Community

While emergency workers were battling one disaster at San Martin Airport, another crew was preparing for a future disaster.

Four people who made a huge difference in Gilroy nonprofits will be honored at this year’s Chamber of Commerce Gilroy Hall of Fame induction lunch on Saturday.

Gavilan College students will soon be able to learn outside in a specially designed classroom where rocks are chairs and the surrounding gardens are living, breathing, teaching tools, thanks to a federal STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) grant the school received.

Just five minutes past the Gilroy Outlets, up a white picket fenced drive, I arrived at the bucolic hillside winery called Sunlit Oaks. With sweeping 180-degree views of the valley below and raptors soaring above, I felt an instant peacefulness.Electrical engineer-turned winemaker John Grogan was there pouring a line-up of five, equally outstanding wines. All the grapes used in Sunlit Oaks’ wines are grown in Santa Clara Valley. The un-oaked 2012 Chardonnay ($22), with its toasted nut profile is one of the most interesting interpretations of this varietal that you’ll find—a refreshing change from more typical, fruity styles.Merlot lovers will enjoy the 2012 Merlot ($19), full of plummy fruit and soft tannins. Their gold medal winner, a 2012 Sangiovese ($28), is a cherries jubilee of a wine with plenty of tart red fruits that would be a heavenly match with a plate of spaghetti marinara. The third and final red tasting was Rita’s Red Reserve ($35) a bold blend with concentrated layers of black fruit and sturdy tannins.Sunlit Oaks’ 2012 Moscato ($22), an ever-so-slightly sweet wine, completed our tasting. The lovely lychee aroma is evident as soon as you bring the glass to your nose.Mini gourmet picnics are available for purchase and wine club members are free to pick and choose their favorite wines in the quarterly shipments.John, an attentive host, said, “I want people to feel relaxed and at home here. I encourage them to bring picnics, linger and enjoy the serenity of the views and the wine.”

The annual Northern California Renaissance Faire held at Casa De Fruta near Hollister is well under way. The faire brings visitors and actors—some professional and some volunteers—to celebrate the Renaissance era. The event includes crafts, concerts, food, games, artists and other performances. Tickets are $28 and are available online at norcalrenfaire.com or at the gates. A weekend pass is $40 and a pass for the entire Renaissance Faire is $190. The faire runs weekends through Oct. 16. There are also several themed weekends including the Royal Masquerade, including a contest for the best mask on Saturday and Sunday Oct. 1 and 2.

It’s called the Sport of Kings and evokes scenes of languishing Pierce-Arrows and Long Island blue bloods straight out of The Great Gatsby.

Everywhere Gilroy Police Officer Mark Tarasco drives, he sees raised thumbs and hears whoops of joy—at least 10 a day.

If your garage sale sign went missing over the weekend, we know the culprit. It was a Gilroy employee.Complaints about an overzealous city code enforcement officer removing garage sale signs over the weekend have Gilroy’s public information officer Joe Kline doing damage control on social media.It seems some Gilroy residents who participated in the South County-wide garage sale event on Saturday and Sunday were shocked to find signs advertising their location had been removed without a warning. A call to the city found that, yes, some signs had been removed, but no citations, which can run to $100 a pop, or courtesy notices were issued.The annual community garage sale event includes hundreds of residents in Gilroy, Morgan Hill and unincorporated areas in South County, drawing thousands to the region. Residents who sign up get their address published online ahead of time, and in Gilroy, folks received a pdf of all the participating addresses. There was no map, which, according to one city resident who had her garage sale sign removed from a dirt median down the street from her house on a stretch of private property, made it difficult for customers to find sale locations without the friendly markers. She said she wished the city’s code enforcement officer had been a little less diligent during a city-promoted event.In Gilroy, garage sale signs are only allowed at the location of the sale. According to the city’s public information office, some signs and associated items, including an easel, ladder and A-frames were removed and collected by a part-time code enforcement officer over the weekend. Residents who had property removed can get it back by calling the city at (408) 846-0264.