Craig Scharton, Author at FresYes!

The Rise, Fall & Rise of Fresno’s Lowell Neighborhood

June 11, 2021 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

Tucked in between the Tower District and the Mural/Cultural Arts District is one of Fresno’s very first subdivisions called the Lowell Neighborhood. The neighborhood gets its name from Lowell Elementary School, which is named for abolitionist poet James Russell Lowell. The neighborhood’s boundaries form a triangle: Freeway 180 on the north, Divisadero on the south, and Blackstone on the east.

Older neighborhoods have a depth and complexity that both attracts and repels different groups. Lowell was developed during the time before planning and zoning made cities more homogenous. There are mansions, mid-sized homes, bungalow courts, and apartments all on the same blocks. This meant that higher-income kids and lower-income kids grew up together.

Fresno's Lowell neighborhood — A row of mansions on Van Ness

A perfect storm of bad decisions hit the Lowell Neighborhood starting in the late 1950s. Freeway 180 was planned to go right through the neighborhood, leaving a wake of abandoned houses and lots. New plans designated the area as multi-family, allowing homes to be demolished and replaced by lower-quality apartments. The City stopped proactive code enforcement, which meant properties could deteriorate, unless someone complained.

Once a neighborhood starts declining, it can be difficult to reverse. Home ownership declined as rentals multiplied, school test scores dropped as student transiency increased. When the middle class leaves for greener pastures, concentrated poverty fills in behind.

But all is not lost! What is the opposite of concentrated poverty? Diversity of income levels. Some middle class people decided to move back into the neighborhood. H Spees and his family bought a cute log cabin-styled bungalow in the neighborhood. Randy and Tina White bought a beautiful home on Van Ness. Dozens of families followed over the next few years. The neighbors relocated to Lowell to intentionally help to turn around the neighborhood. I bought my home in Lowell in 2010 to personally join this revitalization effort.

One of our neighbors, Dr. Don Simmons, made a statement one time that really struck a chord with me (and I’m sure many others). Don said that if you measure our neighborhood by income, it is very poor compared to other neighborhoods. But if you measure our neighborhood by the quality of our community, we are rich compared to other neighborhoods.

How can you measure the quality of our community? We have a Lowell Neighborhood Association that meets twice a month. We have the Lowell Community Development Corporation. Neighbors and the City of Fresno Parks Department have renovated one of Fresno’s oldest parks, Dickey Playground. Lowell neighbors have been involved in a design review committee since 1991 and were instrumental in creating the new Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan which was just adopted unanimously by the City Council.

On an abandoned CalTrans property under Freeway 180, the neighborhood, along with help from Fresno Metro Ministries, AmeriCorps, Gazebo Gardens, City of Fresno, and PG&E, opened the Lowell Community Garden. Many of the people who have moved into Lowell to help the neighbors and neighborhood have potlucks on Sunday nights.

Fresno Urban Neighborhood Development Corporation has beautifully restored several homes in the neighborhood. The Fresno Housing Authority has invested in Lowell through a new development and a renovation of one of the worst offending apartment complexes. Fresno City College fixed up a few houses with the help of a training program for their students.

Fresno State focused 10 colleges within the university on the neighborhood for one year, including Lowell within actual curriculum, from Construction Management to Engineering (starting a Lego Program after school) and Peacemaking to Public Relations. The year of Fresno State saw a 30-point jump in Lowell Elementary’s test scores!

I love my neighborhood. It’s not perfect—not by a long shot. But that’s one of its best features. We have a reason to work together to make improvements. When good things happen, we all get to celebrate the victories. We’ve had 400 people show up to neighborhood meetings. Our neighbors have been actively engaged in downtown revitalization issues as well as efforts to battle against substandard housing. We hope that you can wish us well along this journey to transform one of Fresno’s oldest neighborhoods. Or maybe you’d like to join us?

For more FresYes blog posts – CLICK HERE!

For the Love of Chocolate…

February 11, 2019 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

Local foodie, Craig, here. I decided to take one for the team and taste test a potential Valentine’s day gift for you. (I know… You’re welcome!)

My taste test confirmed, if you’re in love with a chocolate kind of guy or gal, Raphio Chocolate is the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day.

This locally-owned chocolate company makes their chocolate from single origin beans. This style of chocolate creation means you can taste the variety of flavors from around the world, in their purest form.

Elisia Otavi-Makmur and Yohannes Makmur are the owners of this family run business (pictured below). The name Raphio comes from combining the names of their two sons, Raphael and Rio. Now that’s a family business!

If you love supporting locally-owned businesses, it doesn’t get any easier than buying locally made chocolate this Valentine’s day. Plus Raphio Chocolate collaborates with other local businesses, so you are helping several other gifted small businesses at the same time. Raphio has partnered with Enzo Olive Oil, and Kuppa Joy, for example.

These chocolates have won so many awards from the International Fancy Foods Show, the California Food Expo, and recently and the Good Food Award 2019 for 72% Meyer Lemon Olive Oil, the International Chocolate Salon in SF Gold Medal for the Clementine Olive Oil and from the Academy of Chocolate Awards in London (2 silver and 2 bronze awards).

With Raphio’s partnership with Enzo Olive Oil, they have done extensive research on how to make the olive oil work with the chocolate. This collaboration is very innovative.

Raphio has recently begun to make a tea from the husks of the cacao beans. This product is the first of its kind. It’s created very similarly to loose leaf tea, yet it has the aromatic smell of chocolate. It tastes like black tea with a floral tone, creating a pleasant earthy flavor. The tea has all of the antioxidants and minerals for heart and brain function. (Plus, caffeine!) And the sustainability of using every part of the cacao bean really exemplifies the mission of quality that Raphio the owners live by.

Every part of the chocolate making process is done by hand. Everything is from scratch from cocoa beans to hand cut bars. The process includes: hand sorting the cacao, roasting, cracking, removing shells (which they save for tea), grinding nibs, then blocking and aging the chocolate, lastly, tempering and molding, and then finally wrapping the chocolate bars.

You can purchase chocolate bars or nibs (nibs can be added to smoothies, baked goods or your breakfast bowl). They have a nice retail store in front of their small factory. They also give occasional tours by request.

You can go taste the magic for yourself at the southwest corner of First and Barstow at 783 East Barstow. Be sure to follow Raphio on Facebook to keep up with new events and products.

Oh, and if your sweetie loves her chocolate gift from Raphio – it was all your idea. 😉

Happy Valentines!

Craig

Tower Yoga is about balance, flexibility, and community

October 25, 2018 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

Jameson Henkle, Kellee Williams, and Jas Singh have opened Tower Yoga, a really great new yoga studio, in Fresno’s Tower District. The studio is on Wishon Ave., just north of the Tower Theatre, and is in the same building as Goldstein’s Mortuary and Delicatessen.

To make sure I was thoroughly vetting this place for you, the FresYes reader, I recently attended three different types of classes with three separate instructors. I did a slow class with Jameson, then a Buti Yoga class with Jazmen Moore, then a 5:30 a.m. Sunrise Hot Yoga with Kellee.

The class with Jameson was interesting because my lower back was really sore and tight when I showed up. I was considering backing out because of it. But when I walked in, Jameson said, “We’re going to do a relaxing gentle yoga today to loosen our back muscles.” So, since he could apparently read my mind, I stayed and took the class. And it felt wonderful. Afterward, Jameson and I headed across Wishon to Hi-Top Coffee for coffee and avocado toast and to talk about the studio.

Jameson Henkle waits for me at the entrance to Tower Yoga, which is in the back of the building

The second class was really fun, although I’m pretty sure I’m not its target audience. If there had been a camera on me, it would’ve scored a huge number of views for my comedic performance. This was the Buti Yoga class, which is a very rhythmic, gyrate-your-hips-a-lot tribal dance and yoga combo class. I estimate that I smiled 80% of the time and only grimaced about 20%. My daughter-in-law Amanda really enjoys this class and it cracked her up just to know I tried it.

The third class is really the standard for this studio—hot yoga. According to an “ask the expert” article in the New York Times, hot yoga increases flexibility, you can bend much deeper, and you are much more aware of your breathing. Research says it improves balance, body strength, and range of motion, and might even improve arterial stiffness. Kellee, the instructor for this class, was also a great teacher.

So what makes this yoga studio special? I really like any business or place that really embraces its community, and you can really feel the earnest love for building community when you walk in the door. The staff is very diverse and the community of students and practitioners was very diverse. This is important for something like yoga, which really had no commercial goal initially but has morphed into almost a country club atmosphere in many places, especially in the major metro cities. Tower Yoga feels like a place for young, old, rich, poor, expert or beginner.

The teaching staff at Tower Yoga

The best way to connect with Tower Yoga is through their app, which is available for iOS devices. It has their most up-to-date class schedule and you can sign up here. They also have a website and are on social media. Tower Yoga offers one week for free, so that you can give it a try. They also have community classes which are very inexpensive, in order to make sure this practice is available to everyone.

As for the physical space itself, it is still being built out but everything that’s been done so far looks great, very sleek and clean. They have bathrooms with showers in case you need to clean up before heading to work. Get there early for your first class to sign in and find the parking lot. The entrance is from the back, so it may be a little confusing the first time, but after that it’s really easy.

I plan on continuing. I’m only 57 but I know I need to be much more flexible and I want to keep my balance over the next part of life. Plus, it’s really fun even though it doesn’t come naturally to me. Give these folks a try. I love what they’re doing and they deserve our support and good wishes for their new business.

What it’s like to accompany the veterans of Central Valley Honor Flight to Washington D.C.

October 5, 2018 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

This week, I had the privilege of accompanying the 17th Honor Flight from our region to Washington D.C. The Central Valley Honor Flight is part of a national effort to give veterans of military service an opportunity to see the monuments and memorials erected in their honor in our nation’s capital. While our group was in Washington, we ran into other Honor Flight groups from Oklahoma and Tennessee.

We had 65 veterans from the ages of 68 to 96 on our flight. Each veteran is accompanied by a guardian who stays with and assists their veteran. Additionally, there are support/logistics from a recommended company volunteers plus safety personnel, including three nurses and an M.D. There were also six members of the media on this flight, including me, to cover the trip and experiences of the veterans.

Excited for the trip!

My greatest hope in writing this blog post is to encourage people to sign up for a trip if they are a veteran who served in a war from WWII to Vietnam. The older veterans have priority, and we had folks from the full range on our trip. People can also apply to be a guardian or a volunteer. The entire program runs off of donations and volunteers, so please go to the website if you can help with time or treasure. I’ve included our trip’s itinerary below so you can see what the trip entails. I’m not going to recount it step by step because I’d rather try to explain how it seemed to impact the veterans and how it impacted me.

It’s amazing what we did in two-and-a-half days. It’s even more amazing since our primary group was people who are relatively elderly. But then again, they’re veterans. Getting up early doesn’t faze them. They don’t complain. I never heard one person say, “I’m tired.” I’ve taken many bus tours of people to see downtowns in northern and southern California, and it is a regular occurrence to have everyone complain about having to be at the bus at 7:30 a.m. for a three-and-a-half hour bus ride. They’ll sit with their hoodies covering their faces and ear buds in so they don’t have to talk to anyone else. What a contrast! Remember that when you look at the itinerary, the 6:30 a.m. breakfast is at 3:30 a.m. Fresno time.

The other thing that really struck me about this group was how upbeat they are. I can’t really remember a more fun group. They razzed each other, they laughed, they made friends all around. I think about what some of them have been through, things like having their ship sunk off Iwo Jima, and having two-thirds of their crew perish and ending up on the shore of the island to be shot at by Japanese soldiers. And yet, they were far more positive than any other group I’ve travelled with.

They were proud of their service to their country but they didn’t brag or boast. They always answered my questions very politely. I heard several of them say, “I don’t know why people complain about our country so much.” This was sincere. I didn’t get a sense they thought everything was perfect, but they start from a place of loving our country, in spite of our problems. They don’t wait until everything is perfect before they’ll love it.

I was very touched as random people throughout the trip stopped to applaud the veterans as we moved around the city, many shouting, “Thank you for your service,” or quietly shaking their hands. I could tell it meant a lot to the veterans, and the rest of us, too. In the Smithsonian, a group on the second floor balcony saw the Honor Flight members in the lobby. They applauded, and it spread throughout the building. It was very genuine and sincere. It never had a tinge of false patriotism, like politics often does.

Searching for names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Dolores “Dodie” Brennan. WWII Veteran (WAVEs) was honored at the Women’s Military Museum during our visit.

Al Streeter shows me at the Smithsonian American History Museum where they picked up troops from one battle to them deliver them to Italy.

The most emotional moments came on the flight home. About an hour before landing back in Fresno, an announcement came over the plane’s intercom: “Mail Call!” The volunteers jumped into the aisle to create a chain as names were called and envelopes delivered to each veteran. They were filled with cards and letters from family members and friends, but most touchingly from elementary school students, addressed to each veteran. Watching a tough World War II veteran with tears streaming down his cheeks while reading a note written in pencil, with a picture of the child holding the soldier’s hand, drawn in crayon, is maybe one of the most touching scenes I’ve ever witnessed.

Then there is the big finale. The veterans walk or are pushed in their wheel chairs through dozens of sailors. As they enter the lobby of the airport, hundreds of people start cheering and music begins playing. The parade of veterans continues through the welcoming throng. There are many handshakes, smiles, and even more tears. Come out to the next Honor Flight Welcome Home party in April—there is no way my description or video can do it justice.

I really have to thank everyone who is involved with putting this together and who contributes to the effort of sending these brave people on this once-in-a-lifetime rip. I am grateful that Bruce Batti and Sarah Pruner from the Jeffrey Scott Agency asked FresYes.com to come on the trip, and I’m eternally grateful to my friend Jason Farris for asking me to go in his place when his schedule couldn’t allow it (I hope you do get to go on one, Jason!). The logistics of this whole trip are incredible. They have a 100% safety record, which only comes from great planning, training, and dedication. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that people who can deploy a fleet of a battalion can pull off a three-day trip, but as an old event planner, I have to say I was in awe.

Interviews and moments from Central Valley Honor Flight #17

Please watch some of my clumsily taken, handheld iPhone videos and interviews. And please contribute to this effort if you can. Consider covering the cost of one veteran for $1,500. Whatever you can give is used wisely—I’ve seen it firsthand.

Jack Jones from Dunlap was on this Honor Flight, as were his two daughters. One was his guardian and the other was the head medic.

Al “Dave” Davis tells us what he’s looking forward to on the Honor Flight.

Bob Singer was an animator for Hanna-Barbera shows like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Johnny Quest, and many others!

Larry O’Brien and the crew don’t mind getting to breakfast at 6:30 a.m. (3:30 Fresno time). I’ve never been around a happier, more energetic group!

The Central Valley Honor Flight Veterans and their guardians watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Marine Drill Team performed for our Veterans under the Lincoln Memorial. This is about 1/3 of the entire drill. Amazing precision.

An interview with World War II veteran Dodie Brennan. She was a member of the WAVEs (the Women’s Reserve, aka Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). We’re at the WWII Memorial.

Returning home to Fresno to be greeted by hundreds of fans.

Central Valley Honor Flight #17 Itinerary

Monday

5:30 a.m. Check-in at Fresno Air Terminal (a.k.a. Fresno-Yosemite International)

8:15 a.m. Flight to Washington D.C.

5:00 p.m. Arrive Baltimore-Washington Airport

6:00 p.m. Dinner at American Legion Post 276

8:00 p.m. Hotel Check-in

Tuesday

6:30 a.m. Breakfast

7:30 a.m. Busses Depart

8:00 a.m. Tour US Marine Memorial (Iwo Jima Statue)

9:00 a.m. World War Two Memorial

10:45 a.m. Smithsonian Museum of American History

Lunch- Hosted by Congressman Costa

1:00 p.m. US Navy Memorial with Navy Drill Team

2:30 p.m. Korean War Memorial

3:30 p.m. Marine Corps Drill Team at Lincoln Memorial

4:30 p.m. Vietnam War Memorial

6:00 p.m. Dinner/Banquet

Wednesday

6:00 a.m. Breakfast

7:00 a.m. Hotel Check-out

8:00 a.m. Arlington National Cemetery

9:00 a.m. Changing of the Guard at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

10:00 a.m. Women’s Military Museum

11:00 a.m. Air Force Memorial

12:00 p.m. Lunch

2:00 p.m. Depart for Fresno

6:30 p.m. Arrive in Fresno

7:00 p.m. Heroes Welcome Home Celebration

Hemisphere Home is where local art meets worldly treasures

July 23, 2018 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

I recently got to interview business owner Roseanne Guaglianone, and it was a real pleasure. She has a wonderful presence, and the environment of her store, Hemisphere Home, is beautiful and calming. We talked for an hour-and-a-half, and time flew by.

Hemisphere Home is both a retail store and a showroom for Roseanne’s design business. It has a sense of style that makes it worth a visit. She carries product lines you can’t find anywhere in our region, but it’s not just a furniture store. She combines furniture with local art and antiques and treasures that she has found throughout the world, or maybe from a local estate sale.

Everything in the store is beautiful. The merchandise is displayed very thoughtfully. Roseanne even has fabric samples that you just have to feel. As a bumbling bachelor, I didn’t even know what you’d do with the fabrics. Roseanne patiently explained that they could recover an old chair that was worn, transforming it into something stunning. The fabrics could become window or wall coverings, or even clothing.

Roseanne Guaglianone is the owner of Hemisphere Home

Style that reflects each customer’s personality

Roseanne is a local. She was born in Los Banos and grew up in Clovis (graduating from Clovis High). Like many local professionals, she got her start at Gottschalks, where she created special events and fashion shows. She continued her work in the fashion biz at Macy’s.

When a friend asked her to create an interior style for his home, she found her true calling. She realized she could interpret what a person wanted into an environment that reflected their personal goals. She doesn’t impose her style; instead, she likes to customize for each client so their home reflects their taste.

When a store called Interior Systems was listed for sale in Fig Garden Village, Roseanne seized the opportunity to share her design creativity with a broader audience. I am not a shopper. I hate shopping. I measure a successful shopping venture by how quickly I can get in and out. But, I used to love to go into Interior Systems. I even have a set of candle holders (Candelabra? Candle stick holders? I don’t know what they are called, but they’re really cool) from that store.

Roseanne then purchased a dilapidated house on Palm Ave. and with local architect Art Dyson, transformed it into a modern marvel. She took the name Hemisphere to indicate her combined love for travel and finding cool items to bring back for her customers. The store was very popular but, like many others, struggled during the economic downturn. Roseanne also found that she had to battle a personal illness, which she has overcome and is now a picture of health.

Where to find Hemisphere Home

Roseanne’s new store Hemisphere Home is the culmination of all her experiences. The store has everything from gifts (my birthday is in August), lighting, art and accessories to a range of furniture lines you can’t find anywhere else in town, such as Bernhardt, Lexington, and Della Robia. The store is located in the Opus One shopping center on the northwest corner of Palm and Bullard across from Petunia’s Place (children’s books) and the Grape Tray (wine shop). They are open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Drop in for a great experience and say hello to Roseanne, Cindy, and Sweetpea (Roseanne’s adorable rescue pooch).

Give Hemisphere Home a call at (559) 226-0666. Take a look at their website at www.hemispherehome.com or check out their Facebook page. I always suggest that people like pages and give a great rating on social media to locally owned businesses to give them a boost. You can see more of the store and get the feel through this video produced by local filmmaker H Steele. You can also listen to a radio spot that local radio station mogul John Ostlund created.

Incidentally, Roseanne also likes to give back to our community. She is a big fan of the Fresno Art Museum, and she had an idea rolling around in her head for a few years. The idea was Trashique, which brings artists and supporters to the museum for a fun event where people create art out of trash. In this case, it’s fashion. She believe that anything, even trash can be beautiful, edifying, and entertaining.

Want to get to know your city? Visit others

June 15, 2018 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

In March, my sister Kristin and brother-in-law Shawn retired and moved to the country between Spokane, Washington, and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. So my dad, Peeve, and I recently headed out on a road trip to visit and to get away from town for a bit.

Several months ago I wrote a blog about the advice my mentor Dan Whitehurst gave to me when I told him I was interested in revitalizing downtown Fresno and the Tower District. He said to pack my bags and visit as many cities as I could, to learn what I could, and to bring those lessons back to our hometown. As I look back, I think about how wise it was not to tell me how to do revitalization; instead, he sent me on a quest to learn about revitalization. This gift of lifelong learning and exploration continues 32 years later.

Since our road trip destination was located between two cities I’d never visited before, I was quite excited to explore. This isn’t a travel blog—my hope is to inspire you to look at cities with a sense of wonder and curiosity that will make your travel and even your understanding of your own city more meaningful.

Garland District, Spokane WA

What you can learn from walking a city

When you are going to visit a city, look at Wikipedia for a good overview. What’s the population? What does the city’s name mean? Many people know what Fresno means. But I rarely find a person who knows who San Joaquin was (so click the link to find out for yourself). Unless you are traveling to a city where you’re really going to map out all of your activities, a general base of knowledge is more than most people acquire and will jumpstart your observations and insights.

A funny thing about cities is they all claim to be historic. It’s true, of course, because they all have a history. So learn a little about their history. It will make your trip more interesting and you’ll also start to see connections with other cities’ histories. For example, many cities started as a sea port, then cities started along rivers, and then they started popping up along railroads. The commonality is that they began where goods and people could be transported in and out. Another thing you’ll notice about cities is when their bigger buildings were built. Bigger buildings take a lot of resources to build and to sustain, so it’s like looking at the rings on a tree stump. You can tell when they had their booms and busts.

Talk to the locals. It’s hilarious how similar people are across the country (and probably the world). Many people will complain regardless of their location. Everyone complains about weather. They’ll usually complain about their city government and leaders. Unless you are in a handful of big cities or college towns, people will complain that things close too early. They’ll all complain about downtown parking. And some places love to complain about traffic and home prices and rents. But the locals will also help you find the local treasures, though sometimes it takes a bit of prodding to find the best local food and culture. This is a result of the ubiquitous nature of chains. It took all night for me to find authentic southern food in Chattanooga—even the locals forgot they had a place called Bea’s Kitchen.

Once you get into a city, start walking. Look down at the tree grates. Look up at the buildings. Look inside the shops. Even after 32 years of this exploration, I still find new things I haven’t seen anywhere else. In Coeur d’Alene, I saw some really cool public art in the sidewalk area. I was surprised to see that the sculptures were for sale and that the art was curated by the local arts council. What a great way to beautify a city and support local artists. In Encinitas, California, they have downtown banners painted by local artists and they’re auctioned off at the end of the month they’re displayed, supporting their local arts organization.

In Spokane, I enjoyed their downtown but I also enjoyed seeing a couple of recently revitalized neighborhoods and business districts (like our Tower District and hopefully our Chinatown, for example). They have very supportive business associations. They also had a brand new neighborhood and business district that was built across the river from their downtown. It was built on abandoned rail yards. So it was fun to see how the old can come back to life but how a new urban neighborhood can be built using traditional city form and function.

Public art for sale in Coeur d’Alene

Enjoy cities for who they are

Almost every piece of a city can be interesting. I look at tree grates, business signs, bicycle parking, garbage cans, parking rates, business types, posters in windows to see upcoming events… even gum alley in San Luis Obispo. The more you pay attention, the more you find uniqueness and similarities. Don’t be too quick to rush to judgment—some cities mature more quickly than others, some are buttoned-up, and some are like a goofy friend that is always somewhat chaotic. Just enjoy them for who they are. Remember that every city we like today used to be a mess 40 years ago. They change, and watching as a city figures out who they are and what their niche in the world is can be just as exciting as going to the places that are already farther along.

You don’t have to be an urban planner or an architect to look into what makes cities the special places they are. The leaders of city change have been people who used their powers of observation, not formal training. The matriarch of city revitalization was Jane Jacobs and she learned more from sitting and watching from a sidewalk café than any professional with a degree. And she had a much bigger impact. Dan Burden has changed the way we did streets and sidewalks for walkability. Fred Kent started Project for Public Spaces and changed the way we design cities from a human perspective. Regular people who have taken the time to watch and think and engage with people are the real change agents. You can be one, too.

Growing our own… cottage food businesses

May 21, 2018 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

I think it’s important for writers to be clear about and be able to back up their own biases. When it comes to growing our local economy, I think the best way to do this is to support locally owned businesses. I don’t just think it, the research backs up this concept.

We can support local businesses from the start-up phase to larger companies that are selling goods and services around the world. One of my favorite categories for local businesses is the food growers and the businesses that make products. Since our super power is growing an incredible array of food, we should build on this strength by making products from this bounty.

Cottage Food Law: what is it and who can take advantage?

In 2013 it became legal for people in California to make food products in their own homes and then sell them in the marketplace. This is commonly called the Cottage Food Law. The state maintains a list of the foods that are approved for someone wanting to take advantage of this relatively new law. There are requirements for food handling training and for the health aspects of the kitchen, along with labeling rules. They aren’t really that big of an obstacle and you can find answers to those questions and others here. A great, comprehensive resource for anyone wanting to start a food business is this NOLO Press book.

My goal with this blog post is to spread the word about this opportunity for small scale entrepreneurship. Think of all of the people who could take advantage of this low-cost option to starting a business or to develop a way to make some extra money to supplement their income:

Students
Stay-at-home parents
Retirees
People who are hard to employ (low educational attainment, criminal history, poor work history, etc.,)
Unemployed
Downtown Revitalization Consultants

Many of our successful food companies like Ruiz Foods and Valley Lahvosh started with very humble beginnings. With support from the community, some of these small-scale businesses could grow into large employers. Imagine our community with hundreds of specialty food makers. We would all benefit from their delicious creations and every purchase would be helping an entrepreneurial neighbor. The entrepreneurs would have a chance to learn their business model, and the best would rise to the top. After a couple of years of operations, they could get investors or loans to grow their businesses.

Shelley Krikorian of Sweet Izzy’s Cupcakes and Confections was the first to get a cottage food permit in Clovis. [Photo: www.sweetizzys.com]

[Photo: Sweet Izzy’s, Clovis]

How you can help food startups in our area

So far the number of people taking advantage of this opportunity is remarkably low. In Fresno County we only have 92 Type A cottage food permits and 29 Type B permits. Type A permits allow a food maker to sell directly to customers; a Type B permit allows the entrepreneur to sell to stores or restaurants. Wouldn’t it be great to see these numbers dramatically increase? If you have a skill that could help these startups, consider giving one or two of them some of your time for their first year or two. CPAs, insurers, attorneys, bankers, and marketing experts could really increase their chances of success.

We’re lucky to live in a county that is supportive of these cottage food businesses. You can find Fresno County’s applications and information here. Get started on your food business journey today. Let me know how it’s going and I’ll write a blog post about some of you so we can support you and track your progress.

Saturday nights are meant for Draggin’ the Main

May 10, 2018 by Craig Scharton Leave a Comment

Saturday nights in downtown Fresno were meant for Draggin’ the Main, a.k.a. cruising on Fulton Street. Until the Fulton Mall broke ground in 1964, Fulton was the main drag. Now, on the second Saturday of each month, Draggin’ the Main is back.

A chance to meet and mingle

The historic Draggin’ the Main was known throughout the Central Valley. Car enthusiasts and young people came from throughout the region for the show of cars and to hang out and meet and mingle. Downtowns are all about fun and life. Back then, the cruise was a way for a girl from Reedley to meet a guy from Kerman, and vice versa. I’ve heard dozens of stories from people who met on a Saturday night in downtown, or from the kids and grandkids of those couples who met while Draggin’ the Main!

Now that Fulton Street is re-opened, we have restaurants staying open later and adding outdoor dining, and new restaurants are under construction. Draggin’ the Main is one more good reason to come downtown to see the change that is happening.

The event starts two hours before sunset and ends two hours after sunset (that we can change throughout the year). We aren’t closing any streets or intersections, we’re just letting the cruisers and the regular flow of traffic blend, just like in the old days. It’s a great time to see some cool cars, do some people watching, and have some food and drink with your friends.

Next Draggin’ the Main is May 12

The first Draggin’ event on April 14 was a huge hit. We’ll see you this Saturday, on May 12, for the next one. Bring your car, or just come to admire others. Let your mind wander back to those earlier days and imagine how many people have enjoyed our downtown over the decades. Then realize that you are part of making a new tradition and making our downtown fun again.

If you are interested in parking your car at the Housing Authority parking lot, send an email to christianchavez333@icloud.com. For $5 you can park and leave your car there; they have security to watch the cars while you go grab some dinner and walk around. For more info, check out the Facebook event page here.