Serendipity Bible House nearing 40 years in business
Pierson family gaining traction toward Solano Landing resorts
sKreamZ owner has learned business can be scary Honey Baked Ham looks to expand into Fairfield
Now open in lley
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Mark and Elvi Victa, owners of Every Day Is A Gift, have lived that statement. Their 12-year-old daughter, Mattea, died of cancer in June.
That was just a few months after they took over the Christian store on Springs Road in Vallejo. The business was launched several years back by Cindy Belanesy, who chose to focus on a neighboring business, Sac’s Tasty Hot Dogs.
“After some prayer, Cindy, Elvi and myself agreed that our community was in need of a gift
shop that served as a light and a blessing to our community,” Mark Victa said.
Customers find the store in a variety of ways, Mark Victa said. Social media plays a role. So does travelers passing by who stop in.
“Lately the store has had its regulars and customers have been coming in through word of mouth and by finding us on Google,” he shared.
Customers come from all over Solano County and also travel from Napa, Oakland, Antioch and San Francisco.
“We’ve also met a couple of people who have moved out of state but when they visit, they enjoy visiting the store during their stay,” Victa wrote.
He describes the business as having a variety of Christian-inspired gifts including Bibles, stationary items, books, clothing, home decor, greeting cards, jewelry and more.
An added bonus, Every Day Is A Gift offers special Bible imprinting for customers interested in personalizing Bibles.
Current best sellers are greeting cards, Bibles, trinkets, jewelry and home decor. Easter and Christmas seasons are the busiest along with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and
Thanksgiving.
“The store offers a variety of inspirational items and gifts especially during the holiday season,” he shared.
The Victas see it as more than a business. The goal is to provide a business that offers hope, inspiration and to be a blessing to the community.
“We will always look for opportunities to give back to the community and partner with other vendors or small businesses,” Victa wrote. “As a Christ following business, we will offer prayers and share the good news of Jesus. We look forward to partnering with churches in our community and our doors are open to anyone looking to purchase Christian-inspired gift items.”
Every Day Is A Gift held a grand re-opening earlier this month.
The business is at 2515 Springs Road. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Learn more at https://everydayisagift. cloveronline.com.
Debbie Garfield was looking for a job at what was then the Fairfield Christian Supply on Madison Street.
She was told the store was for sale. A few weeks later, she and her husband, Joe Garfield, with help from the family and “the Lord Jesus answering our prayers,” Serendipity Bible House was born.
The couple wanted to open a Christian book store a few years earlier, when they resided in Madera.
Serendipity Bible House will mark 39 years in business on Dec. 11.
With that anniversary comes the next Garfield generation. Daughter Cindy Garfield oversees the store.
“She has been working with me continually 16 years, and off and on when she was in high school and college,” Debbie Garfield shared. “Now I do the bookkeeping for the store at home.”
The best sellers? Bibles and Bible covers. There’s a very large variety of Bibles in the different Christian versions. Gifts, plaques, cards, church supplies and study books are also popular.
Ever-changing technology has also made an imprint.
“Over the years we had lots of music cassettes, CDs and videos,” Garfield wrote. “Most of these items are no longer available. We do have family and Biblical DVDs, and a
much smaller amount of CDs still in stock.”
The business takes its moniker from a local pastor who loves to say serendipity, which means happy unexpected surprises.
“And here at Serendipity you can find surprises. Bibles are what we do and a house is a home to find Bibles in,” Garfield shared.
The business has a Facebook page and website. Some people find Serendipity Bible House by Googling Bible store or Christian book store.
“We have the best customers in Solano, Napa, Yolo and other counties; they bless us with word of mouth,” Garfield said.
“We love serving people. Helping people find the best Bible
for their needs. Also showing cards and gifts for their family and friends.”
Serendipity Bible House shortened its hours during the pandemic. The community continued to support the business, Garfield said.
“Pastors came every day knocking at the door for church supplies to give out to their congregation,” she shared. “People still found ways to have
church even if not in the church building.
Churches used boxed cards to keep in touch with their congregation.”
The store carries some unique items, most of them with words from scripture or positive messages. It’s also home to a large amount of local artists and authors who have their books and handmade gifts.
“We praise the Lord for letting us share our love of the Lord Jesus with the people who come into Serendipity Bible House,” Garfield wrote.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 750 Madison St.
Find more at www.serendipity biblehouse.com.
TODD R. HANSEN THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
The Pierson family is still a few months away from filing plans for the Solano Landing Resort project.
In the meantime, their Sentivo Suisun Valley Wine Tasting room is thriving.
It opened Aug. 28 with a grand opening celebration. It is located at the old Fruit Stand site near the Ice House and Rockville Corners where Solano Landing
will be located.
“This is the old Fruit Stand,” Jimmy Pierson said at the opening, correcting himself to mean the site of the old building.
The old structure could not be saved, so they built a new 2,300-square-foot building, with sliding glass panels – where the old barn doors were – with a familiar pitch to the rooftop and other aesthetic remembrances.
The actual tasting room is 1,500 square feet, with a side
room and a spacious garden patio area that instantly collected visitors to the grand opening.
Helen Pierson, the matriarch of the Medic Ambulance family, said winemaking is a family tradition. Many of her relatives from the old country made wine, mostly for their own enjoyment, “so we always had good wine around us.”
“So a winery has always been in the back of our minds,” Pierson said.
Still, when her son brought the idea of Solano Landing to her, she admits she thought he was a little crazy.
“Because, after all, we run an ambulance business. What did we know about running a winery?” Pierson wondered.
They purchased the property, including the Ice House, at the corner of Rockville and Suisun Valley roads, with 10 acres set aside for a vineyard. They planted three years ago with five varieties.
The ultimate plan is for a 10-cottage hotel, a local products store, six tasting rooms, a restaurant, an outdoor amphitheater and a multi-purpose dining hall.
Jimmy Pierson said the family went looking for a boutique winery to purchase. They did not find anything in Solano County, so they extended the search.
The family-run Sentivo
Vineyards & Winery in El Dorado County proved to be the perfect fit.
“It was just meant to be,” said Helen Pierson, adding she had an immediate and very personal connection with the family. “It just felt like the right thing to do.”
Pierson said the journey has been a wonder, with great support from local vintners and many others, but also the invaluable expertise of winemaker Steve Leveque and Jake Knoblach, a
vineyard manager.
The family also has vineyards in El Dorado, Sonoma and Amador counties, and buys fruit from Wooden Valley Winery in Suisun Valley to produce 17 varietals.
They have two wines specific to Solano County, with a third to be released soon.
The family is particularly proud of their Stretchers & Ladders label, 15% of the sales from which go to support mental health programs for EMS and fire personnel.
There is still a lot of work left to do, but Jimmy Pierson can see the vision coming into focus.
“It takes time,” he said.
The tasting room is open Monday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
TODD R. HANSEN THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
Eric Land was volunteering for an organization that put on haunted houses.
It was Solano-centric at first, but then shifted to Sacramento, and the drive became something more scary than the productions.
So Land, 52, who moved to the area in 2006, thought why not go into the fright business for himself.
That started by asking the group he volunteered for if he could do his own production along with theirs. It was known as Fright Planet at the time, but had gone by the name Dead End Times, too.
So he put on a show at a gym in Vacaville, and later one at Alamo and Peabody roads. By then he had a partner and worked under the banner, Demon Dreamz.
“At first, it started as a business to do it as a business,” Land said.
However, the partnership dissolved, and Land decided to carry on under a new name, sKreamZ.
“Skreamz was one word, it was easy to put on a poster, and it’s what I like to hear when people go through the haunted house,” said Land, a 22-year retired U.S. Air Force veteran who still works on aircraft as a civilian maintenance member at Travis Air Force Base.
While sKreamZ – with its current
attraction, “The Farmer’s Curse Haunted House,” running through Nov. 1 at 1795 Pennsylvania Ave., behind JCPenney –was intended to be a business, it has mostly become a community support vehicle.
His themes also have included schools, hospitals and hotels. And he did one around clowns, too.
First it backed the Fisher House at Travis AFB, but now he works with the Fairfield Police Activity League – splitting the proceeds 60% for PAL, and with the remaining 40%, Land tries to cover all the other expenses.
That always includes a party for the volunteer cast of the productions. When he started, back in 2011 and 2013 with PAL, a lot of those cast members were from the base. Now they come from schools and from around the community.
Land recently leased the house where the
current production is being held, which is saving on heavy storage costs for all the props, but then, again, there is the lease.
“Honestly, there is no business side,” Land said.
To that end, it is a lot like the haunted houses he did when he was a kid in the backyard growing up in Willows. He has a little background in theater, but mostly he just loved Halloween.
“My main focus is on set design and finding ways to scare people,” Land said.
Now that he has the one location, he hopes to put on productions at other times of the year.
“So far I’ve only done it around Halloween, but I lease the house now, so there is some talk about doing one in February, some kind of Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre-type thing,” Land said.
He also would like to add a summer scare to the area.
The “Farmer’s Curse” is open on Friday and Saturdays, 7 to 10 p.m., through Nov. 1. A general admission ticket is $12.
TODD R. HANSEN THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
It started like many businesses have started – with a family.
Well, really, it started with an idea that Henry Hoenselaar had for producing the best bone-in ham possible.
That was made possible after Hoenselaar invented a spiral-slicing machine, the prototype for which was made in 1936, and the patent for which was filed in 1944.
Even more important, Hoenselaar came up with what the company describes as “a special curing and cooking procedure.”
With that, the Honey Baked Company was born.
“With its sweet, crunchy glaze enhancing the flavor of the bone-in gourmet ham, Harry’s patented spiral-slicing process made Honey Baked Ham the easy-to-serve centerpiece, becoming an instant staple at holiday dinners, Easter celebrations and meaningful meals shared and savored by family and friends,” the company states on its website.
And holidays still drive the business.
“It’s year-round, but the holidays are just a big event for us,” said Eric Edwards, director of development for the chain.
In fact, in those stores where there are in-house seating, come the holidays, most of those tables are stored away so there is enough room for all the people coming into the store.
The Hoenselaars opened the first Honey Baked store in 1957 in Detroit, Michigan. There are now 450 stores in 48 states,
and growing.
It is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia. It made the move to the Atlanta suburb in 2015 by Linda van Rees, Hoenselaar’s granddaughter, who runs the company.
One of those stores in located in Vacaville, and the company is now looking to expand into Fairfield.
“The bone-in ham is what we are most known for, what a lot of people get for the holidays,” Edwards said. “But we do turkey; we do prime rib.”
Edwards said prime rib became more popular when more people wanted them for New Year’s Day.
Of course, they sell all the fixings for a complete meal.
Fairfield showed up on the radar after a national assessment was completed.
“It was no surprise that a California city popped up to the top of the list,” Edwards said, adding the success of the
Vacaville store added to the attraction.
“That’s a phenomenal store for us,” Edwards said.
“Over the next two or three months, I will start meeting with different people in the community to determine the franchisee for the store,” Edwards added.
The expectation is to have the place up and running before the 2026 holidays.
He said the typical store is about 2,800 square feet, and located in busy shopping plazas. The company also takes advantage of newer production technology, and to-home delivery services, to improve efficiency.
“It’s funny how an older brand like ours benefits from new technology,” Edwards said.
And because Honey Baked Hams has product sources around the country, and in California, getting the hams and other goods to Fairfield will not be an issue.
AMY MAGINNIS-HONEY AMAGINNIS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
It was a logical jump for Sean Kerwin to go from cleaning gutters to installing Christmas lights.
Three years ago, one of his regular clients shared that her grandson had moved, leaving her without someone to put up outside Christmas lights.
Kerwin said he could do it. And, he did. Then, his wife suggested he add it to his list of handyman services.
He’s no Clark Griswold, the character played by Chevy Chase in the “Vacation” movie series.
Kerwin learned his lesson once after climbing on a roof before checking all the bulbs. That was enough. Everything is plugged in and checked before he starts working.
That came in handy doing a house in the Browns Valley area.
“There were so many peaks and corners to get around with my ladder,” he said.
It took all day, and Kerwin had to return the next day to finish.
A home in Fairfield also keeps him busy as Kerwin puts up 400 to 500 lights. It’s a two-story
home complete with peaks.
The majority of his clients are older people “who can’t or shouldn’t get on a ladder anymore.” Single moms also reach out to him for outdoor Christmas light installation.
Kerwin has not installed Christmas lights for commercial businesses and is open to the opportunity. The same goes for interior Christmas lights.
Kerwin, who began his handyman services in 2020, said
he gets referrals from regular clientele. His wife promotes the business distributing fliers, and posting on social media and Nextdoor.
A native of Redwood City, Kerwin moved to Vacaville as a kid.
“I grew up here and primarily went to school in Vacaville,” he said.
He was employed in the automotive industry and lost that job right after his first daughter was born.
“I began working for a friend of mine in construction to hold me over until I got hired back with an automotive job, but I loved construction so much I never went back,” he said.
He launched his business during the pandemic. It’s a full-time gig now.
“I enjoy the freedom of working for myself, although it can be tough,” he shared. “After years of commuting, it’s nice to be local and it’s a blessing. I am able to attend my daughter’s school functions and able to coach her softball team, which my previous schedule would not allow me to.”
Learn more at www.facebook. com/KerwinHandymanService.
When we think about helping others, grand gestures often come to mind. Yet sometimes, the most meaningful difference is made in just one heartfelt knock at someone’s front door. At Meals on Wheels Solano County, our volunteers are doing just that – delivering nourishment, dignity, and a friendly face to homebound seniors across our community.
Beyond nutrition: More than just meals, your presence conveys compassion and human connection. Many clients eagerly await their delivery not just for the food, but for the chance to see someone caring about them.
Flexible roles: Whether you prefer active work or behind-the-scenes support, there’s a volunteer role that fits your strengths and schedule. Options include the warmth of meal delivery, the precision of meal packing, the support of office assistance, and the energy of fundraising and event help. mealsonwheelssolano.org
Meaningful impact: Every hour you invest nurtures independence, combats isolation, and strengthens our local safety net.
Imagine: you sign up for a weekly delivery route. You step into a quiet neighborhood, knock on a client’s door, hand them a nutritious meal, and share a brief greeting. That brief exchange
A volunteer prepares meals, which are to be frozen and distributed
may brighten their entire day. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, another volunteer is organizing bags for the next day, ensuring every client gets the regular, nourishing food they deserve.
Behind the scenes, in the office, volunteers help with administrative tasks, data entry, or calls that keep the program running efficiently. Others bring their energy to fundraising events, spreading awareness and support for this vital service.
It doesn’t take long to make a difference. Volunteers of all backgrounds and ages are welcome. mealsonwheelssolano.org/volunteer You choose what role suits you best and how
much time you can give.
• Deliver Meals: Bring nutritious meals and compassion to seniors’ doorsteps
• Pack Meals & Produce: Help prepare shelf-stable and fresh produce bags
• Office Assistance: Support administrative and operational work
• Events & Fundraising: Assist with community outreach, events, and campaign efforts
Ready to step in? Apply today and join a community of caring volunteers who show up – sometimes with a meal, always with heart. Your dedication can change lives and uplift the spirits of those who need it most.
Visit mealsonwheelssolano.org/ volunteer to learn more and sign up.
Solano Transportation Authority’s (STA) Solano Mobility provides 17 Mobility programs for employers, commuters, older adults, people with disabilities, and veterans. The Solano Mobility Call Center provides personalized assistance and information about transportation options, a variety of transit services, incentive programs, and mobility options for getting around in Solano County and beyond.
Solano Mobility’s Employer Commuter Program provides commuter incentives and subsidies to encourage alternative transportation use for
2-for-1 Solano Express
Incentive
residents and employees in the county through eleven countywide and two local programs. The Solano Economic Development Corporation also partners with Solano Mobility to promote STA’s commuter benefits via direct mail, social media, business retention and expansion visits, and
$125 Clipper Card for monthly Solano Express Pass Purchase
Capitol Corridor + Lyft Ten-Ride Passes ($20)/Lyft Connections (max $25)
Bucks for Bikes
60% Reimbursement (max $300) for new Commuter Bike + Helmet
Commute Challenge Gift Card Rewards for Logging Alternative Commutes ($10, $25, $50)
Equitable Access to Justice
First/Last Mile
100% subsidized rides to/from Solano County Court appointments for Jurors & Collaborative Court Participants
Solano County Transit Hub Connections (60% off Lyft up to $20 or low-income subsidy 80% off Lyft up to $20)
Guaranteed Ride Home Ride Reimbursement for Qualified Emergency up to $100/100 miles
Solano Community College
Falcon Flyer Vanpool
Solano Express
Guaranteed Ride
Solano Mobility Express
Free intercampus vanpool service for Solano Community College students traveling between the Fairfield, Vacaville, Vallejo, and ATEC campuses
Uber Voucher for Solano Express riders to use when bus cancels/is late or has missed a run
Vanpool Pilot Professionally driven vans traveling between Dixon, Vacaville & Sacramento during commute hours; $50/month introductory rate
Vanpool (Traditional) STA Subsidy ($200/month); MTC Subsidy ($500/ month)
in-person events.
Additionally, the Employer Commuter Program leads Solano County’s participation in Bay Area Bike to Wherever Days (BTWD) events each May. The Bay Area Bike to Work Day began 31 years ago in 1994, which, since the pandemic, has expanded to Bike to Wherever Days. Solano County Bike to Work Day was held on May 15, 2025, and had 11 participating Energizer Stations, where we saw a total of 301 cyclists during the morning commute hours.
Here is information on some of the commuter programs offered by Solano Mobility.
The City of Benicia has partnered with Lyft and the STA and will pay a portion of your Lyft rides throughout the city of Benicia and to Springstowne Center in Vallejo. These rides are valid only to specific destinations and between the hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. for Benicia residents. To qualify you must be an older adult (65+), a veteran, or ADA eligible. If your pick-up or drop-off is outside the specified areas, the discount is not valid. Contact the Call Center to sign up.
Riders pay $5 for Lyft rides within the city limits of Benicia plus the difference in fares over $20 between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. Visit solanomobil ity.org for the Lyft codes.
The City of Suisun City has partnered with Lyft and the Solano Transportation Authority to provide subsidized Lyft rides for residents to get around Suisun City and to specific geofenced areas outside of the city during the hours 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Suisun Lyft program one-way ride costs vary from $3 to $1.50, depending on where you are traveling and if the program participant qualifies for the low-income fare. Visit solanomobility.org for the Lyft codes. Residents must contact the Call Center to sign up for the low-income fare.
For more information about Solano Mobility programs, please visit www.solanomobility.org or contact the Call Center Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 800-535-6883.
ADA Eligibility Program
Intercity Taxi Card (IT X) Program
Solano Express 2-For-1
Solano Express Guaranteed Ride
Medical Trip Concierge Program
with GoGo Grandparent
Medical with GoGo Grandparent
Veterans Mobility Program
Travel Training
Trip Planning
Bucks for Bikes
Capitol Corridor+Lyft Program
Capitol
Commute Rewards
First/Last Mile Program
Guaranteed Ride Home
Solano Mobility Express Vanpool
