2015 February PASO Magazine

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The Quasquicentennial Wrap-up Issue By Chuck Desmond Before you even begin to read this article, get your scissors, a pen and an envelope ready. Write on the outside the envelope, “For the Grandchildren; to be opened on March 10, 2114.” I’ll explain why at the very end of this article. Okay here we go. Sometime early 2012, City Manager, Jim App, was sitting at his desk looking out into the future of El Paso de Robles. That’s when he discovered that 2014 was going to be the 125th anniversary of Paso as an incorporated city. As with many important things to be done, he called Julie Dahlen, the Director of Library and Recreation Services. “Julie, we have to do something and who better to make that ‘something’ happen, than you!” The conversation was probably something like that and not really a mandate but pretty close. After all, if potentially there would be a historic celebration, who better to assign the project to than the overseer of City Library for records and the Recreation Division to plan the fun? First task was to find out if there was a real word that defined a 125th celebration! Turns out it is QUASQUICENTEN- NIAL – the word that has twisted our tongues for 27 months! Julie’s next task was to “encourage” some cohorts (who had also never planned a 12-month long party) to come along for the thrill of it! Lynda Holt, Freda Berman, Shonna Howenstine and Suzanne Robitaille met at Centennial with a really strong pot of coffee and a stack of sandwiches. After a very long meeting, they knew this was a going to be a hum-dinger of an assignment. “Our normal every-day work assignments and now we are going to reach out to 30,000 residents, involve every agency in the city plus the schools, no strategically developed agenda or mission statement, no logo, no city flag to rally around, 1 year to get ready, 1 year for the actual event and a city-sponsored budget of zero! Okay Mr. App, we’ll get right on it! Oh yes boss, this will be a slam dunk! Stand back and watch us go!” And, GO they did! A few more meetings (with undoubtedly stronger coffee) and it was pretty clear that “The Fab Five” needed to swell to about 50 to have any chance of pulling this off. Their call went out and the first month’s meeting moved to City Hall. Julie, usually rock-solid, was shaking just a little as she stood at the front of Council Chambers and addressed business and civic leaders, Kathy McNamara (then Superintendent of Schools), local press, Mayor Duane Picanco and the City Council, the heads of the Museums, Lt. Tim Murphy from the PD and Fire Chief Ken Johnson and a gaggle of others whose thoughts, comments and ideas were anxiously received. “Can we really do this?” Julie kept up the mantra – We are Roblans. Of course we can!” A few more months of meetings and things were falling into place. The goals were crystallized and three City-sponsored events were determined – A New Year’s Eve bash at both ends of 2014 and a birthday party in City Park on the actual day of incorporation – March 11th. Pioneer Day Committee, The Historical Society and Pioneer Museum each pledged $500 to sponsor the contest for a new Paso logo. Bob Chute, owner of YOUR Paso Robles Magazine, committed monthly coverage. Chris Alba would write an historical article each month throughout the year. Nancy Tweedie (Historical Society) and Melody Mullis (Pioneer Museum) vowed to create a 2014 home wall-calendar filled with historic photos. Robbie Weber with Pam Alch and Jack Marino took the challenge to create a recipe book that totaled 400 recipes with Please see QUASQUI page 16 14 Paso Robles Magazine, February 2015
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