Community

The first Calabash Gourd Festival will be held on Oct. 6 and 7 at Uesugi Farms, 14485 Monterey Highway, San Martin. The festival is sponsored by the Calabash Club of Silicon Valley, a gourd patch affiliated with the California Gourd Society.

Conceived in December, a regional task force dedicated to keeping juveniles out of crime is now “going public,” as it stretches its wings and gets ready to leave the nest.

Goodwill shoppers have likely noticed that the Morgan Hill store at 17630 Monterey Road has been closed with construction crews and equipment surrounding the building the last few days.

The bedroom recording studio inside the Willard Court home feels like a sauna: Window shut. Blinds drawn. Door closed. Padded panels line a corner of the room to help maximize sound absorption.

Negative news – from national jobs reports to local crime – is both easy to find and hard to live with. Still, despite tedious obstacles, local nonprofits and individual volunteers are staying true to their missions of supporting the local Morgan Hill community in both small and large ways.

No additional Oriental fruit flies have been found in the Morgan Hill infestation zone and a new life cycle has started, resetting the count to zero, according to the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau.

Volunteers are still needed to help clean up creeks in Morgan Hill as part of the 27th annual Coastal Cleanup Day Saturday.

It is apparent the beaming, infectious smile that shines upon Joshua Valdez’ visitors – be they strangers, friends or his mother – that the hit-and-run victim is well on his way to recovery from a traumatic brain injury and other injuries he suffered after he was hit by a car while walking in Morgan Hill.

The Morgan Hill Branch of the American Association of University Women is offering a $2,500 scholarship in memory of William R. Keig, long-time branch member and Morgan Hill educator who died on Oct. 31, 2011.