Columnists

It’s probably pretty apparent that two of the things I feel quite passionate about are our downtown and our local wine region. So my excitement about the upcoming Wine & Food Week and the April 28 Wine Stroll shouldn’t come as any surprise.The Morgan Hill Downtown Association and the local wineries of the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley wine association have been working on promoting local wines in our downtown businesses, and our downtown businesses in the region’s wineries.That pairing between local wineries and restaurants is a work in progress. The recent March Passport Friday Night Kick-off Event put on by the wine association and upcoming Wine & Food Week are great examples of just that work.That Friday Night Kick off event featured 10 of our downtown restaurants and 24 wineries in a collaborative event that brought in more than 200 guests on a rainy evening. It was a smashing success.Starting this upcoming Monday, April 23, we will celebrate our local wines in our downtown with a mixer showing our appreciation for the winemakers. The rest of the week, we’ll be featuring events where a business will host a winery for that most important personal contact.Having attended several winemaker dinners and food/wine tasting events, I can tell you that short of sitting at a winery with the winemaker and a wonderful meal, this is the best way to get to know and learn about our local wines.It’s also one of the best ways to get to know our fine local restaurants and drinking establishments.Most of the winemaker dinners feature custom designed menus that really allow our restaurants to show how creative they can be with a special menu.I’m not one to continually break out my smartphone to take pictures of the food, wine and the festive setting of the meals and tastings, but I have a hard time not wanting to share these experiences.We’ll have dinners and tastings at Bubbles Wine Bar & Bistro, Granada Theater, La Nina Perdida, Odeum Restaurant, Prova California Table, Rosy’s at the Beach and The Grapevine. Most of the downtown restaurants won’t charge you when you bring in your favorite bottle of local wine too.  This will be the region’s best example of fine food and wine served up in one week, and it’s all right here in our downtown!On Saturday, April 28, our Wine Stroll caps the week of celebrating food and wine. This event continues to break new ground with a focus on local wines and bringing in fun new features like an art competition to create the next year’s event poster. Of course, the focus will be our local businesses with our local wineries pouring tastes.Wine & Food Week starts Monday, April 23, and culminates with the Wine Stroll on Saturday, April 28.For more information, visit morganhilldowntown.org. John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].

On Dec. 20, the Morgan Hill City Council voted to approve funding to secure a local stop for one of the most prestigious bicycle races in the United States later this year, likely to inject an economic boost into our town.Due to the council’s approval, on May 16, 2018, the Amgen Tour of California will stop in Morgan Hill for one of the event’s time trial stages.Anyone even remotely familiar with bicycle racing, or who is a follower of the sports segment of the news, knows the Amgen Tour of California is a big deal. This race is considered a lead up to the Tour de France for many, and is the only race in the U.S. recognized by the key international bicycle racing sanctioning body.For those of you who really don’t pay attention to these kinds of things, you probably do know what the Tour de France is. This is California’s version of that.It’s a big deal and it’s now coming to our little town!So what does the Tour of California mean to us? It will be fun to watch, but the economic implications are extensive.This event will be televised around the world with a social media following that could bog down anyone’s internet to dial tone levels when everyone is in town: digital imagery of Morgan Hill will be floating around the world. A circus of riders and support crews, event staff, reporters and fans will be here in earnest. Hotel rooms as far as Monterey are already being booked.Morgan Hill will get to show off our regionally recognized active lifestyle. Did you know that Morgan Hill was touted as a Mecca for bicycling just a few years back, in conjunction with the Bicycling Spring Classic hosted by Specialized and Bicycling Magazine? Our Outdoor Sports Center on Condit Road regularly hosts top-flight events. You are minutes from city, county and state parks that many consider destinations. The world will see all of that on their TVs and smartphones.The event will begin and end right in our downtown, so the entire world will see this neighborhood we’re so proud of. Reserve a table at one of your favorite downtown restaurants now.The promoters will host a “Lifestyle Festival,” where our downtown will turn into a huge bicycle party with all kinds of bicycling related vendors and parties lining Monterey Road. A community event is being planned nearby, where we can highlight our local and regional assets.There will be immediate benefits to local businesses, but the exposure promises to help local tourism and other industries as our community and its attributes are seen far and wide.We get to have a 30-second promotional video shown during the event highlighting Morgan Hill that should excite potential employers about our town being a great place for their businesses and employees.This is our time to shine, folks. Let’s make the best of it.More to follow in my next column…John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, a city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].

I think it’s time for another update about the Amgen Tour of California (ToC).

I am on a real Amgen Tour of California tear here. Even though I already thought it was a big deal, my eyes keep growing wider as the significance of this event continues to unveil itself.I have been speaking with some people that have hosted events in the past, and they just can’t say enough about how the world really does come to town the day of the race.This is a big deal, a really big deal!Last week, we announced to the world that we too are a part of this world class event. We had local dignitary interviews, Amgen sent Ambassador Freddie Rodriguez and we had a Seriously Fun Trike race. Our own Mayor, Steve Tate, came in second place overall but first in the “amateur” race class.The buzz is starting right now. I’m committed to providing you with information and inspiration for the upcoming bike race. To that end, I plan on a regular series of columns dedicated to the event. Here is the first one, authored by an avid local bicyclist and dentist who has attended many previous Tour of California races:The TOC is America’s premier cycling stage event and will be broadcast on NBC Sports, featuring many of the same cyclists participating in the Tour de France later this summer.This is the first time Amgen has selected Morgan Hill as a race site, and the course will cover approximately 24 miles of our beautiful countryside.  Because the event is a time trial—which begins and ends in downtown Morgan Hill—spectators will have the opportunity to see each rider as they start the course AND cross the finish line, making it an all-day event rather than a peloton (close group of racers) flying by you for five seconds going 35 mph.A time trial event is often referred to as the “race of truth” because each cyclist must ride the course on their own, without the benefit of drafting other racers, while competing against the clock for the best time.  For those adventurous onlookers wanting more scenery, I recommend bringing a lawn chair and finding a shady spot out on the course. Be sure to bring an ice chest with cool drinks and your camera to get a chance to see the riders in action speeding down winding curves or pushing their hardest up a tough climb.In our downtown Morgan Hill, you will see many of the cycling teams and be able to participate in the ongoing health fair and merchandise/wellness booths that follow along all the Amgen Tour stages. This is a family friendly event with something for everyone.  Spectators from all over California follow the tour and will provide a steady stream of customers for our Morgan Hill hotels, restaurants and local businesses.During the event, you will notice TV crews on motorcycles, cars and helicopters following the riders and showcasing our City of Morgan Hill on national and international TV.I hope to see you at the event!   -Robert Shorey, DDSLet’s get excited.John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].

Here we are again at the end of the year, and everyone is in great spirits. Everywhere you look the symbols of the holidays twinkle and sparkle and generally scream out that you’re supposed to be a part of the celebration. Go out on your street corner and see if you don’t just feel it in the air—I bet you’ve been conditioned to identify the smells of this time of year with the holidays. I know I have.My e-mail inbox started bubbling over around Thanksgiving with holiday cheer, and advertisements, but now it’s virtually exploding with those deals that “just got extended” and offers of delivery in time for Christmas day. I sense a whimper coming as the offers spin out of control and there’s no time for delivery, so reason sets in and someone stops hitting the send button launching those ads. Besides there’s nothing left in anyone’s inventory as each item I pick is no longer available, and if it’s seasonal you’re not going to see it again until summer wains next year. Since when did the day after Christmas mark spring fashion time?Locally, the stores are running out of those unique and sought-after items, so I reach for the next best thing—gift cards.I love gift cards! I went shopping at REI, Bass Pro Shop and Best Buy while standing with ice cream melting in my cart at Safeway. I also love the aspect of gift wrapping being less stressful: insert gift card in Christmas card and done! Now I only have to worry about whether I guessed which type of store was right, but you can even bypass that with your credit card so you are completely safe.So with all of the shopping options you have to really screw up to totally disappoint someone—unless you should’ve been more attentive and sensitive and really picked out something personal. This is where I get into trouble—unless you like wine and spirits, because then I can totally get into it and then subscribe to the one-for-you, one-for-me shopping methodology.Actually, most of this holiday season shopping has been for myself. You know, I need clothes and wine and motorcycle gloves, too. As a matter of fact, I consider the holiday season a great time to stretch the budget. I usually buy most of the stuff I can think of because it’s usually at least 20 percent off this time of year. My only issue is that I always seem to buy a bunch of stuff for other people, and that can hurt the budget. But then if you’re going to buy stuff for someone else, isn’t it great to get it at a discount? Who says I don’t have the holiday spirit?When it comes down to that spirit, it’s all about the people to me. Not the requisite giving, which I enjoy, but the way everybody acts around this time of year.This is the time of year when it is OK to get together more often than usual, to stay out later, and to enjoy food and drink with the budget being a little less of a concern (remember those discounted gifts…).I hope you have enjoyed the shopping, the celebrations with friends and the spirit of the holidays with all of the right people, and may you have a Happy New Year!John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance. He can be reached at [email protected].

The theatre department of Foothill College with director Bruce McLeod at the helm has taken on Thornton Wilder’s second Pulitzer prize play, Our Town, a sweet simple story of life as it really is in the fictional town of Grover’s Corners in the early 1900s. Using a plain set with just a table and some chairs and a ladder, the story covers childhood, courtship, marriage and death in three acts. The story brings the folly, foibles, happiness and tragedy of everyday life to the top of the rim of existence and touches the imagination.