Columnists

Children’s story writer Roald Dahl wrote “Matilda” in 1988. This is a story turned into a musical about an abused child who is gifted and handles the terrible neglect with an abundance of charm and an ability to “always make things right.”

As we all know, the season of ghosts and goblins is upon us. For many of us (and by that I mean me) the season is filled with horrors that are unimaginable - and I'm not just talking about leftover candy. Mainly because in my house, there's no such thing as leftover candy.

Oakwood School’s small student-built satellite, NyanSat that is preparing to be  launched to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, was honored recently by the Edward Boss Prado Foundation. The Morgan Hill-based nonprofit presented a Certificate of Dedication to the Oakwood...

Meetings galore – not just the regularly scheduled meetings, but cooperative meetings alive with the energy of new faces and fresh ideas – the kind of meetings you don’t want to take a break from because you’ll miss something.

In case you haven’t heard, the Morgan Hill Downtown Association is hosting the gourmet food trucks of Moveable Feast Wednesdays on Third Street for a six-week trial.Approximately 2,000 people came downtown the first Wednesday (Sept. 14) and about 1,000 the second week. These numbers almost perfectly matched event predictions provided by Moveable Feast’s Ryan Sebastian and Gilroy’s Downtown Association’s Melanie Corona.Having empirical testimony provided by our neighbor to the south who promotes their downtown like we do was key to our decision to take the plunge in Morgan Hill. We had entertained the idea of bringing in the gourmet food trucks in the past but we needed to be sure that we would not harm the downtown’s existing businesses.We were told there were so many visitors to Gilroy’s events that crowds overflowed into the restaurants and bars. Apparently, not everybody finds what they want on a truck or wants to wait in line for their food, and many want an adult beverage before or after they eat. Gilroy’s businesses were so happy that they asked for their trial run to be extended.After hearing from Melanie, listening to Ryan again, and visiting Gilroy’s Moveable Feast event we felt that the time was right to give this a run of our own in Morgan Hill.We would bring in the trucks on a Wednesday evening since it is generally recognized as a slow night for downtown businesses. We would close down East Third Street and take advantage of the parking garage plaza for dining and gathering, with live local musicians providing background music. We would save parking spaces in the garage for the local residents and thank them for putting up with the inconvenience.Two weeks in, I think we can comfortably say this has been a success. Trucks are selling out and several restaurants have seen noticeable increases in business. The worst I’ve heard is there has been no business increase in some restaurants and most of the crowds show up too late for many of the retail shops.One of the things we were told was the event would be the place of social gathering with long lost friends meeting for the first time in ages. I didn’t buy it. Sure enough, there I was hearing over and over again the greeting of friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time. I saw friends I hadn’t seen in ages.The social aspect is every bit a part of the gourmet food truck scene as the food itself.Another nice thing that happened was two of the truck operators showed an interest in looking for a brick-and-mortar home for their business in Morgan Hill. I wasn’t expecting that, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. We are developing a reputation for having a fun downtown.I hope the rest of the trial events go like the first two. Maybe we can make this a long-term series of events with the potential to become a regional draw.If you haven’t been to one of these events I encourage you to come down Wednesday night through Oct. 19 and see what it’s all about. You might just see an old friend you haven’t seen in ages or maybe make some new ones.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 contacted by email at [email protected].