Wednesday, October 18, 2017

A Lovely Day for the San Benito Olive Festival


The San Benito Olive Festival was this past Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, and the setting—the San Benito County Historical Park—was a perfect fit for the celebration of agricultural harvest and culinary delights. So much fun!!!  Here's what I ended up doing on my checklist!
  • Check!  Make an olive wreath.
  • Try a fresh fruit juice concoction by Gaspachos.
  • Check!    Paint rocks with ARTI-culture.
  • Check!   Take the walk and geology talk with Jim Ostdick, who walked across the United States earlier this year to raise funds and awareness for the R.E.A.C.H. Foundation(I'm darn tootin' proud of myself for climbing up and down the slope with the help of my cane and the Husband.)
 

 

The Husband, our Friends, and I criss-crossed the park several times and still didn't experience all of the festival, particularly the cooking demonstrations, the merchants' booths, the nonprofit groups' displays, and all of the historical village's buildings and exhibits. Did you know there's an indoor model train display at the village? The Husband and I will visit the park throughout the year to see what we missed during the festival. For everything else, we shall wait patiently for next year!

I don't think it's well known that the San Benito Olive Festival is a non-profit organization. The organization, and festival, exists on the generosity of many, many volunteers and donors. All of the net proceeds the San Benito Olive Festival earns go back into the community. Thus far, it has donated to more than 20 local nonprofit organizations.

For more photos of the festival, check out the album at Take 25's Facebook page.


Wednesday, October 4, 2017

A Fun-Filled San Benito Olive Festival Ahead!


This is what I imagine I'll be doing that day, some activities by myself and others with the Husband or our friends:
  • Make an olive wreath.
  • Try a fresh fruit juice concoction by Gaspachos.
  • Paint rocks with ARTI-culture.
  • Take the walk and geology talk with Jim Ostdick, who walked across the United States earlier this year to raise funds and awareness for the R.E.A.C.H. Foundation.
  • Sample wine from Bonny Doon Vineyard, DeRose Winery, Morgan Winery, or  other wineries.
  • Build a scarecrow that I can take home!
  • Taste olive oil produced by such award-winning producers as Oils of Paicines and MoonShadow Grove
  • Paint and Plant with The Garden Mart. 
  • Watch Chef Carlos Pineda, the 2017 Gilroy Garlic Festival Showdown champion on the Cooking Demo Stage.
  • Learn how to create a Fall flower bouquet. 
  • Tap my feet to the sound of the Mariachi Juvenil Alma de Mexico.
  • Sip a microbrew from Grillin & Chillin Alehouse.
  • Check out the Venetian masks at the Gioia Italian Art & Products booth.
  • Dance with the Husband to Absurdum
  • Eat some tapas made by Farmhouse Cafe.
  • And more! If this old body with no cartilage in the knees can handle it. 
Definitely lots to do at this year's San Benito Olive Festival. And, I haven't even mentioned that the location of this year's event is the San Benito County Historical Park in Tres Pinos. A perfect setting!

For more details about the event, check out this article at BenitoLink.com.  Also, visit the San Benito Olive Festival website or Facebook page

Confession Time: I'm an Olive Fest volunteer, helping out with publicity. But, even if I weren't I'd still write about it. Look, I'm finally writing after how many months of silence. :-)

Here are some photos from the 2015 event.

There'll be two olive paint party sessions at the 2017 San Benito Olive Festival.
  
The VIP Tasting Grove
Cooking Demonstration Stage
Olive tasting at Papa Joe's Spicy Products
Mr. O's Jazz Band -- They'll be there this year, too!

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Glancing Back on Hwy 156


The Gabilan Range looks good in the car's side mirror, too, as the Husband and I drive west on Highway 156, towards Highway 101.

Enjoy the sunny, but slightly chilly, days. The weather guys forecast clear skies for at least a week.


Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Book Browsing for Book Lovers


Once upon a time, when I was a much younger thing, Hollister had the best bookstore around. It was called Henry's. (Or was the bookstore called Henry or Henrys? That's how long ago it was.) It was on San Benito Street in an old storefront a couple shops to the south of Fisher's Restaurant. The bookshop was run by Mr. and Mrs. Henry, a sweet couple, who had no problem with a much younger me regularly roaming the aisles and checking out random titles, without buying a thing. Ah, the yearning.

Today, Hollister doesn't have a bookstore, independently owned or a well-known chain store. Still, there are places in town for book lovers to browse for a good book or two for fun reading.

I know for sure that Target sells a small selection of new titles for adult and children readers. You can also find a few new books at Nob Hill and Safeway. Maybe Save-Mor, KMart, Walgreen's, and Rite Aid does, too.

The Farmhouse Cafe (615 San Benito Street, Suite D) has a smattering of cookbooks and food-related books for sale. The other day I noticed The Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Mayor and Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes on the shelves.

Next door at San Benito Bene (615 San Benito Street, Suite B) you can find a few books by local authors such as John Chadwell. The store also sells Hollister, a photo book about the history of our area by Joseph M. McMahon and Peter Sonne. While you're in the shop, be sure to check out the cute blank notebooks and journals for sale. A perfect gift for any writer of any age, novice or professional. (Hint, hint, you know who.)

As for used books, we have several sources in town for fiction and nonfiction books. Two places are nonprofit thrift shops. Forgiving Paws Thrift Shop (195 Meridian Street) is one such store. Another is Hazel's Thrift Shop (898 San Benito Street). It has a room called The Booknook in the back of the store. If you're into collectible publications, you can sometimes find some at Hazel's Treasures Boutique on Hawkins Street behind the thrift shop.

The Friends of the San Benito County Free Library resells used book donations. Often, you can find current titles among their offerings. This nonprofit group maintains sale shelves in the library next to the magazines. Hardbacks are $1 and paperbacks are 50 cents. You can't beat that price. 

This group also holds regular Saturday morning book sales behind the library on West Street. Currently their sales are monthly. The next one is Saturday. On March 11, 2017, from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact The Friends of the San Benito County Free Library for further details about future book sales.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Bloomingdale's in Hollister


It seemed that whenever a woman in a 1960s or 1970s movie wanted to go shopping in New York City, she went to Bloomingdale's. When I was a young thing shopping at Macy's in San Francisco, I wondered if that was what it would be like to shop in Bloomingdale's. That thought came to me the other day when I noticed again the Bloomingdale's container alongside San Juan-Hollister Road near the San Benito River.


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