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Forestville Youth Park News New Youth Center
Beginning December 28, 2015, Forestville Youth Park will break ground on the new Youth Center. Many people made generous contributions to get this project rolling including: Davis Demolition, Von Renner Construction and Excavation, Canyon Rock, Ironwood Builders, Bill Ferguson Wood Works, Tom Hughes Electric. Thank you goes out to Supervisor Efren Carrillo and his staff for supporting fundraising efforts and working with the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for waiving permit fees.
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In preparation for the new Youth Center, the Forestville Youth Park meeting room will be closed as of Monday December 28, 2015. The last week the current building will be available for meeting use is December 21 - 24. Please remove all of your organizations materials from the old building by Monday, December 28. All tables and chairs will be removed from the building and placed into temporary storage while construction takes place. Utilities will be turned off and disconnected the week of December 28. Construction should take three months from start to finish. The new Youth Center may be available sooner depending on when the walkways and accessibility ramps are installed. Our goal is to be up and operational by March of 2016!
There is a lot going on in our groovy town this month, so let’s get right to it. The Holiday Season is upon us and December is full of groovy events!
Thank you for your patience while the construction is happening in the park. We will notify everyone when the new Youth Center is built and ready for everyone to use and enjoy!
Thursday, Dec 3rd, is the kick off the Russian River Chamber of Commerce 14th Annual Holiday Extravaganza! Beginning at 4pm, is the Merchant Open House. Come down to Main Street and enjoy free food, local sales, and holiday cheer. King’s Sport and Tackle always puts on a feast not to miss, along with all other businesses offering up yummy niblets to keep you energized, while you shop at your local stores! The feeling of the community spirit will be throughout the evening, leading up to “The Great” Tree Lighting Ceremony from 7pm- 8pm. You will not want to miss this, as I hear there will be a special guest appearing in a red suit, along with our local carolers performing throughout town! Don’t forget to purchase your raffle tickets from your groovy local contestants of the Princess and Prince Competition, who will have tables set up and down Main Street as well. The competitors receive a percentage of their sales and the Crowned Prince or Princess will be awarded a $500 Certificate, sponsored by Community First Credit Union and VanGuard Properties! This event is the main fundraiser that supports our Extravagana! On Friday, Dec 4th, the Juicy Pig will be hosting the Crowning Ceremony and Raffle Drawing from 6pm-9pm. Tickets are $40 per person which includes a delicious dinner, while watching the ceremony and raffle ticket drawing. Purchase a $1 ticket
and you receive coupons for a discount at Coffee Bazaar and River Inn Grill, along with entries for the chance to win numerous prizes donated by our local businesses, including $300 in cash.
Next Year’s Golf Tournament is Friday September 9th, 2016. Mark your calendars and Save the Date!
Forestville Youth Park wants to thank you for your continued support of our mission to serve the Youth of West County. www.forestvilleyouthpark.org
anys thanks to Valerie Munthe for being our guest columnist, while I was on vacation last month. It was refreshing to read your writings again.
Sebastopol Entrepreneurs Project
Saturday, Dec 5th is the 2015 Russian River Holiday Parade of Lights beginning at 7pm. This is the grooviest parade of the year, with this year’s theme being “Russian River Winter Dreams”. Spectators travel from near and as far as Gualala to view this spectacular parade, so you don’t want to miss it Contact the Chamber at 869-9000 or go to www.russianriver.com to enter your float
into the parade. A big shout out to a few of the groovy businesses that sponsor this event: Russian River Realty, Boon Hotel & Spa, Community First Credit Union, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Johnson’s Beach, Vanguard Properties, Taqueria La Tapatilla/River Inn Grill and many more.
By Ludwig Furtner
Big changes are in store for the Sebastopol Entrepreneurs Project, or SEP as
our West County friends know us. The most significant change is that we are moving from basement of the Sebastopol United Methodist Church. We are currently working with O’Reilly Media to assess the possibilities of converting a portion of their vacated space into an actual office for SEP and, even more important, an open, airy, well-lit space for our current and hopefully lots of new cowork tenants. We plan being in our new offices by the first of the year.
Now for some serious business. As we all know, there is a lot of trash in
our town, not only on our streets, but also strewn all along our rivers banks. This is polluting our precious watershed, and this trash is going to end up
in our ocean if we don’t do something about it. Chris Brokate’s Clean River Alliance, Russian River, is starting up a new program where we all are going to join together to clean up our community and “Take Back Our Town”! Every Monday from 4-7pm, we are to meet at the Town Square where we will begin to “Talk Trash” and clean up the Square, Footbridge, Riverkeeper Park, streets/ and sidewalks. I am appalled at the condition of the Riverkeeper Park at this time. So much time, money and effort, heart and soul, was put into making
this park a beautiful addition to our community to teach our school children about the importance of preserving our watershed and at this time, it is covered with graffiti, garbage, drug users and their infestation they leave behind, not to mention the fact that anyone who it was created for, doesn’t feel safe enough
to even attempt to enjoy it. Shame on us if we do not do something about this. Please step up and participate by meeting in the plaza on Monday’s at 4pm and don’t forget to dress warm. Gloves, pickers and water will be provided. Local businesses will be sponsoring and/or providing snacks or a meal afterwards, in the plaza. The mission is to remove the trash from the Russian River Watershed and educate citizens about the problem of river trash in our waters. Thank you Chris Brokate and Clean River Alliance for organizing this.
And say godbye to SEP’s familiar logo. We have been considering a logo that better conveys our focus on growth and innovation.
Sue LaBouvie, one of SEP’s volunteers and contributors, has helped us through the design process. Next time you see SEP in the news you will see our new logo.
“SEP’s 2015-16 Funding campaign is well underway and showing progress”, says SEP’s Executive Director, Gay McFarren. “Thanks to all of you who have stepped up to help SEP both financially and in-kind. Your support has enabled SEP to make these changes we are so excited about”.
“And don’t forget that, if you really want to contribute to the future of SEP, we have a couple of open slots on our Board of Directors and would welcome new directors” adds Gay.
Sebastopol Entrepreneurs Project was established to advise start-ups,
create co-working spaces for small businesses who don’t have or need brick and mortar locations, and educate entrepreneurs about how to sustain their businesses. To learn more please visit our website at: sepyes.org or email Ludwig Furtner, ludwig@sepyes.org or Gay McFarren, gmcfarren@sepyes.org.
In closing, I wish you all a very safe and warm December and look forward to seeing you throughout our groovy Community..... Happy Holidays Everyone!
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Be sure to come down town early enough before the dinner to experience
the 1st Friday Art Walk. Kuhr-Norris Gallery will be showing the work of five local artists at their gallery and as Suzy states, “This is a great time for everyone to start their holiday gift shopping” There will be several galleries open for your viewing and shopping pleasure, along with the Street Artists. Rio Crest Winery has offered to donate wine to those pouring in all the galleries.