Community

A Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm, TruAmerica Multifamily, announced in December they purchased a 170-unit multifamily complex in Gilroy called the Vineyards for $38.3 million, according to a press release.

While most spent New Year's day relaxing with family and friends, Maria del Carmen Garcia Martinez was hard at work with one of life's most demanding jobs: Bringing another human being into the world.

The City of Gilroy Recreation Department, along with Director Carol Romo, are hosting auditions for the 2014 Spring Children's Theater production of "Aladdin."

GILROY — After 10 weeks of training, the moment was finally here.

The Gilroy Chamber of Commerce unveiled a new smartphone application this month that lists all Chamber members and provides real-time directions to local businesses, according to CEO Mark Turner.

From tales of generosity and selflessness, to news of tragedy and controversy, to the downright spooky and bizarre, Gilroy Dispatch headlines were speckled with a cache of memorable topics in 2013. Be it the unparalleled generosity of Christopher Ranch owner Don Christopher; the short-lived Internet cafe scandal; or the naked man who gave diners a startle by walking into a restaurant while clinging to his infant son; the Garlic Capital of the World runneth-over with much more than garlic. Here are a few of this year’s memorable stories.

Gilroy might have a new claim to fame in the world of specialty foods if Jeff Martin brings home a 2014 Good Food Award this January, thanks to an orchard of nearly 3,500 olive trees growing in the rural outskirts of town.

As 2013 closes, here is a glimpse of just a few individuals who helped make the communities of Gilroy and Morgan Hill what they are today. From volunteers to doctors, mayors to teachers, mothers to philanthropists, the following faces leave behind their own unique marks on South County.

More than 41,000 blood donations are needed across the nation every day but donations tend to slow down in the holiday months, even though accidents happen all year long.

Senior nutrition programs at the Gilroy Senior Center (7371 Hanna St.) and the Centennial Senior Center in Morgan Hill (171 W. Edmundson Ave.) got a collective $10,000 boost as the YMCA of Silicon Valley was awarded extra funds through the CareMore Foundation’s Senior Hunger Grant Program.