Columnists

We have the good fortune to live in a region where trails into the peace and serenity of open space are just moments from home. When I am asked for my favorite, it's tough to choose. There are just too many. But the Arrowhead Loop at South County's newest open space preserve is a top candidate.

Once a year Morgan Hill gets to strut its stuff and the show the world how the Fourth of July should be celebrated, from parade to fireworks. This community has had 140 opportunities to get it right and I think you can safely say that they have done just that, and it continues to get better.I only recently started attending the parade because I’m not normally a huge fan of crowds. Much of our community shows up and we draw thousands of families from outside of Morgan Hill, many of whom have adopted our parade as theirs too. I’ve come to appreciate this crowd now.But the celebration really starts on July 3 with the Patriotic Sing and the Family Street Dance.I attended the Family Street Dance and I can tell you that moving it back downtown this year added a lot of effort for the Independence Day Celebration crew, but it was worthwhile. Just about every type of person could be seen strolling the streets having a good time. There was lots of energy with the music and the buzz of the crowd yet it was so calm that security had a relaxing evening.This year I was offered a seat in the parade on the Leadership Morgan Hill float and accepted. The parade was a lot of fun from this perspective.  First thing you notice is that there are a lot of people watching this parade. Next thing you notice is everyone huddles around every bit of shade available or tries to make some, with lots of parasols and pop-up canopies.If I were a business trying to do some advertising I would hand out those little fans that everyone seemed to be using as we rolled by (note to self: bring fan next year…).Another thing I noticed is that anyone with a home on the parade route probably just acquired a few dozen new friends. So many homes were having their own private parties that staying seated on the float was a challenge at times. Liquid refreshments seemed to be flowing and likely contributed to the many smiles to be found.I decided that if I ever come into a windfall I’m going shopping for a house downtown. Being on the float really opened my eyes to what is on the route and that included some nice homes. I’ve now got my eye on a couple because, God knows, you buy a home for location, location, location—one of those “locations” being on this parade route.We spent a lot of time on the float waving and yelling back at family members of those on the float. This is truly a family oriented event.Hopefully most parade spectators occupied themselves in town and went on to witness one of the best fireworks displays in the county to cap off the Fourth of July celebration—Morgan Hill style.Something I hear over and over again is that Morgan Hill embodies small town America. I think that what happens in this town around the Fourth of July cements that description with a lot of pride.We throw a heck of a birthday party.John McKay is a longtime Morgan Hill resident, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

Bring dinner and a bottle of your favorite wine and be treated to a delightful evening with the French farce “Boeing Boeing” at Limelight Actors Theater through July 18.

A couple columns ago, I wrote about the Aquila Loop Trail, a short loop near the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve parking area. In that column, I promised to return to walk the longer loop that reaches deeper into the preserve.

I’ve just returned from a long week on the road, touring the great American Southwest where I saw the wide open spaces that crafted the world’s image of how the wild west should look. These places are stunning for their sometimes intense and sometimes subtle natural beauty. Man is still subordinate to nature here.After those many days on the road I returned home to something new in town, specifically downtown.Having stayed informed of a new temporary park being proposed for the downtown, I felt it could be something pretty special if it could actually be pulled off as discussed. This park would be temporary and located in the parking lot of the old liquor store at the corner of Third Street and Monterey Road. The planning was fast and furious. There would be a lot of donated time and materials from the private sector. There would be numerous departments at City Hall working side by side with the community to get this park done.  This kind of cooperative effort can produce some pretty impressive results.I returned to find an incredible little park and it is now hard to imagine that this used to be a blighted corner of our downtown.This little park is known as a “pop-up” park because it is temporary and it literally popped up in just a few days. However, the impact on the users would appear to be anything but temporary. Families have adopted the park and it doesn’t look like they’ll want to let go of it soon. On my first visit I just wanted to sit and look at every little detail and watch the children play while parents watched and some even napped—right here in our downtown!I took in the large mural which is based upon a French cartoon about bicycling and the smaller one that is the impassioned work of a local artist.There is a cool old map which showed that bicycling was important at the turn of the last century and a modern “fix-it” station so you can fix your bike today. There is plenty of bike rack space for cyclists to leave their bikes to explore the downtown. You can even fill a water bottle right here.A huge blue chair is waiting for someone with a rear end as big as the imagination of those who dreamed up this park. There is a large ceramic basket of grapes with a bottle of wine which looks like it should sit next to that big blue chair, just waiting for that giant person and a wine glass. There are lots of little chairs to match the big one that look like cute little spawn.An artist turned old propane tanks into chairs and benches—another of the many works of park art commissioned by the city’s mini-grant program.There are plants in planters which also serve as chalkboards. These two walls of chalkboards entertain the children and, from the looks of things, adults too. There is even a bookcase with books to borrow.All of this is on artificial turf that makes this look like the only green grass in any park in this town.A couple huge trees have been brought in to add some nature, but there is no mistaking this for a man made effort.Not much is subtle about this park, but it is very comfortable. Come see for yourself before it’s gone.McKay is a longtime Morgan Hill resident, city planning commissioner and a co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

If I were to rate Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve based on my first visit, I would award it just two stars out of a possible five. But that was four years ago and things have changed.

Starting April 19 the wife and I decided to take full advantage of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association’s Wine Week and attend one of the events each evening. I’ll admit that I am somewhat involved in organizing Wine Week but this in no way influenced me to participate in the week’s events. My desire to eat fine food and drink fine wines in the company of good friends was all I needed.Wine Week started Sunday, April 19 with most downtown restaurants offering no corkage charge so you could bring and enjoy one of your own bottles of local wine that first day.  We started the week with a nice lunch at Ladera Grill downtown.The evening events started at Bubbles on Monday by meeting a friend, dining, and drinking local wines in the “Taste of Locals” wine flight (three nice samples of local wines). We chatted with co-owner David Dindak and learned about his plans to expand the offerings at his growing business. Since we were recent wine tasting class graduates of Cindy Adams (of Guglielmo) we skipped this evening’s classes but luckily one of the recent graduates joined us and filled us in on the wonderful class.Tuesday night presented a tough choice for us since both Ladera Grill and Odeum were hosting wine pairing dinners. We chose Odeum for their once-a-year event. As usual with our finest restaurants the food was incredible and Jason Stephens Winery brought out some of their newest releases and finest wines.I was informed by our friend, a graduate of the previous evening’s wine class, that the four winemakers hosted by Ladera Grill provided the usual fine wines. We won’t miss the last two winemaker dinners in their series this year.Wednesday again provided tough choices. We’re regulars at Rosy’s wine dinners so we chose the Good Fork which featured the wines of Madeiros Family Vineyards. The food and wine were incredible and the Good Fork seamlessly delivered their meals to an overflow crowd.Rosy’s had sold out and Vic Vanni with Solis Winery and Rosy’s food continued the trend and impressed their guests.Back to Bubbles Thursday night for a special dinner paired with wines from Calera. Although Calera is from San Benito County we looked forward to that evening and the “localish” wine offerings.Noah’s Bar and Bistro also hosted a wine maker dinner Thursday with Guglielmo that I am sure was a success with two local favorites.Friday night included “Our Award Winning Wine Region Celebration” event that offered truly spectacular wines and food from our locals. This new event will grow and I expect it to be worthy of the caliber of food and wine served while continuing to honor the local wine association’s award winning ways.The Morgan Hill Wine Shop and Cigar Company held a wine tasting that evening too.Saturday found me volunteering for the Wine Stroll as I started my recovery period.A lot of great food and great wine was consumed in downtown Morgan Hill that week. I hope you were one of the people who took the opportunity to get out and enjoy the fruits of our local region. I know I sure did and I will be back for more next year.John McKay is a longtime Morgan Hill resident, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.