Chamber. A few people could not make it and were wondering how they could still buy the pumpkins so I thought I would provide a link to Chris Johnson’s website at chrisjohnsonglass.com/the-artist
Fan Clubs
The House of Bagels and Cafe sure has a fan club! Wow! I went there this past week for a chicken salad bagel sandwich and boy was it good. I posted about it and it literally got over 2,500 views and over 100 likes. Yes, they are doing something REALLY good there and I can’t wait to go back.
Scotts Valley responds to the Ebola crisis in Liberia
What a blessing it was for me to be at Gateway Bible Church to watch the 40,000 pound container of food and supplies being hauled away to be transported to the people of Liberia that are suffering not only from the deadly Ebola virus, but also from hunger as many are being quarantined with no food supplies getting to them. Just touching the supplies before they were sent off was an emotional thing for me.
Great job to Associate Pastor Dan Bowman at Gateway as well as the whole crew at the church that helped out, and to Oscar James of Ahead Ministries who worked with Dan to make this happen. And of course, a major “high five” to the Scotts Valley commUNITY who not only contributed food and supplies, but also contributed over $13,000!
Here is a video of the morning send-off:
Bummer News
The Scotts Valley Little League shack was recently broken into and there was theft of money, as well as candy and other goods. It’s not only a bummer to have a burglary occur, but even more-so as these are things that really belong to the kids of the little league and when these things happen, money that is raised for other important things goes to the repair and replenishing of the stolen and damaged items.
Who does this? I don’t know, but if you think you may know who did it please call the Scotts Valley Police Department at 831-440-5670. You can even submit an anonymous tip if you want.
Community Awards
I sure hope you submitted your ballot for the Community Awards being put together by the Scotts Valley Chamber as the deadline for submissions has came and went and the winners have been selected and are being notified. More to come on the winners as they are announced.
The awards dinner is Saturday, November 8th from 6-10pm at the Scotts Valley Community Center. For more info, go to: http://www.scottsvalleychamber.com/awards-dinner/
Neighborhood Watch
Time to get serious about a “Neighborhood Watch” type of program for all Scotts Valley neighborhoods. What’s the hold-up? I am serious… Let’s start putting together meetings so we can at least talk about what’s going on and start coming up with some solutions. We can’t live our lives in fear, but we also can’t be naive thinking it could never happen to us. I am already meeting with a few people in my neighborhood and will give you an update on how things go so that you too can do something similar in your neighborhood.
Also, wait until I write my review of the security system I put up on my home. So far so good. It is too good actually and I just want to give it a few more days to make sure it is as good as it has been from the get-go.
Look for that article this week sometime.
The Art Scene
The Open Studios Art Tour came through Scotts Valley and there were signs everywhere of artists that had their homes open to the public so you could see their work. What an awesome idea and what fun! They are going to be having an encore next weekend but not all artists will be participating. Here is a link for more info: http://www.mountainartcenter.org/open-studios-2014/
Not to be outdone – the SV Chamber had a mixer this past week at the Scotts Valley Artisans location and it had been a while since I was there so I was really looking forward to going and seeing the crew there. They are always such sweet and gracious hosts and this time was no different. They actually have so many new artists and new art that if you have not been there in a while, time to go back.
If you are a fan of art and want to support the local artists, go and see them, you’ll be glad you did and please tell them that Robert sent you.
That’s it for this edition of the Pulse of Scott Valley. The Pulse of Scotts Valley is written to give everyone the latest on what is going on in and around our town. If you have a story or information to share, please contact us. We will check it out and report and share it as needed. And remember, sharing is caring.
Robert Aldana
Scotts Valley Resident since 1996
Publisher of MyScottsValley.com and Facebook.com/MyScottsValley