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VOL. CXXX, NO. XXIV
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2019
pasoroblespress.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
Small Business Saturday Aims to Keep Holiday Spending Local Retailers entice customers with sales and other events By BRIAN WILLIAMS & MARK DIAZ brian@pasoroblespress.com/mark@pasoroblespress.com NORTH COUNTY — Once again, the holiday season arrived before everybody was ready, Christmas music is already seeping into stores and local businesses are gearing up for what they hope are substantial sales. Part of the holiday shopping trifecta that includes Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday sits in the middle of the super savings sandwich. Started by the American Express in 2010, the Small Business Saturday marketing event Nov. 30 focuses on mom-and-pop, brick-and-mortar stores while Black Friday and Cyber Monday push toward big box stores and online retailers, respectively. Businesses in North County have been busily preparing for the holiday shopping season. Sure there will be sales and discounts, but General Store Paso Robles is taking a different approach. CONTINUED ON PAGE A12
Snow King and Queen Bill and Jenny Reed visit with children during a past holiday event in Paso Robles. Bill Reed has been playing the Snow King for nearly a decade. Contributed photo
James Donates Land for Park to City By MARK DIAZ mark@pasoroblespress.com
PASO ROBLES — Long-time winery owner Tobin James of Tobin James Cellars purchased the empty lot at the corner of 18th and Spring streets in 2017 intending to turn the barren patch of land into a small community park. The first step toward that goal was taken Thursday afternoon, Nov. 21, when James and City of Paso Robles officials went public TOBIN JAMES with the plan. “Paso has been good to me. My four kids were born here. I love Paso,” James said at the unveiling. “It’s the center of my universe. There is nothing more than I would love to see than good Paso Robles people enjoying this park and smiling.” CONTINUED ON PAGE A12
Snow King & Queen Preside Over Paso Holiday Events Bill and Jenny Reed continue to serve as Christmas royalty By HEATHER YOUNG FOR THE PASO ROBLES PRESS
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ill Reed has been playing the part of Paso Robles Downtown Main Street Association’s Snow King for nearly a decade. Until a few years ago, he was doing that with Millie Drum, who was the Snow Queen. When Drum stepped down, Jenny Reed, Bill’s wife, stepped up. “It’s about the kids,” Reed said. “It’s so much fun.” The Reeds remembered one particular set of kids: Faith and Luke from Paso Robles. Reed said he teased for the kids for not smiling when they posed for a photo with the Snow King and Queen. “They brightened up and smiled,” Reed said. “About a half-hour later the mom came back crying and said she hadn’t seen her kids smile in 10 months
since their father died.” The interaction touched Reed so much that he arranged for Santa and Mrs. Claus to show up at the family’s home Christmas Eve with presents. Jenny said that at the first sing-along that she did as the snow queen, she bent over to take a photo with a child and her long hair fell into the candle she or the child was holding. “Her hair caught on fire,” Reed said. “Luckily, I was quick and put it out.” “I figured if I can handle that, I can do anything,” Jenny added. The Snow King and Queen have more appearances during the holiday season at events in Paso Robles than even Santa has. The events the Downtown Main Street Association hosts in Paso Robles during the holiday season tell a story. The story started in November with Elegant
Evening in downtown. “We start out with the merchants showing that they have everything ready to show for Christmas,” Paso Robles Main Street Executive Director Norma More said. “It’s getting people into the spirit of Christmas.” The day after Thanksgiving, the Christmas festivities continued with the 33rd annual Tree Lighting ceremony. Mrs. Claus arrived to turn on the lights in the park to beacon Santa Claus to Paso Robles. The park was filled with people waiting in the near-dark for the lights to be flipped on. “This is when Mrs. Claus comes to town. She comes to town to see if [Paso Robles] is ready for Santa,” Moye said. “[There is] hot chocolate for her and everybody’s singing.” The following week, Saturday, Dec. CONTINUED ON PAGE A12
‘We Are The Care’ Coalition Forms to Tackle Child Care Crisis By MARK DIAZ mark@pasoroblespress.com
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The house is clean with a smidgen of clutter as Christy pours a cup of coffee and reminds her 8-year-old son, Kaden, to get ready for school. Fall finally turned chilly for the Central Coast and she wonders if it will eventually turn too cold to drop him off at school in the morning and she doesn’t want to think about what happens if he gets sick. It’s the end of the year and she’s used up
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her five days of sick/vacation/personal days, she’ll just have to take the hit and lose a day of pay. Parent/teacher conferences start next week, which means Kaden gets out over an hour early all week and she’s still hammering out the details of who can pick him up and where can he be until she gets home. This scene plays out each morning throughout San Luis Obispo and across the country. Working parents are finding it harder each year to find a place to bring their children while they are working.
SPORTS
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In May 2019, a group of business and child care organizations held the “Where’s the Care?” town hall meeting in San Luis Obispo to confront the multitude of challenges that county residents face in the caretaking of their children. “We want to make sure, first and foremost, that we’re offering quality care for the children that are here with us every single day,” said Maggie Payne, Director of Toddler & Beginning Preschool Atascadero Children’s Center. “We want it to be affordable, but we also want to be able to offer our teachers a livable wage.”
ENTERTAINMENT
Therein lies the rub — it is nearly impossible to find the quality care that is both affordable for parents and sustainable for the teacher. Payne says that as a result she is seeing more and more teachers leaving the workforce and each teacher’s vacancy leaves less available spots for children. “The way that our child care systems are set up creates this bizarre paradox whereby it’s not affordable for families and it’s also not sustainable for the workforce in the [child care] profession,” said Wendy L Wendt, Executive Director CONTINUED ON PAGE A12
WEATHER
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JOHN’S VIDEO PALACE to Permanently Close Atascadero Location | A2
ATHLETES OF THE YEAR for Fall Sports | B1
NUTCRACKER BALLET Makes Return to TPAC | A7
33rd ANNUAL HOLIDAY LIGHTING Ceremony Set for Friday | B2
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FORECAST | A10
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