Rick Wright, MainStreet Executive Director, said it was awesome to see so many residents in the audience. The meeting also included news of the annual tree-lighting ceremony with the arrival of Santa and the (Sunset) holiday markets, a promotion of a new virtual-reality program, introduction of the City’s new Economic Development Manager, presentation of a check to North County Food Bank, news of MainStreet’s Art that Excites project and brief introductions by the proprietors of three local businesses.
Escarcega said the Shop Local campaign begins on national Small Business Saturday (11/30) sponsored by American Express. He said local sponsors, besides MainStreet, are Visit Oceanside, the city Economic Development Department, the Chamber of Commerce, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and the County of San Diego.
There will be a sip-and-shop event with a dozen sip stops for $20 from 1 to 4 p.m. on the 30th.
And, he said, there will be a Merry Makers Fair with 30 to 40 unique crafters and entertainment from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 30 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 1 in Artists Alley.
Shoppers can pick up passports which will allow them to win prizes – over 100, he said. Passports are available at local merchants, the Sunset Market and MainStreet headquarters, 701 Mission Ave.
Friday is the extended deadline for businesses to sign up.
“December is so much fun in the front office,” Wright said. “We get to give away stuff.”
Visit ShopLocalOceanside.com to learn more about it,” Escarcega said. It’s the time of year, he said, when the tourists have gone home and local businesses need the support of locals.
The program is focused on downtown, Escarcega said, but he gave a “shout out” to the South Oceanside neighborhood for its own festive holiday-season event from 5 to 8 p.m. along Coast Highway between Morse Street and Vista Way open Dec. 11.
Window decorations should be displayed in the stores Dec. 1 -31, Escarcega said, with voting during the first week. There will be cash prizes.
Cathy Nykiel told of MainStreet’s plans, in conjunction with the City.
annual tree lighting ceremony in the Regal Theater plaza. This year the event will be held Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.
– with entertainment starting an hour earlier. Nykiel said there will be a zip line, bounce houses and a kiddie train as well as music and snacks for the kids. Nykiel said MainStreet’s Holiday Gift Market (the Thursday evening Sunset Market) will be open weekly through Jan. 2. She repeated her usual holiday motto: “Why go to the mall; the market has it all.” including “great music and great food.”
Wright wondered if anyone goes to the mall anymore. He said the market is a perfect place to buy unique gifts. And he said the gift shops at the Welcome Center, California Surf Museum and Oceanside Museum of Art also have special gifts.
City Economic Development Manager Michelle Geller replaces the retired Tracey Bohlen, now living in Arizona. Geller said she had been Economic Development Manager for the City of Escondido for 14 years and that she has lived in Oceanside for five years. “I am not familiar with all the players (in Oceanside,)” Geller said. “I am anxious to know all of them.”
Escarcega and members of the MainStreet board presented a check for $2,000 to Alden Domini, corporate and community partnership manager for the food bank. The money, Wright explained, is from a promised donation to the food bank of a portion of the sales from MainStreet’s annual Taste of Oceanside last month.
Domini announced that the North County Food Bank would be having an open house on Thursday, December 5th from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm at their new location at 1445 Engineer Street in Vista. RSVP to Alden at adomini@sandiegofoodbank.org.
She also mentioned that the North County Food Bank’s Season of Giving Gala is on December 14th at California State University San Marcos. This event will raise vital funds in support of the North County Food Bank’s hunger-relief programs that serve working-poor families; low-income, active-duty military families; veterans; fixed income seniors; and children living in poverty. Visit the website for additional info and to purchase tickets: https://northcountyfoodbank.org/gala/
If you’re interested in donating any live or silent auction items for the Food Bank Gala, please contact Alden Domini at the above email address.
Todd Brinkman of Carlsbad explained his Virtual Reality for Main Street program. He said it can be a boon to people facing surgery in the hospital, or people in hospice care or a seniors’ home who can watch virtual reality to transport them to church or other place to make them happy.
“Let’s do something good for the world with all this technology coming in,” Brinkman said.
He said he has written a book on “Virtual Reality for Main Street” and talked to 3,000 to 5,000 people about the project.
Brinkman compared virtual reality now to the advent of television popularity in the 1960s. But now, he said, “we do not have to be in the same physical place”. For instance, he said, seniors can experience the natural beauty on top of Palomar Mountain without actually having to climb it.
Wright said that the Brinkman project is in the really early stages and he “can not wait to see what he comes up with.”
Escarcega said the Art that Excites title replaces the Oceanside Mural Initiative name used previously. And with a new property owner, the mural for Northern Pine Brewing/That Boy Good is back on track on the north and west walls
The first project in the initiative is on the Star Theatre downtown.
Escarcega said the third one, a glass mosaic, will be completed in the first quarter of next year – but not at the Fin Hotel, as previously announced.
From the audience, he was asked about projected art. Wright said it has been done at Oceanside Museum of Art, and Escarcega added that it’s being done at Kilowatt Brewing.
The proprietors who spoke were Marissa Figeuroa of Sonora Refillery, Stacey and Greg Holmes of Otterlei Coastal and Skip Coomber of Coomber Craft Wines.
Figueroa told of the toxics involved in so many plastics made from crude oil.
“I’m trying to offer an alternative,” she said. With China shutting down its market for recycling plastics, Figueroa said, “there’s no place for it to go”. She said her store offers to refill your containers and offers products made from plants instead.
Sonora Refillery: diyrefill.com
Stacey Holmes said Otterlei stocks “anything to help you decorate your home, (with an emphasis on a tropical theme)” and its products range from chocolate-covered (both milk and dark chocolate) macadamia nuts to Hawaiian quilts.
Otterlei Coastal: otterleicoastal.com
Coomber called his family’s business “a true winery” and said its tasting room is open daily.
Coomber Craft Wines: www.coomberwines.com
In other business, Wright answered rapid-fire questions from the audience.
He said the new downtown parking garage should be ready by the end of the month. It’s had trouble, he said, with cellular reception needed for the parking meters.
Wright said there will be an update from the developer of the new luxury beachside hotels at next month’s MainStreet Morning Meeting on December 3rd.
And he said the railroad quiet zones no longer are the responsibility of senior civil engineer Gary Kellison, who has retired, and “the City is still working with Federal officials” before the quiet zones can go into operation. Ten years in the making, Wright said, they should be done in the next two or three months.
Wright said he does not expect funds for the new downtown improvement district until June, but MainStreet is working on forming the committee of property owners that will manage the newly formed assessment district.
Lydia Petroff from Visit Oceanside passed out jumbo card invitations to an open house at the California Welcome Center, 928 N. Coast Highway, from Nov. 9-13. She said there’s a chance to enter to win a “staycation” package at North Coast Village and the Lighthouse Oyster Bar and Grill.
Wright noted the cards also contain a 20-percent discount on any regularly priced item at the center.
The next monthly meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 3.
