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It's always in the back of my mind. I suppose that's true for anyone with a family member or friend in law enforcement. You can't help but have that tiny, nagging sense of dread that says, "What if ...?"

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.

Art is not only coming; it is already here.I’m sure most of you are now aware that in the next few months we will soon double, triple, or possibly quadruple the amount of public art we have in town. It’s hard for me to say since apparently there’s more public art in Morgan Hill than you might think because it’s not all obvious. Most of the new art will be much more obvious.All of the attention right now is on public art but we have a lot of the other kind too. What do you call that, private art?In many of the businesses in town, most notably restaurants, you will find local art that has been placed there for your enjoyment and purchase. Some of this art will grab your attention with bold colors or designs while others remind you that there is a quiet place in the library that could use that painting (we all have libraries, right?).The local art was placed in those businesses by the Valle Del Sur Art Guild that is based right here in Morgan Hill. The guild was formed over 4 decades ago and includes several dozen members. Now you can see their work thanks to over 14 partner businesses participating in their Art Around Town program. Their art can also be viewed periodically at the Community and Cultural Center (CCC).Art on the walls of the CCC is also coordinated by the El Toro Culture and Arts Committee. This group also helps with events to spark an interest in art in our youth and push to keep art in the forefront of our community.A new art gallery is opening up downtown. Morgan Hill Art Gallery on Second and Monterey is an example of one of the components long discussed as missing in our downtown business mix—an art gallery where diners and shoppers can spend some time browsing and shopping for art. This gallery also happens to be associated with the Valle Del Sur Art Guild and will feature locally created art.We are fortunate to also have many other local artists who are not associated with any guild or association in our community. Several of these artists will gain new or additional exposure in the community as they release their Downtown Placemaking Art Mini-grant winning work. Many of our artists are not just hobbyists and you will find some of them in art exhibits around the country. A second mortgage might be needed to purchase some of their work.We have an abundance of all forms of art in our community whether it be painted, sculpted, photographs, music or otherwise. Like so many other things happening in Morgan Hill there appear to be opportunities, or opportunities in the making, to let more of what is already here grow and shine.Again, for a community of our size we fight above our weight class in the arts. We just need to stop and pay more attention to it.I think that this is the year that art, like so many other things, will start to find its proper place in the community.Please enjoy what we have and support the arts.—John McKay is a longtime Morgan Hill resident, city planning commissioner and a member of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.