A quick trip to Oregon forced me to miss Saturday’s Whole Earth and Watershed Festival at Redding City Hall for the first time in several years. It’s always an enjoyable and educational event, so I’m not surprised to hear positive comments about the festival and the first-time “living street” exercise on Park Marina Drive.
A portion of Park Marina was closed to motorized vehicles on Saturday, turning over the street to bicyclists, pedestrians, skateboards, a zumba group and people simply trying to make the best of our dodgy spring weather.
We’re planning a full report in the near future on the living streets movement that is starting to gain traction in Redding. The idea is to promote usage of the public right-of-way by means other than automobiles.
Redding certainly appears to have the bicycle constituency for such a movement. And we’ll see just how popular cycling is this coming weekend (April 30 and May 1), which is shaping up as the area’s biggest bicycle weekend of the year. The Lemurian Shasta Classic mountain bike race takes over the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area backcountry on Saturday. The following day, hundreds of road cyclists will tackle the Jamboree Century ride on the roads of Redding, Shasta Lake, Keswick, Shasta, Igo, Cottonwood and Anderson. We’ll be telling you lots more in the next few days.
******
• Rained out … Sorry to see the U.S. Auto Club sprint car race scheduled for Saturday at Shasta Raceway Park get canceled by morning rain and a wet forecast. Next up at Shasta is the Airport Auto Brokers late model stock car series on May 7.
• Millville meeting … The annual Millville community information meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. this Wednesday, April 27, at the Grange Hall, 20237 Old 44 Drive, in Palo Cedro. Representatives from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Growing Local Coalition, the Palo Cedro Chamber of Commerce and other organizations will be making presentations about programs and opportunities for local residents. For additional information, contact Doug Bennett at (530) 604-0804.
• Get a job (here!) … MD Imaging has been named the best large (51-plus employees) company to work for in Shasta County by the Smart Business Resource Center. Other favorite employers announced during a ceremony at the Win-River Casino event center were SST Oil in the mid-size company division, Ferry’s Pharmacy of Anderson in the small company division, and Northern Valley Catholic Social Service in the nonprofit category.
• Big shoes … Kerry Caranci will take over as interim executive director at the Shasta Regional Community Foundation when longtime leader Kathy Anderson retires at the end of the month. Caranci has been the foundation’s program officer for five years. The foundation board continues its search for a permanent chief executive.
• Drug drop … You may dispose of expired or unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medications from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, April 30, at Mount Shasta Mall in Redding and Safeway in Burney during collection events organized by law enforcement and public health agencies. The event – which is free and anonymous – provides a far better way of disposing of drugs than flushing them down the toilet or dumping them in the trash, because those methods can cause environmental health hazards. Call the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office for details at (530) 245-6165.
• Hard work, low pay, great opportunity … Shasta College is recruiting 15- to 18-year-olds for a Youth Conservation Corps Crew that will work from June 13 to August 5 on vegetation thinning and trail maintenance projects. The YCCC is all about manual labor, minimum wage, blazing heat and poison oak. But it’s also about rewarding work and excellent job experience. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 29. Download more information and the application from the Shasta College website.
• Sing it loud … The Cascade Theatre in Redding has added two of the most talented pop music singers of their era – Chris Isaak and k.d. Lang – to its summer lineup. Isaak is scheduled for July 26 and Lang for July 29. Cascade Theatre members may buy tickets right now. Tickets for nonmembers go on sale May 3.
Paul Shigley is senior editor of California Planning & Development Report, a frequent contributor to Planning magazine and would rather ride than drive (sometimes). He lives in Centerville. Paul Shigley may be reached at pauls.anewscafe@gmail.com.
A News Cafe, founded in Shasta County by Redding, CA journalist Doni Greenberg, is the place for people craving local Northern California news, commentary, food, arts and entertainment.
