2025 FoVG Summer

July, 2025

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

 Independence Celebration, Parade, Community Dance Party

July 13 4:00 - 6:00pm   

Annual Member Reception

*Also In This Issue*

FoVG Website Launches

A Less Bumpy Road Ahead

"Welcome to Monte Rio" Sign

Boat Anchorage 

JULY 4^TH OF JULY

STAND UP AND CELEBRATE! 

Our Democracy & Independence will be celebrated with a nod to traditions past and an invitation to bring your own creative expressions about what democracy means to you.

-Music & Celebratory Spirit will be provided by the Hubbub Club & the VG Children’s Kazoo Khorus.  Adults strongly encouraged to join in!

4:00pm Meet at the VG Town Square

Pick up songbooks/kazoos. ($5 suggested donation)

Enjoy snappy tunes from The Hubbub Club

4:30pm Call for Independence 

4:45pm Parade with the Hubbub Club to the “Old Hotel” 

Sing-along to patriotic songs with the Kids’ Kazoo Khorus led by our town songbird Kyla Brooke. 

5:00pm Parade through the streets of Villa Grande to the VGFD (firehouse) Plaza 

5:30-8:00pm Town Fair & Dance Party

-“Red, White & Brew” Libations: $10/glass of Red/White or $30 Bottle   $8.00  Brews

-Kids' Kookies & Lemonade Stand

-Taco Stand

-Membership Table: Renew your FoVG yearly dues!

-FoVG Merch For Sale: Check out our sweatshirts, T-shirts & caps

-Dance Party @ VG Firehouse

Live Music by The Fargo Brothers

Wear your dancing shoes, enjoy the great music & celebrate with us!

This year it is our honor to recognize our beloved Roberto Esteves 

Meet Our Grande Marshal

 By Jim Beck & Shelley Russell

Patterson Point Preserve.. Friends of Villa Grande.. where would we be without the dedicated efforts of ROBERTO ESTEVES? Fortunately this needs no answer because we have an extraordinary member in our community who wears more hats than a royal wedding guest list. Here are just some of those “hats” he wears-

- Fiscal Firestarter- recruited local contributions and joined forces with real estate wizard Kyla Brooke, to assist in the acquisition of Patterson Point. 

- Proposal Writer- worked with Victoria Wikle to solicit SCAPOSD for partial funding in the purchase of PPP.

- Legal Beagle- was tapped by Ken Wikle to help incorporate FoVG as a non-profit.

- Spark-plug- stepped up to co-organize multiple fundraisers with Greg & Susan Sampson, Kyla Brooke, Jon Box (and countless others!) to retire our $60k debt.

- News Ninja- reported stories and along with a willing partner, Jim Beck, edited and produced a printed newsletter twice a year.

-Preservation Protector- coordinated efforts with long time PPP manager, Leah Norwood to implement and maintain ecological, educational and recreational objectives for Patterson Point Preserve.

- Forward Thinker- teamed with Kyra Wink to establish a propane benefit contract for FoVG members.

- Neighborhood Advocate- implemented the Villa Grande firehouse lease so Jon Box and others could turn the firehouse into a useful community asset.

- Magician- worked his magic organizing membership with volunteers like Sukey Robb-Wilder to coordinate with FoVG renewals, manage the database and track dues. 

- Virtual Visionary- recruited Leah Roderman to modernize our membership, newsletter & web management.

- Community Builder- found an enthusiastic partner with Rich Holmer on dozens of projects -from anchorage and upkeep to safety & sewage and everything in between- all which benefited PPP, FoVG and the Villa Grande community.

- This Extraordinary Executive Director set aside 17 years of his life to join a rag-tag band of volunteers, keeping them aligned and attuned.

What are the chances of all these hats being worn by one? Happily, we beat the odds as Roberto Esteves’ numerous civic achievements speak for themselves. 

Good luck in all your future endeavors Roberto! 

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

RECEPTION & POTLUCK SUNDAY

July 13 4:00 - 6:00pm 

21865 Russian River Ave

corner of 3rd & RR Ave

Our annual membership pot-luck reception will be held in Roberto’s fabulous asian-themed garden on Sunday July 13 from 4-6 pm. 

We welcome new and old members in a celebration of FoVG’s 18th year (incorporated 2007). 

We will also acknowledge the incredible work and generosity of  Linda Fisher and Leah Norwood who have recently gone to greener drier(!) pastures. 

There will be brief presentations about the State of the Organization, but more importantly, it will be a time for new and old members to have an opportunity to get together and “share”. There will be hosted beverages (beer/wine/non-alcoholic) and we invite members to bring pot-luck appetizers. 

FoVG Website Has Launched!

On June 9th, the newly designed FoVG website villagrande.org went live.  We thank Jim Beck who led the charge to redesign and the website work group: Leah Roderman, Roberto Esteves, and Craig Baker who helped with creating the new look and updated information for the website.  

We encourage members to explore the three categories of information on the homepage: 

• Friends of Villa Grande
• Patterson Point Preserve background and current information
• Community Information, including links to Monte Rio organizations and important emergency information, including to up-to-date information regarding flooding, fires and roads.

If you would to see more information added or changed, contact our web mistress:  Leah Roderman lsroderman@gmail.com or send a note to friends@villagrande.org 

A LESS BUMPY ROAD AHEAD

Russian River Avenue to be Resurfaced

Ché Casul, Supervisor Lynda Hopkin’s Director of Community Initiatives, has informed FoVG that due to the efforts of Supervisor Hopkins, Villa Grande’s Russian River Avenue has been included in the 2026-2027 Pavement Preservation Program (PPP) for repaving.  The PPP plan was approved by the Board of Supervisors at its June 5 meeting and although there is no specific date, the entire length of Russian River Avenue will be repaved in either 2026 or 2027.

The Villa Grande community has been lamenting the decrepit condition of Villa Grande’s streets for years.  FoVG had secured a grant to survey the need for improved drainage and street resurfacing.

A Villa Grande drainage report (LINK) outlined pre-road-paving  solutions to the seasonal flooding of Villa Grande streets. The implementation of the drainage mitigations which was to be funded by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) was placed on “temporary” hold in 2025.  Meanwhile, the community continues to demand immediate attention to the critical need to make  Russian River Avenue and the other VG streets  safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, cars and delivery trucks.

Although the remainder of the streets of Villa Grande will not be addressed during the next two years, we are grateful for Che and Supervisor Hopkins' effort to address RR Avenue and FoVG. We urge citizens to continue to demand that the drainage recommendations, street ponding, and the resurfacing of other  streets in Villa Grande be addressed in the next PPP plan.

To this end, we ask members and neighbors to document poor and unsafe road conditions with photos and notes or narratives to share with FoVG.  Collectively we can present these to the county in hopes of future road improvements.

WELCOME TO MONTE RIO (AGAIN)!

The iconic and beloved 'Welcome to Monte Rio' sign, originally installed in the 1930’s, is once again hanging above D Street next to the Rio Theater!  

Due to sagging anchor posts, the 900 pound sign was damaged by a garbage truck in 2023.  Fire Chief Steve Baxman and his firemen took the sign down as a safety precaution and sought funds to stabilize the poles, repair the damage, and re-mount the sign.

At last year’s June RioFest, Friends of Villa Grande, led the fundraising campaign with a goal of $1,500 to get the sign reinstalled.  Together with the fiscal agent, the Friends of Monte Rio, we raised approximately $3,000.00!  A coordinating team of Marina McTaggart (Monte Rio Chamber of Commerce), Fran Levy (Friends of Monte Rio), Chief Steve Baxman, and Roberto Esteves of Friends of Villa Grande met frequently to deal with the complex issues of the sign.

The damage to the sign was more severe than originally anticipated and several neon letters had been smashed. Initial cost estimates were too low and the effort to find a repair company was challenging. 

Eventually, J&L Signs, who repaired the sign and its neon in the past, agreed to undertake the job after the owner’s long recovery from surgery. J&L told us that repairing and reinstalling the neon would not be cost effective, as the neon was old and would soon “gas out”. The difficult decision was made not to reinstall the neon.

The sign was transported to the repair shop, disassembled, dents repaired, neon letters removed, and the sign repainted.

On June 21, 2025,(almost a year from the original fundraising campaign), at a cost of almost $15,000.00, the historical gateway sign is again welcoming folks to Monte Rio!

 A few slots are still available!

Cost is $150 to chain your boat from now until October 12. 

If interested, register here.

{Organization_Name} is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization (tax ID 64-0964108)
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P.O. Box 28, Villa Grande CA 95486 {Organization_Contact_Email}
415.282.1800, www.villagrande.org