Let’s take a quick tour around the world. Let’s visit some of
the South Valley’s
”
sister city
”
communities. Hollister, Gilroy and Morgan Hill are all fortunate
to have developed relationships with several communities all across
the globe.
Let’s take a quick tour around the world. Let’s visit some of the South Valley’s “sister city” communities. Hollister, Gilroy and Morgan Hill are all fortunate to have developed relationships with several communities all across the globe. From a romantic Renaissance city in the Tuscany region of Italy, to a hamlet on a tiny island nation in Micronesia (in the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia), there’s a healthy diversity in the style of life and landscape in all eight sister cities connected to the South Valley.
We’ll begin our global tour in Japan with a visit to Hollister’s only sister city – Takino Town.
“It’s small, about 20,000 people. A rural town about two hours from Kobe-Osaka,” said Geri Johnson, city clerk for Hollister. “They contacted us. They were looking for a sister city.”
The mayor of Takino Town chose Hollister because it was the first American city to respond to their request for sister city status, she said, adding, “They were happy we were a city on the West Coast instead of the East Coast.”
Takino Town delegates visit Hollister on even-numbered years, and Hollister representatives journey to the Japanese community during odd-numbered years, Johnson said. Every other year, about 20 children from Takino’s junior high come for a three-day visit to Hollister’s Rancho San Justo School.
When the Takino delegates come to Hollister, they always enjoy taking a tasting-tour of San Benito County’s Oseki Saki winery on Hillcrest Road.
Johnson encourages fostering relationships with cities in other regions of the world. “It promotes peace and understanding,” she said. “It’s important to get to know the people and culture on a real grassroots level.”
Gilroy obviously loves developing sister city relationships. Over the years, it has formalized relationships with five towns around the world.
“It creates a sense of global community that’s important for any small town to have,” said Kirsten Carr, executive director of the Gilroy Visitors Bureau. “There are towns that are thousands of miles away from us, but that we have an affinity with.”
Let’s visit one sister city that Gilroy shares a common bond with – a fanatic obsession with garlic. Takko-machi is a rural town in the northernmost region of the main island of Japan. It produces about 2,000 tons of the odorous herb every year. “Garlic is the lifeblood of Takko,” goes the regional saying.
The Japanese city has garlic-shaped street lamps and garlic sculptures in its Garlic Center. Its restaurants serve garlic raman noodles and garlic ice cream. Some stores sell garlic make-up. And some people say that, from the air, the town resembles a giant garlic bulb.
Every year at the end of July, Takko-machi representatives fly to California to enjoy Gilroy’s famous Garlic Festival. And Gilroy’s newly crowned Garlic Queen, along with festival officials, always returns the visit.
Other Gilroy sister cities are Tecate in Mexico, Saint Clar in France, Monticelli d’Ongina in Italy, and Koror in the Micronesian Republic of Palau.
Tecate is located about 55 miles south of San Diego. In our quick tour, you’ll find the Mexican city has a relaxing town square where you can enjoy the famous “cerveza” brewed in town. Beer is Tecate’s claim to fame, but it also has a world-class spa – the Rancho la Puerta.
Saint Clar is in the Gascony region of southwest France along the Riviera. Tourist activities here include windsurfing, canoe rides and watching sun-worshipers browning themselves on the beach … wearing, as is the custom, a great deal less than we see on the beaches of Santa Cruz.
Koror is the main town of the Republic of Palau. It’s a slow-paced community kissed by tropical breezes and surrounded by the exotic beauty of lagoons and swaying palm trees. The entire nation has a population of about 20,000, so you get the feeling people always take time to become friends in Koror.
Take a tour of the Italian city of Monticelli d’Ongina and you’ll discover it has a rich history reaching back at least as far as the Roman days. Like its California sister, it has a garlic festival – this one taking place on the first Sunday in October.
While we’re touring Italy, let’s stop at one of Morgan Hill’s two sister cities. San Casciano is 12 miles from Florence. It has a rich history of Renaissance intrigue and political philosophy. Niccolo Machiavelli – the notorious author of “The Prince” – lived here for a time.
On June 5, Morgan Hill residents Gary and Ginger Guglielmo found San Casciano – with its friendly population of about 15,000 – the perfect place to get married. They chose the town because of its sister city relationship with Morgan Hill, Gary said. Then-mayor Petro Roselli presided over the couple’s elegant wedding ceremony in the town’s magnificent hall.
“It’s a perfect fit for Morgan Hill,” said Gene Guglielmo, Gary’s brother, who attended the wedding. After the ceremony, the mayor gave the Guglielmo family a fun-filled tour.
“It’s a beautiful place,” Gene said, describing the charming Italian town. “You’re in the Tuscan hills overlooking Florence. In some areas, you can see the Duomo,” he added, referring to the famous church dome in Florence.
Our final destination on our sister city tour is San Martin de Hidalgo, a community of about 15,000 in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Morgan Hill’s relationship with this rural community started with Jesus Habriz, a former Morgan Hill resident, said Chuck Dillman, president of the Morgan Hill Sister City committee.
“A year ago last October, Mayor [Dennis] Kennedy went there and they formalized a relationship,” he said. San Martin de Hidalgo representatives visited Morgan Hill for the Fourth of July this year.
San Martin de Hidalgo has a solid tourist industry as well as farming economy. Among other crops, it grows corn, sugarcane, rice, and strawberries.
Dillman would like to see more South Valley citizen involvement with the various sister city programs.
“[Benefits] range from commercial advantages for the companies, exchanges of information and tourism,” he said. “It’s really whatever the citizens make out of it.”
