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Official publication of the Greater Lakewood Chamber of Commerce | 30,000 Circulation - Delivered to every home in Lakewood www.lakewoodchamber.com
Volume 39 Number 4
Community celebration for Lakewood's 65th anniversary
April 2019
Lakewood's 65th anniversary mascot Woody the Tree and Mayor Steve Croft.
Sixty-five years ago on April 16, 1954, a daring experiment in community building began with Lakewood becoming an incorporated city after a successful vote by local residents. To help with celebrating its 65th anniversary, the city has enlisted one of Lakewood’s long-standing mascots, Woody the Tree. Woody is most commonly seen as the character associated with Lakewood being a Tree City USA honoree. Woody the Tree will now also stand proud and tall as Lake-
wood’s 65th anniversary mascot. Woody already helped usher in the start of the anniversary year with a cameo appearance at Lakewood’s State of the City event in February, and plans are underway for even more fun. The public is invited to a community-wide anniversary gathering to be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 13 at Airplane Playground at Del Valle Park with Woody and the Lakewood City Council. Several classic 1950s cars will also be featured.
Woody will also grace a sequence of collectible cards featuring him through each decade since Lakewood’s incorporation. These cards and other “Woody’s Goodies” will be given out as prizes tied to an upcoming series of trivia questions related to Lakewood. Stay tuned for more information by subscribing to Lakewood’s eMagazine and following us on Facebook. You can do both from Lakewood’s website at www.lakewoodcity.org. ♦
Young athletes honored by Hall of Fame
2018 Co-Athletes of the Year Heder Gladden (left) and Christopher Adimora.
The 2018 Lakewood Youth Hall of Fame was held on Feb. 25 at The Centre. Co-Athletes of the Year, Christopher Adimora and Heder Gladden, headlined a Hall of Fame inductee class of more than 60 performers of the year, special achievement honorees and championship teams, including the first recipient of the "Larry Van Nostran Future Star Award" which honored a freshman athlete with the most outstanding achievements in a sport. See the photo gallery at www. lakewoodcity.org/HOFphotos. Christopher Adimora is from Mayfair High School where he was a standout in football and basketball. He was selected as
the Suburban League MVP for football and held impressive rankings of #2 safety in California, #17 safety in the country and #197 player in the country for all positions. Heder Gladden was just as impressive on the field, earning 605 League MVP, team MVP and All-CIF honors while attending Artesia High School. This past season, Heder had 2,454 rushing yards, 1,210 passing yards and a total of 48 touchdowns. Visit www.lakewoodcity.org/HOF to view the event and Co-Athlete of the Year videos as well as the full list of winners. ♦