Tag: Solvang

SYV People Helping People fulfills a holiday wish for vulnerable families

SOLVANG — People Helping People (PHP) teamed up with generous local businesses, volunteers, and community members to create the 31st annual Fulfill-A-Wish Boutique, bringing relief and joy to 144 low-income households. 

The festive boutique at Veterans’ Memorial Hall in Solvang on December 10th and 11th supplied everything parents needed to create a warm holiday memory for their children from presents to wrapping paper. 

All recipients are clients of PHP who live, work, or go to school in the Santa Ynez Valley or Los Alamos. 

Hundreds enjoy People Helping People’s Thanksgiving Food Distribution in Santa Ynez, Los Alamos Valleys

SOLVANG — The Thanksgiving Food Distribution at People Helping People, an annual holiday ritual, is a team effort with 66 students, teachers, PHP staff, seasoned volunteers and new recruits joining together to share the bounty of the Santa Ynez and Los Alamos Valleys with the most vulnerable. 

Twenty fourth-grade students from the Santa Ynez Valley Christian Academy, led by their teacher Bridget Morrell, got a first-hand lesson in giving by helping organize the can goods donated by public and private schools all over the Valley and bingo players at the Chumash Casino Resort. 

Gainey Foundation gives significant gift to People Helping People repairs in Solvang

“We couldn’t be more grateful to the Gainey Foundation for this remarkable gift,” said PHP CEO, Erica Flores. “They have been a dedicated supporter of our mission for many years and we appreciate them supporting us for this unplanned and unanticipated need.” 

Giant Troll by Renowned International ‘Recycling Artist’ Thomas Dambo to be Installed at California Nature Art Museum in Solvang

SOLVANG — The California Nature Art Museum (formerly the Wildling Museum) is pleased to announce its most ambitious project to date which is commissioning Thomas Dambo, a world-renowned Danish artist who specializes in creating large, whimsical trolls made
from recycled materials, to build his first

permanent troll in California. Dambo who is celebrated for his imaginative and colossal sculptures, breathes new life into discarded resources, showcasing the boundless potential hidden within the world’s trash cans. The recycling artist chose to install his first permanent troll in Solvang, the Danish Capital of America, at the California Nature Art Museum. With the community’s help, this troll, whose name, back- story, and design will be kept a mystery until “she” (the only clue that has been revealed to date) will be constructed and installed in the latter half of January 2025.

Wildling Museum of Art and Nature in Solvang Announces Winners of Third National Juried Exhibition Focusing on California National Parks during Opening Reception

SOLVANG —The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature (www.wildlingmuseum.org) is pleased to announce the winners of its third juried exhibition showcasing all nine of California’s national parks: Lassen, Joshua, Redwoods, Pinnacles, Channel Islands, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Death Valley all of which are featured in the show. California National Parks: Stories of Water features 37 artists and 39 selected artworks that were juried from a pool of more than 240 submissions by artists across the U.S., competing for $4,000 in awards. These artists reside in nine states including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Utah, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, New Mexico, Nevada, and California. The mediums represented in this exhibition are as varied as the art itself and include oil, acrylic, watercolor, graphite, textile, and photography. The exhibition explores various impacts of water – or the lack of water due to drought – in California’s national parks. Other works capture water’s abundance – particularly in the aftermath of this year’s heavy rains – through a range of waterfalls and rivers.

50 Home Challenge Energy Champions Honored by Local Officials

SOLVANG — The first 50 Home Challenge – Solvang participants to complete extensive home energy efficiency projects recently celebrated the milestone with city and county officials at Solvang City Hall. Solvang Mayor Jim Richardson and Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann…