Community

Many residents responded to our “Who's on First?” Little League baseball photo contest, where we asked readers to identify players from the 1966/67 Optimists team.

The County of Santa Clara recently announced its decision to adopt Microsoft Cloud Solution for 15,000 of its employees.

An art fundraiser and new farmers market downtown usher in a summer of fun for Gilroy residents and visitors alike on Friday, June 2. Then Fifth Street Live, the popular live concert series with gourmet food trucks from Moveable Feast, returns June 16.

Four acres of Christmas trees line Paradise Christmas Tree Farm owner Don Bianucci’s property, where South County residents have come for more than three decades to select, cut and carry out their family’s next living room centerpiece for the winter holiday season.“We have a lot of returning, very nice customers who enjoy the outing,” said Bianucci, who established the choose-and-cut tree farm in 1980 after retiring from General Electric. “We’re kind of a scenic, low-key family farm. We don’t have all the bells and whistles (like other larger operations) … We have a lot of clean air and fresh trees.”Located at 15220 Yvonne Drive (off Edmundson Avenue), Bianucci’s farm—open from 9 a.m. until dark every day except Monday—boasts a large selection of trees well over 10 feet tall. Along with Douglas fir and Monterey pine, Paradise has coastal redwood and incense cedar for customers to choose from.“We were reasonably busy (the day after Thanksgiving),” said Bianucci of the day typically considered the busiest for Christmas tree sales. The local business owner, who moved to Morgan Hill in 1969, declined to say how many trees he has sold thus far.However, the late November and early December rains have kept some customers indoors waiting for a break in the storm to come out and saw down the family’s Christmas tree.“Hopefully, this coming weekend will be dry,” Bianucci said.In addition to selling trees, Paradise offers tree stands, tree netting, flocking and an antique and collectible room, where Bianucci sells a select number of his handcrafted bowls.South County has no shortage of spots to snag the perfect tree, with Battaglia Ranch Christmas Tree Farm—located at 13580 Murphy Ave. in San Martin—and the San Martin Christmas Tree Farm—situated at 13755 Monterey Road in San Martin.Battaglia Ranch, which has been in business for more than 40 years, is another choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm. A 35-foot-tall Santa Claus greets motorists on the west side of U.S. 101 near the San Martin Avenue exit.Customers can chop down trees from a selection of 4-year-old Monterey pines and Leyland cypress, or choose from an array of pre-cut trees, including Noble fir, Douglas fir, Nordmann fir, grand fir and Fraser fir.Those who have frequented the San Martin Christmas Tree Farm each holiday season for any of the last 35 years will see some fresh faces upon arrival this season. Longtime proprietor Steve Ludewig and his family sold their 23-acre ranch, including the tree farm, in June to new owners Abe and Teresa Andrade.“We thank you for the years our family has shared with you and yours,” Ludewig said in the announcement on the business website sanmartinxmastrees.com. “It has been our pleasure to spend our holiday each year providing Christmas trees to Santa Clara and San Benito counties.”The Andrades, who have lived in San Martin for 30 years, renamed Ludewig Ranch to Andrade Country Meadows—where they plan to host events such as weddings and other functions throughout the year.“We actually wanted to keep the tradition alive and keep the San Martin community with a nice Christmas Tree Farm,” Abe Andrade said. “So many people who have come by said this is a tradition for them so we wanted to be able to continue to provide that venue for them.”Friday at Andrade’s tree farm, he said, “From the time we opened the gate, it was a continuous flow of patrons and families coming through and enjoying themselves and finding the right tree.”The Polar Express train rides are still available as well, weather permitting, Andrade noted.Local tree farm owners are in luck with only a 30 percent chance of rain forecast for Friday and no rain, just cloudy skies with highs of 60 and lows of 40, anticipated from Saturday through Dec. 9, according to the National Weather Service.

An Alabama man was digging through his late father's belongings alongside family members when he came across a compass that one day belonged to an infantryman from Gilroy during World War II.

Betsy Hatakeyama, 85, of Morgan Hill, and Marianne Ogawa, 86, of