SEWER CELEBRATION PARTY
Great Party!
The gathering to thank the Los Osos construction workers was a great success! We estimate the crowd at the Red Barn to be between 250 to 300 workers and well-wishers. The celebration was the brainchild of three local artists: Barbara Rosenthal, Jan French and Joan Sullivan. They asked for organizational help from Celebrate Los Osos and we saw this as a great opportunity to CELEBRATE, as our name implies, and to recruit more community volunteers.
There was lots and lots of art covering the inside and outside walls on the barn, including a panoply of oil paintings from Joan Sullivan, charcoal drawings by Barbara Rosenthal, collage by Rachel Win Yon, clothing by Rev. C. Hite, and a fanciful colored marker painting by John McCutcheon. Students got involved with banners from Monarch Grove and Baywood Elementary Schools, a banner from Los Osos Middle School, as well as bilingual thank you cards from Deborah Harris’ after school Spanish class at Los Osos Middle School, and drawings from a class at the Los Osos Library. Jodi Eastman organized art from all of the classes at Village Children’s Center. Lynette Tornatsky donated large prints of some of her vivid construction photos. Barbara Rosenthal and Jan French gathered construction photos from a range of community contributors and put together a stunning Power Point show, which included aerial photographs by Ron Stotz and Jeff Lewis’ now famous time-lapse video. (If you missed it, check it out on YouTube.)
Mascot ‘Sandy Waterman,’ created by Judy Carroll greeted the crowd. And everyone’s favorite Zongo Combo rocked us all with their irresistible Caribbean-Afro beat. The group included Jennings Jacobson, Justin Perkins, Andrew Wise and Dylan Johnson.
We heard remarks from Supervisor Bruce Gibson, County Public Works Director Paavo Ogren, Project Director John Waddell, and Managers from the three major construction firms. Beverly Boyd graced us with one of her original poems inspired by the construction, and four-year old construction fan Nico Wild almost addressed the crowd but shyness overcame him. A brief tribute was given to Ramon Camacho, everyone’s favorite flagman.
Four hundred and fifty hot dogs were devoured during the event, along with countless soft drinks. Three gorgeously illustrated sheet cakes were reduced to tattered remains. Our sincere thanks to ubiquitous food preppers Warren Lily, Joe Asire, Pete Starlings, Steve Auslender, Mike Elliott, and Jim Delmore.
Our Celebrate volunteers helped by handing out flyers, donating and preparing the succulent decorations, recruiting new volunteers at the event, setting up before the event and cleaning up after. Volunteers were: Joyce Albright, Susan Chandler, Faylla Chapman, Louise Noel, Donna Skiba, Ed Gelb, June Wright, Cherie McKee, Susan Jonas, Jan Harper, Lynette Tornatsky, Lisa Wallender, Mandy Ward, Joe Laurenzi, and Anneka Scranton.
A special thanks to our very generous community sponsors: Christine McDonald of Prudential Realty, Deanna Richards of Edward Jones Financial, Jerry Gregory of Baywood Realty, Jimmy Bumps Pasta House, Leon Van Beurden and Bay Osos Brokers, Los Osos Fitness, Los Osos Rexall, Nichols Pizza-n-Grill, Sea Pines Golf Resort, and Warren’s Nursery.
The pictures that follow were taken by various contributors, including Gene Kalland, Rose Chowins, Pandora Nash-Karner, Barbara Akles, Joan Sullivan, Judy Caroll and Lynette Tornatsky.