My good friends John and Melvina Plumb from England recently
visited California on their annual
”
holiday.
”
Knowing their keen interest in American history, I promised them
a tour of San Juan Bautista, South Valley’s perfectly charming
mission town.
My good friends John and Melvina Plumb from England recently visited California on their annual “holiday.” Knowing their keen interest in American history, I promised them a tour of San Juan Bautista, South Valley’s perfectly charming mission town.
“You’ll feel like you’ve stepped back 150 years in time,” I told the British couple. “It’s a quaint metropolis of about 2,000 folks. Some people call it ‘The Williamsburg of the West.'”
I was, of course, referring to Williamsburg, Va., the colonial community that’s a world-famous tourist attraction for its first-rate preservation of the past. Like Williamsburg (“The Revolutionary City”) is to the East Coast’s 1776-era history, San Juan Bautista (“The Mission City”) is to the West Coast’s colorful yesteryears from the Spanish era to the Gold Rush.
The Plumbs had to drive to San Francisco to catch a flight later that Palm Sunday afternoon, so I gave them a “quickie” two-hour tour of the town. It was highlighted by the historic buildings of the state park, the beautiful Spanish mission church and its gardens, a visit to the Mission Gallery shop on the main drag for its California art, and lunch at Doña Esther restaurant for the best home-style Mexican food in the South Valley.
The phrase “Williamsburg of the West” kept going through my mind during our afternoon’s adventure. It painted a perfect portrait of San Juan Bautista’s historic appeal, so I decided to play on the comparison between the two history-oriented communities in this week’s column.
Thursday morning, my deadline looming near, I dialed up the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce to do some background research on the phrase. My phone call was answered by Chamber member Margot Tankersley, who owns Margot’s Ice Cream Parlor – the tastiest frozen treats in town – located at 211 Third St. (Memo to Margot: if you want to say thanks for the publicity plug, my favorite flavor is mint chocolate chip.)
We chatted about my idea for a “Williamsburg of the West” column and she mentioned it would be nice for San Juan Bautista to get some positive press for a change. Apparently, a recent Hollister Free Lance article had been published under the not-too-happy headline: “San Juan Bautista Going Broke.”
It seems the tourist trade for the mission town has been dramatically declining in recent years. The serious slump in tourist dollars has profoundly hit the municipal money-belt because the small town is not earning the sales tax dollars it needs to pay for city government services. Mission City might be bankrupt in 12 to 18 months.
That negative news sent my column in a totally new direction. I just couldn’t understand why San Juan Bautista of all places is suffering from a tourism slump. It offers so much … An authentic living history ambiance. A romantic Spanish mission. A family-friendly state park where kids can step into the past. A variety of exceptional restaurants. Unique boutiques, art galleries and antique shops. Attractive bed and breakfast lodging. The St. Francis Retreat Center for conferences. An assortment of fun festivals throughout the year. The highly-respected El Teatro Campesino run by esteemed playwright Louis Valdez. The San Andreas earthquake faultline. Film fame as the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic flick “Vertigo.” Fremont Peak State Park nearby.
“Tourists oughta be flocking here like those San Juan chickens,” I told Tankersley. “It’s got real appeal.”
“People don’t know about the town,” she replied. “They just pass us by on (Hwy.) 101 and don’t realize we’re here. Sometimes people tell me that they came off the highway for a pit stop and just stumbled upon us.”
Tankersley said the town does get a lot of fourth graders who come on weekdays for their California history fieldtrips. But unfortunately for San Juan Bautista’s economic state, fourth graders don’t often buy big-ticket antiques or frequent boutique shops for the hippest home-decor items.
Tankersley and I talked about how a billboard advertisement placed somewhere along Hwy. 101 might inform travelers about the fun they’d find in the Mission City. She said there once was a sign, but it was expensive and lured few tourists to town.
Discussing San Juan Bautista’s dire tourism situation, we concluded it needs much better marketing. It needs publicity that will quickly get people to understand the fantastic history they’ll find if they visit the community.
I told Tankersley that a Mission City marketing campaign needs a clever slogan that lets people instantly comprehend why San Juan Bautista is such a special place. Tourists need to quickly understand it’s a place where they can time-journey back to days before computers and iPods.
“The Williamsburg of the West!” I suggested. Now there’s a poetic publicity plug that catches the ear and makes folks instantly see San Juan Bautista is a place where they can discover California’s pioneer days.
“The Williamsburg of the West!” Those five alliterative words describe San Juan Bautista’s historic singularity. Many Americans know about Williamsburg’s quaint colonial ambiance, so using that historic village as a comparison reference for San Juan Bautista would quickly create a connection in tourist minds. The catchy verse might also make travel publications and cable-TV travel shows promote the town as a must-go destination.
Perhaps if she is so inclined to help the mission community she represents, California State Assemblymember Anna Caballero could introduce a bill in Sacramento officially conferring upon San Juan Bautista the prestigious sobriquet “The Williamsburg of the West.” If passed, that legislative action would gain the town much news coverage that will generate tourist interest.
San Juan Bautista has everything going for it to attract travelers. Everything, that is, except one thing … effective marketing. Once the community gets that critical component right, it will find the solution to its financial woes.
Just ask John and Melvina Plumb. My English friends were happy I introduced them to The Williamsburg of the West. “It’s just lovely here,” Melvina said at the end of their two-hour visit. “A perfectly charming place.”
