THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
MARCH 30, 2018
South Valley Magazine inside this issue
Timeless Galaxy
A supplement to the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
Fans to Meet Sci-fi Artist at BookSmart
OUT & ABOUT CALENDAR OF EVENTS
SEEKER’S VISION P8 | BLACK DIAMOND MINES P12 | MEALY BUGS P16
South Valley Magazine INSIDE THIS ISSUE
THIS WEEK: St. Josephs puts gifts under the tree
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
San Benito Magazine inside this issue Landmark San Benito Magazine INSIDE THIS ISSUE bookstore prepares for final chapter UT & ABO R OF NDA CALE TS EVEN
A supplement to the Hollister Free Lance | March 30, 2018
OUT
Sassy Trio
$1 • Friday, March 30, 2018 • Vol. 124, No. 13 • morganhilltimes.com • Serving Morgan Hill since 1894
Folksy Sisters Sing at the Aromas Grange
SEEKER’S VISION P8 | BLACK DIAMOND MINES P12 | MEALY BUGS P16
THIS WEEK: Poppy Jasper screens Luis Valdez’s ‘Ceasar’s Last Fast’
DEBT FORCES BOOKSMART TO ANNOUNCE IT IS CLOSING Bryce Stoepfel Reporter
Scott Hinrichs
The final chapter of BookSmart may soon be written. Citing mounting debt following a move from downtown Morgan Hill to East Dunne Avenue, BookSmart owners Brad Jones and Cinda Meister face the imminent closure of their Morgan Hill mainstay. “It’s heartbreaking,” Meister said. “This is our passion, to be part of the community and to support literacy and the arts. It’s a safe place for the community to gather. It’s much more than a bookstore.” Friday afternoon, the day after Jones and Meister announced the news of their store closing via email, aggrieved longtime customers came forward to pay their condolences. “A lot of our regulars have come forward asking what they can do,” Jones said. In its 22 years as
FUN FROLIC Girls just want to run in this year’s AAUW Wildflower Run. Proceed benefit the women, girls and local community action efforts.
Rain clears for runners WILDFLOWER RUN RAISES MONEY FOR COMMUNITY Debra Eskinazi
➝ BookSmart, 16
Magazine and Features Editor
➝ Wildflower, 11
Scott Hinrichs
More than 740 runners were on their marks for the 35th annual Wildflower Run Sunday, March 25. The run, hosted by the American Academy of University Women (AAUW), began
and ended at Live Oak High School in northeast Morgan Hill and is the group’s largest annual fundraiser providing scholarships to women and young girls, as well as community action grants. The event, which first began in 1984 and only included women and young girls, now boasts multiple races for women, men, children—even dads with strollers can get into
TOT TROT Local children participate in Kids’ 2K during Morgan Hill AAUW’s 35 annual
Wildflower Run Sunday, March 25. A total of 747 runners participated and the event brought
Film festival grows to two cities HOPES ARE HIGH FOR BOOST IN ATTENDANCE AT POPPY JASPER Bryce Stoepfel Reporter
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For the first time in its 14-year history, the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival has added a
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second location, expanding into two buildings in downtown Gilroy. The Granada Theater, the Morgan Hill Community Playhouse and the Grange Hall in Morgan Hill, will continue to host the bulk of the four-day festival. Festival President Mattie Scariot is hoping for significant attendance increases from the expansion of the venues for the
April 5-8 event. Her goal of 3,000 tickets is three times the previous festival high of 1,000 tickets in the 2004 inaugural year. The increased ticket sales could be a boost for local downtown restaurants and bars in downtown Morgan Hill and Gilroy. “We expect the festival to have a big impact on local restaurants,” Scariot said. “We will not serve
food at the event, so people will need to go out for lunch and dinner. I think it will create a lot of economic vitality for those restaurants.” For Scariot, the high expectations are following on the heels of several years of dropping ticket sales. Ticket sales have ranged within the hundreds, and the festival's weakest showing in 2016 at Gavilan College
in recent memory. To help right the ship, Scariot has led a serious of changes to how the festival is marketed. “We’re doing a lot of things differently,” Scariot said. “We changed our branding, our logo, the website, and we added new programs to appeal to more people. We want to get filmmakers from ➝ Poppy Jasper, 14
Summer Explorers Pre-K – Grade 2 May 29 – August 10
2018
Summer Adventures Grade 4 – Grade 8 June 18 – June 29
The Perfect Blend of Academics and Fun in Morgan Hill
Summer Arts & Summer Blast Pre-K – Grade 6 July 9 – July 27
oakwoodway.org/summer Language Arts
Math
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Art
STEM
Cooking
Animation
Dance
Engineering
Music
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And More!