Jonathan Wild benefit

The Jonathan Wild benefit was a huge success. Folks from Santa Ynez, Buellton, Solvang, Santa Maria and other areas came by to enjoy the chicken, the music, the fellowship and to support Jonathan and Jamie.

I especially want to thank our organizing committee 7 Pat Nix, Bruce Nix, Ann Ruhge, Dick DeWees, Dennis Headrick, Don Ramirez, Adele Ramirez and Benny Contreras 7 for all of their hard work in making it happen. Also I want to thank our entertainers, Barb and Sandy of Sound on Sound, Hal Bellone, George Stillman, Agin Brothers and Territorial Law and the Black Hills Gold Band.

Finally, I want to thank the Kiwanis Club and the United Hearts Relay for Life team for joining us as sponsors of the event, and all of the people who spent the day with us as volunteers. There is a second event Saturday, Nov. 3, at Alfie/s Fish & Chips on North H Street.

This event will include a silent auction, entertainment and is being organized by Mike and Nellie Sewall.

River Bend trail cleanup

You all read about our RiverBend trail cleanup project scheduled for this Saturday. As you saw from the article published in Sunday/s Record, the area is a great nature trail that has been used as a dumping ground for all kinds of trash. Thanks to Barry Weaver and the members of our &#8220America in Bloom// environmental task force for organizing this effort to clean up the area and make it friendlier for people wanting to walk the trail.

Anyone wanting to help can show up at RiverBend Park at 9 a.m. Saturday.

More about America in Bloom

We recently held a meeting of a newly formed task force that is looking at ways to improve the entrances into the city. We are discussing the possibilities of planting flowers and trees from the airport to the Y on North H. We are also looking at ways to improve our Highway 246 and Highway 1 entrance. We will keep you informed on the progress of this project.

Our Floral Display task force, under the direction of Shirley Gettings and Maria Hantz, is working on plans for plantings along North H and East and West Ocean. Frances Romero and the members of the Community Involvement task force are looking at ways to get more people involved in our various America in Bloom projects.

Art Alley lighting

We have been working with Linda Wertman, director of Lompoc/s Redevelopment Agency, to install decorative lighting in Art Alley. Art Alley is the alley adjacent to Sissy/s Uptown Café. The lighting will be acorn lights that match the decorative street lights. In addition, there will be spotights installed to highlight the murals in the alley.

Counseling services

Just a reminder that we have business counseling services available through the Small Business Development Center at no charge. Tim Harrington of Terra-Link is our counselor. The service is available for existing businesses as well as start-ups.

Denny Anderson is president and CEO of the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau.

October 23, 2007