Greetings friends,
March seems to be when the great outdoors springs to life, energizing our community. It’s been snowy, rainy and windy and now the blossoms our bursting out and the pollinators are buzzing around. walking on a local trail with our grandkids in the afternoon and dining on a restaurant patio in the evening. Our hillsides are looking like Ireland which works out well for all that celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, like me. Can’t wait.
As we come out of winter and spring forward on March 9, I always think about what the next generations will think about Modesto. As you read this, Modesto is being celebrated around the world for the beautiful show the almond blossoms are giving us thanks to the great work of Visit Modesto. Nice to be in the New York times for something cool like this. I can’t think of a local organization that reaches so far and connects that does a better job, running on a very tight budget. This is what happens when we have professional hospitality people running Visit Modesto.
One of the other things we are know around the world for is our film makers, one in particular, George Lucas. But we are only as good as what we continue to make it. How are we creating new things that will set Modesto apart? Who’s next?
There is a hotbed of activity in our local film making community. These are our story tellers and our creatives. It brings us all together with local locations, local music, local production and you never know who will be the next one to make a mark. There is a very cool event that is pointing the way, creating excitement to get new people into film. Technology has made it so much easier to film and produce, but you still need a great story, good sound and a lot of energy to make it happen. The 48 Hour Film Competition brings this to the front each March. ModestoView sponsors one of the awards, and this event is so exciting. New ideas, action, horror and comedy, all coming from a prompt to finished film short in 48 hours. This is where we will find our new Richard Bare or George Lucas. It was so fun to get some of our local filmmakers together to film our action cover. My personal mad props to Sky who did the shoot, ready to give birth at any minute. Don’t miss this event March 28 at the State.
ModestoView loves to promote the good things happening here in our area and we are celebrating International Women’s month. Like filmmaker Sky Tallone, we are helping recognized the amazing local women who are being celebrated at the SCCW Outstanding Women celebration on March 15. Our family has a lot of amazing women, and it is so great to see these local people celebrated for what they bring to our community.
So exciting that the ModestoView was recognized as one of the best sources for local information in a City of Modesto survey. It’s wonderful to see that we are actually making a solid difference and makes us want to push even harder. We have big things coming up like May the 4th, Music in the Plaza, Rockin’ Holiday, and the MAMA Awards, all produced by the ViewCrew. We are working hard to get people to pay attention to our town, and to our local businesses, that are the heart and soul of our community. Thank you to all that advertise here as you make it possible for us to keep pushing a positive narrative.
March is a great time to get out with your family. The evenings are longer, and evening family dinners are better and kids need to burn off extra energy. Looking outside is important. Putting down the phone or tablet is important, taking a long walk is important and making time for your kids and grandkids is extremely important. There are many new upgraded parks and places to explore. It all gets down to time, and what we are doing to make our community a place where our kids will want to be long term.
We can do this Modesto. Let’s find our next Grandaddy, our next George Lucas, our next Jeremy Renner and hope that they will inspire another generation to make a difference and change how people see Modesto. It’s a team effort and we all need to work together to make it happen and build a wave of the next wave of young professionals want to live here.
But most of all, thanks to all of you that are out there creating events, hosting neighborhood meetings, starting new businesses and being the change that Modesto needs. That is why ModestoView is here, to celebrate all of you and help point the way for positive Modesto area living. It truly takes teamwork so that we can stay focused on our mission to “Serve Civic Pride Daily”.
