Matthew & Jeanette Angell proud owners of the Olive Vitality. Photo credit: Jeanette Angell
Last Sunday Judy, my daughter Teresa and I walked the streets of Grass Valley like tourist coming up from the Bay Area. Having not walked down Mill Street for a while, I was surprised at the many new stores that have opened and of course the many that have closed.
One great new store is the “Olive Vitality” which opened last March. Claiming the freshest olive oils and vinegars on tap, which looking at the inside of the store, I believe it. I counted over 21 different flavors of balsamic vinegar!
You name the flavor of balsamic vinegar and they seem to have it. For example, flavors of strawberry black cherry, dark chocolate, cinnamon pear, espresso and the list goes on for 21 flavors. It seems like all of their balsamic vinegar is imported from Modena, Italy
Olive Vitality show room. Photo credit: Jeanette Angell
Besides selling regular olive oil, they like to infuse flavored into olive oil, creating a series of mouthwatering oils to be used for just about every occasion. A few examples, organic basil olive oil, blood orange fused olive oil, organic butter olive oil, and again the list goes on.
The store is well laid out and the owners Matthew & Jeanette Angell are gracious and eager to give you samples of their many exotic products. Be sure and visit them when you are in town at 126 Mill Street, Grass Valley, CA.
For more information, you can go to their website Olive Vitality
NID employees Chad Garvey, left, and Andrew Browning prepare to install a new water meter along Rattlesnake Road near Grass Valley
GRASS VALLEY – Treated water is now available in the Rattlesnake Road-Wheeler Cross Road area near Grass Valley, following a water line extension project completed this month by the Nevada Irrigation District.
NID and area property owners shared costs in extending a 16-inch main line from Dog Bar Road, across Wheeler Cross Road to the Rattlesnake Road intersection and 1000 feet north on Rattlesnake Road.
The job, with about 3000 feet of new pipe and three new fire hydrants, was completed for NID by C&D Contractors, Inc. of Nevada City. New pavement overlay has been added throughout the project area.
Chip Close, NID’s interim water operations manager, said the project progressed rapidly through planning, design and construction after contracts were signed with participating property owners. ”Our new customers were receiving water within nine months,” he said. ”Our contractor was able to take advantage of the dry weather and good working conditions this winter.”
Officials said the new pipeline is part of the district’s master plan and can eventually be extended across Rattlesnake Road to existing pipelines near Highway 174, depending on public demand.
District maintenance crews are now installing new water meters at the 13 parcels that participated in the water line extension project.
Area residents with questions about NID water public water supplies may contact NID Business Coordinator Shannon Matteoni at (530) 273-618
Draft Horses perform for an enthusiastic crowd at the Draft Horse Classic and Harvest Fair in Grass Valley. Tickets are on sale now for this year’s event, September 20 – 23. Photo credit: ProSportsPix.com
Tickets on sale now for the September 20 – 23 event
Majestic Draft Horse performances, breath-taking competitions, and seeing a Draft Horse “up close” are all part of the festivities at the 26th annual Draft Horse Classic and Harvest Fair, September 20 – 23, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.
The Draft Horse Classic has grown to become the premier Draft Horse show in the western United States, and features six majestic performances. Whether it’s the Draft Horses working farm equipment, pulling carriages, or working side by-side on a hitch – these amazing animals compete with elegance and power and always entertain.
Tickets to this event are on sale now, and we’re offering discounted pricing on morning performances and children’s tickets. Draft Horse Classic evening and late afternoon performance tickets are $21 for reserved seating and $18 for general admission. For morning performances, tickets are $15 for reserved seating and $12 for general admission. For children (ages 12 and under), any performance ticket is $13 for reserved seating and $10 for general admission. Tickets may be ordered online at www.NevadaCountyFair.com, by FAX, mail, phone or walk-in. There is a small transaction fee if you order your tickets on-line. For all tickets purchased after September 19, there is an additional $3 charge per ticket.
While at the Fairgrounds, take time to visit the Harvest Fair – which is open during the Classic. Activities include live musical entertainment, a clogging jamboree, Treat Street goodies, Art at the Classic, community exhibits, and lots of opportunities to meet and see the Draft Horses.
Once again, guided barn tours will be available on Friday and Saturday of the Classic. For these tours, reservations are required and are limited in space.
On Sunday, back by popular demand, is the 2nd Annual Classic BBQ Cook-Off from
1:30 – 4 pm. Whether you want to watch BBQ experts how off their cooking skills or simply join the fun and taste the treats – the Rib Cook-Off is the place to be. Tasting tickets will be available at the event. Try ribs, chicken, pulled pork tacos, sandwiches, brisket, and a variety of delicious barbecue.
The Draft Horse Classic and Harvest Fair is held at the Nevada County Fairgrounds, located on McCourtney Road in Grass Valley, just 50 miles northeast of Sacramento. The phone number is (530) 273-6217, the FAX is (530) 273-1146, and the website is www.NevadaCountyFair.com.
The Smith Family Photo credit: Shaffers Originals of Grass Valley
By Wendy Oaks
The Smith Family of Nevada City has been named the 2012 Family of the Year by the Nevada County Fair’s Board of Directors. The Board chose the Smith Family because of their ongoing participation in the Nevada County Fair and their commitment to youth in agriculture.
Chip and Liz Smith moved to Nevada County about 15 years ago, and one of their first activities was attending the Nevada County Fair. Having moved here from Vermont, they were drawn to the beauty of the Fairgrounds and the activity in the livestock barn. During that visit, their daughter Chloe, who was 11 at the time, was invited to sit in the pygmy goat pen. Chloe fell in love, and that, says Liz, was the beginning of their “goat addiction and involvement in the Nevada County Fair and 4H.”
Since that time, Chip and Liz have been 4H leaders in goat projects – including pygmy, dairy, and meat goats – and now raise dairy goats. Liz shows the family dairy goats at the Fair each year, as well as in open shows. Chip works as the goat barn superintendent at the Nevada County Fair, and has also been showing goats in open shows for many years.
In the community, Chip volunteers with the Nevada County Ag Youth Boosters, volunteers at his children’s school, and has been a youth soccer and youth basketball volunteer coach for many years. Liz, who recently graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with her Master of Science degree in Counseling, also volunteered in the schools and at Sierra Adoption Services, and most recently at Community Recovery Resources.
Chip and Liz have four children –Kaitlin, 26; Chloe, 24; Isabelle, 12; and Joshua, 10. Kaitlin is a hair stylist in Grass Valley. Chloe, who showed as a 4H exhibitor and in open shows until she graduated from Nevada Union, will graduate in December with her Master of Science degree in Agricultural Education. Isabelle and Joshua, who attend Nevada City School of the Arts, have grown up at the “goat barn” at the Fair, and have shown as 4H, Open, and Independent exhibitors.
“Each year, Chip volunteers countless hours to the Fair as the goat barn superintendent,” said Sandy Woods, CEO of the Fairgrounds. “His volunteer services are greatly appreciated, and the Smith family’s enthusiasm and knowledge of goats, and countless hours of service, is greatly beneficial to the entire livestock community. We are thrilled to be able to recognize them as the Fair’s Family of the Year.”
About being named the Fair’s Family of the Year, Liz says, “It was a huge surprise to all of us, and we consider it a great honor. We are very thankful.”
The Smith Family will be honored at opening ceremonies of the Nevada County Fair, August 8 – 12. They will receive a Fair ticket package, as well a family portrait created by Shaffers Originals of Grass Valley.
Wendy Oaks
Publicist, Nevada County Fairgrounds
(530) 273-6217
wsoaks@gmail.com
New striping creates safer access to businesses and more efficient traffic flow during Fair
This weekend, the County of Nevada completed restriping on McCourtney Road, in front of the Nevada County Fairgrounds, from Brighton Street to Auburn Road. The new striping includes a center two-way left turn lane, through lanes in each direction, and shoulder/bicycle lanes on each side of the road.
This striping is intended to provide safer access to properties across from the Fairgrounds as well as improve the ability to move traffic more efficiently during peak events like the annual Nevada County Fair.
During the Nevada County Fair, and other events at the Fairgrounds that draw large crowds, Fair personnel will use cones to turn the center lane into another lane for inbound traffic throughout an event.
The Nevada County Fairgrounds are located at 11228 McCourtney Road in Grass Valley. This year’s Nevada County Fair is August 8 – 12. For information about upcoming events, visit www.NevadaCountyFair.com or call (530) 273-6217.
For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email <a href=”mailto:jodell@nevadacounty.com”>jodell@nevadacounty.com</a>
The magnificent six-up competition is always a crowd favorite at the Draft Horse Classic and Harvest Fair at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.
By Wendy Oaks
Donate blood on July 30 and receive a free admission ticket to the Fair
The Nevada County Fairgrounds and BloodSource are teaming up for a community blood drive. Make a blood donation on Monday, July 30, from 1 – 6 pm at one of the BloodSource bloodmobiles located in the main parking lot at the Nevada County Fairgrounds, and receive a free admission ticket to any day of the Fair.
As a result of this partnership, at last year’s community blood drive, 78 pints of life saving blood were collected.
Donating blood is safe, easy and takes about an hour. Donors must weigh at least 110 pounds, be generally healthy, and at least 17 years old. If you are 16 years old, you can donate blood, as long as you have a parent consent. For more information and eligibility about blood donation, visit BloodSource.org or call 1-866-822-5663.
This year’s Fair is August 8 – 12. Visit NevadaCountyFair.com for more information or call the Fair Office at (530) 273-6217. The Nevada County Fairgrounds are located on McCourtney Road in Grass Valley.
Wendy Oaks
Publicist, Nevada County Fairgrounds
(530) 273-6217
The magnificent six-up competition is always a crowd favorite at the Draft Horse Classic and Harvest Fair at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.
July 13, 2012
Want to enter something in the Nevada County Fair? There’s still time! The deadline for submitting paper entry forms or to enter on-line using the Fair’s on-line entry system is July 20 at 4 pm. There are no entry fees for most categories, so simply visit the Fair Office on McCourtney Road or log-on to the Fair’s website atthe Nevada county Fair website to complete the entry process.
Join the thousands of Nevada County residents who enter exhibits each year in the more than 300 available categories. If you can make it, bake it, grow it or show it, we have a category for you! Don’t delay – enter now!
Complete descriptions of all categories are available in the Fair’s Competition Handbook, which is available on the Fair’s website at the Nevada County Fair website, at the Fair office, area libraries, and local chamber of commerce offices.
The 2012 Fair is August 8 – 12. For more information, call (530) 273-6217 or visit the Nevada County Fair website
For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com
The earliest settlement in Nevada County was made in the summer of 1848 at a place called Rose’s Corral which was located between the Anthony House and Bridgeport. Early in the spring of 1849 a group of mountaineers from Oregon known as the Greenwood Company mined for gold at Illinois Bar on the South Yuba River. They were followed by emigrants from Indiana. In the fall of 1849, the Greenwood Company made winter camp at Jefferson, and the Indiana group moved further upstream to Washington. In that same autumn that Captain John Pennington’s party struck rich diggings on Deer Creek and built the first cabin on Gold Run, the site that was to become Nevada City.
Originally a mining camp founded along Deer Creek in 1849, Nevada City rapidly became the largest and wealthiest mining town in California. At one point, Nevada City was the third largest city in California with a population of 10,000. Nevada City’s good fortune allowed miners and settlers to enjoy plush gambling establishments, hotels, saloons, and stores. However, like many big cities that sprang up quickly during the rush for instant wealth, early Nevada City shared a darker side of claim jumping, murder, brothels and opium dens.
By the 1850’s Nevada City’s wealth began to wane, and as miners moved on in search of new claims and stories of gold and riches, a quiet and quaint city emerged. Two fires in 1856 and 1863 raced through Nevada City almost completely wiping out the town. The beautiful architecture that stands today is testament to the will of the people of Nevada City who rebuilt the town completely not once, but twice.
Hydraulic mining, Nevada County, CA, 1866 Photo courtesy of http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com
Nevada County was created in 1851 from parts of Yuba County because of the increase in population in the area and the distance to travel to courts which made it necessary to create a new county. The county was named after the mining town of Nevada City, a name derived from the term “Sierra Nevada.” The word nevada in Spanish means “snowy” or “snow-covered.” Nevada City has carried many monikers through its history; Caldwell’s Upper Store, Coyoteville, and Deer Creek Dry Diggings, but Nevada was chosen in the 1850s to give the town a cultured name.
Nevada City, CA, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 1851 the newly formed Nevada County copied the name. The State of Nevada used the name 10 years later in 1861. The region came to life in the gold rush of 1849. Many historical sites remain to mark the birth of this important region in California’s formative years. Among them are the Nevada Theater in Nevada City, which operates to this day and once hosted Mark Twain among other historical figures. The gold industry in Nevada County thrived into the post WWII days.
The county had many firsts and historic technological moments. The first long-distance telephone in the world, built in 1877 by the Ridge Telephone Company, connected French Corral with French Lake, 58 miles (93 km) away. It was operated by the Milton Mining Company from a building on this site that had been erected about 1853. The Pelton wheel, designed to power gold mines, still drives hydro-electric generators today. Nevada City and Grass Valley were among the first California towns with electric lights.
Commemorating World’s First Long-Distance Telephone Line. Monument located in French Corral, California. Picture courtesy of http://www.noehill.com
The Olympics, NASA, and virtually every television station around the country utilizes video/broadcasting equipment designed and manufactured by Grass Valley Group, founded in Grass Valley. Electronic medical dosing equipment was first developed and manufactured in Nevada County. The first commercially viable picture-phone was developed in Nevada City. More than fifty high tech and applied tech companies, and more than one thousand hardware and software design and development professionals.
Judy J. Pinegar is a writer and her articles have appeared in many publications.
For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com
On Sunday, May 27, 2012 John and I went for a walk. Leaving the Flour Garden Cafe in Grass Valley, we traveled north on Hwy 49 to the parking lot for the Independence Trail. Studying the map, we decided to try the East Trail. We had Angel on a leash, and it seemed to be the direction she wanted to go, so we humored her.
The first part of the trail seemed to literally be at two levels, the main trail on a lower level, a smaller trail on the rise to the left of the main trail. Occasionally those traveling the higher trail were forced to move down to the lower trail, where the trail narrowed or over bridges, but the upper trail continued for quite some way. For a while the trail seemed to follow the highway, but finally we turned to follow the river, and there was a beautiful green swimming hole.
Creek Crossing
Continuing, the trail turned into a bridge the skirted the side of huge rocks, no ground beneath our feet! And then a neat tunnel, a rock perched on top of twp or three other rocks, and you could pass underneath if with just a little bit of tucking out heads; there was no way around it, so if you wanted to continue the walk, you went under the rock!!
Oh and did I mention the poison oak?? You could tell they had TRIED to eradicate the stuff on the main trails, but it was still there, hiding a little way back from the trail. As a person who is horribly allergic, I stayed in the middle of the trail and hoped John would keep Angel out of it (she was getting no pats from me until she had a bath!).
Poison Oak
And speaking of Angel we had been forcing her to keep going on for about the last 15 minutes, for a strong, fierce looking dog, she really is a sissy in the wilds! After a good 45 minutes or so we met a couple coming back. They said they had walked for about an hour and hadn’t seen the river yet. We decided to follow Angels lead and come on back, next time maybe we will leave her home!
Judy J. Pinegar is a writer and her articles have appeared in many publications
John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com
Picture courtesy of the Rough and Ready Chamber of Commerce
By Judy J. Pinegar
The first established settlement in Rough and Ready was made in the fall of 1849 by a mining company from Wisconsin known as the Rough and Ready Company. Their leader, Captain A. A. Townsend, named the company after General Zachary Taylor (nicknamed “Old Rough and Ready”) who had recently been elected the 12th President of the United States. Captain Townsend had served under “Old Rough and Ready” during the U.S.-Mexican War.
Gold was easy pickings, and by the late 1840s, the population of the town of Rough and Ready had exploded to over 3,000. The town had plenty of uncontrolled lawlessness and a growing resentment of the government which had imposed a Mining Tax on all claims. On April 7th, 1850, a mass meeting was called to propose seceding from the Union.
The Great Republic of Rough and Ready was formed that day as a free and independent republic. The townspeople elected Col. E.F. Brundage as President, and Justice of the Peace Hans Q. Roberts as Secretary of State, who then signed a constitution similar to that of the United States.
The Republic of Rough and Ready lasted only three months as the world’s smallest nation. It came to a halt when preparing for a fourth of July celebration, it was realized as an independent country it had no reason to celebrate. A popular vote restored the new Republic to the United States followed by the most riotous Fourth celebration ever held anywhere. An alternate story for the reason Rough and Ready rejoined the union is that Nevada City refused to sell the “foreign” miners liquor!
In 1859, a devastating fire destroyed most of Rough and Ready as shown in the photo.
Picture courtesy of the Rough and Ready Chamber of Commerce
Picture courtesy of the Rough and Ready Chamber of Commerce
Rough and Ready is located west of Grass Valley, California, on State Route 20 at the junction of State Route 49, approximately 62 miles (100 km) from Sacramento. The post office at Rough and Ready was established in February 1851. Among the oldest buildings are the blacksmith shop (1850s), the Grange (1850’s), the Odd Fellows Hall (1854), and the Old Toll House. The population was 963 at the 2010 census.
Picture courtesy of the Rough and Ready Chamber of Commerce
The Rough and Ready Calendar of Events includes the following. It is a great place to visit on a weekend…come for a drive!
Weekly
Every Sunday
The Fruit Jar Pickers
10am to Noon at the Grange in downtown Rough and Ready
Monthly
Every 2nd Saturday
Breakfast at the Grange
8am to 10 am at the Grange Hall. Great food and entertainment for $5.00
Annually
Last Sunday in June
Secession Days in downtown Rough and Ready. 7am to 3pm.
Annually
Last Sunday in September
Chili Cook-off in downtown Rough and Ready. 10am to 3pm.
