BICENTENNIAL BEAUTIFICATION CONTEST

The California theater is just one of the many beautiful building recently restored in San Bernardino.   Residents are invited to participate in a citywide beautification contest during the month of April as part of the Bicentennial Celebration.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (March 17, 2010) -  The City of San Bernardino invites residents to participate in a citywide beautification contest during the month of April as part of the Bicentennial Celebration.

Projects for the contest include property repairs, painting, landscaping or cleaning up a piece of property. The Bicentennial Celebration Committee will award plaques to the winners in various categories.

All who submit a project will be entered into an opportunity drawing with a chance to win one of many prizes.

"We’re very excited about giving our residents a chance to make a difference in the city and take part in the Bicentennial celebration in this way," said Jean Bulinski, co-chair of the Bicentennial Beautification Committee.

"The city is holding a year-long party and inviting thousands of guests," Bulinski continued, "and this is a way for residents to help our guests feel more welcome."

Individuals, businesses and organizations throughout the city can submit "before" and "after" photos of a project. Entries must include two dated street-view photos of the property before the project and two dated photos of the completed project from the same location.

Entries must be received at the Mayor’s Office or emailed to beautification@erinbrinker.com by 4:00 pm, April 26, 2010. Winners will be announced at the end of April.

For more information and complete rules, visit www.sanbernardino200.org and click on Neighborhood Beautification.

Other upcoming Bicentennial Celebration Events:

  

April 12 will take a look at “Indigenous Pre-Hispanic People of San Bernardino” at the University’s Pfau Library.

On May 1, the San Bernardino Symphony will perform a “Celebrate America” concert at the California Theatre of Performing Arts in honor of the city’s birthday as well as for the centennial of the Community Hospital of San Bernardino.

More music will highlight May 7 and 8 with an adaptation of Mozart’s opera “Cossi Fan Tutte” at the University’s P.A. Recital Hall.

May 8 and 9, the celebration debuts Railroad Days at the San Bernardino History and Railroad Museum at the historic Depot.  The historic Santa Fe  3750 steam locomotive will be brought to San Bernardino for this event,

May 15th will launch a “countdown” celebration with an elaborate gala at the National Orange Show Events Center, with the 16th capped by a Bicentennial Mayor’s Run and Youth Safety Expo at Arrowhead Credit Union Park and a Festival of Faiths at the Western Region Little League Stadium.

There will be a Centennial Monument rededication as well as a Bicentennial Monument dedication on May 20 at Inland Center Drive and “I” Street with a reception to follow at the California Welcome Center – San Bernardino.

June 19 will see another unique event when the city introduces the “San Bernardino’s Got Talent” competition at the Sturges Theatre.  Auditions will take place at the San Bernardino Feldheym Library on April 24 and April 26 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

The Bicentennial festivities continue on July 4th at the 66ers Stadium in the Arrowhead Credit Union Park, the 4^th of July Extravaganza with a fireworks display unlike any the city has previously seen.

The Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous, the Western Regional Little League Tournament and other events taking place in the latter part of 2010 will also feature a tie-in to San Bernardino’s Bicentennial, keeping the celebration alive throughout the year.

Rabbi Hillel Cohn is the chairman of the Bicentennial Celebration Committee, and Erin Brinker is the chair of its Public Relations & Marketing and Independence Day Extravaganza committees. Other Bicentennial Celebration Committee members are Jim Smith (chair of the Community Engagement committee), Cheryl Brown (chair of the Youth Council, Intergovernmental and Arts committees), Beverly Bird (chair of the Legend of the Arrowhead committee), Steven Shaw (chair of the History committee), David Smith (chair of the Finance committee), Jane Sneddon (chair of the Parade committee) and Martha Pinkney (chair of the Gala committee.) The mayor and members of the San Bernardino Common Council appointed these members.

Additional community volunteers who have taken on leadership of other committees are: Trudy Freidel (Festival of Faiths), Edward Martinez (Leadership Cabinet), Peggi Hazlett (Mayor’s Run), Dr. Charles “Skip” Herbert (Coloring Books for Schools), Karen Blanco (Media) and The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire (Design).

For additional details, contact Erin Brinker at (951) 323-9337 or go to http://sanbernardino200.org

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Marco Ofelio Garcia Convention Center's New Chef

Marco Ofelio Garcia, executive chef of Ontario Convention Center - 

photo by Dave Earhart

(ONTARIO, Calif.) Chef Marco Ofelio Garcia has been named the executive chef of the Ontario Convention Center.

His job is to change the way people think about convention center food. Under his leadership, the Ontario Convention Center’s restaurants and banquets will soon expand their fare, providing guests with a fine restaurant style dining experience.

“I create new food ideas,” Chef Garcia said. “I want people to know that if they come here, they will have a unique culinary experience in the style of the finest restaurants.”

“He brings a new wealth of culinary experience to the Ontario Convention Center,” said General Manager Bob Brown. “He has the ability to offer to the community, and to our clients, a dining experience like they have never had before. We are looking forward to some really great food.”

Garcia received his certification as a certified executive chef (CEC), at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He also spent part of 2006 working while gaining tremendous experience as a chef in Barcelona and other regions in Spain.

His most recent prior experience is working as the senior executive chef at Angels Stadium of Anaheim. He was there from 1998-2009, dating back to when it was known as Edison Field.

At Angels’ Stadium he oversaw food preparation for three in-stadium restaurants and 83 skybox suites, as well as for special events at the stadium besides the Angels’ games.

During his time there, even the take-out menus broadly expanded from traditional stadium fare, and the sit-down restaurants now offer some of the finest dining in Anaheim.

Chef Garcia worked as, the concessionaire for Angels Stadium, starting in 1993. Before moving over to Angels’ Stadium, he was the sous chef at Arrowhead Pond, and the executive chef at Los Angeles Convention Center.

Prior to working in sports venues and convention centers, Chef Garcia worked as the executive chef at restaurants in San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago, and for Pinnacle Industries. He also worked at restaurants such as the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, and the officers’ dining lounges at two military bases in southern California.

Chef Garcia grew up in San Francisco, where he first gained exposure to the Mexican, Asian, Southwest and Mediterranean cuisines that continue to influence his repertoire. He also broadens his influence by traveling to different cities, tasting the cuisine of each.

The Ontario Convention Center is a contemporary design building, encompassing 225,000 square feet of space that can be configured to meet a variety of convention and other meeting needs. All areas of the Ontario Convention Center contain advanced communications technology, including wireless Internet access and video conferencing.

For a tour or more information, call Amita Patel at (909) 937-3000 or toll-free at (800) 455-5755, email info@ontariocvb.com or go to www.ontariocc.com

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Foster Joins Leading Ad & PR Agency

Melissa Foster is learning how a leading PR firm promotes its clients through her internship with Dameron Communications. Chris Sloan photo

(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) Melissa Foster is developing public relations and social networking online strategies to advance the success of Dameron Communications clients. 

Foster has increased her skills and writes press releases for agency clients. She also promotes events for the company on many different social networks including Facebook, Myspace, Eventful, Zvents, and Entertainment Lifestyles.

Foster has had the opportunity to interview and work with government officials, business leaders, community leaders and volunteers.

Foster has realized print media is where you begin and is the foundation of all public relations communications. Foster’s university professors in public relations taught print media is outdated because people use online sources to get their information.

“Earning coverage in a newspapers and magazines is the foundation of good public relations. Many radio, TV and websites draw their content from newspapers. The information in the press release is then used in slightly different forms to promote events through online media,” Foster said.

As an example, a major local newspaper distributes 190,000 newspapers daily with 630,000 readers per day. That’s 18.9 million readers a month, offering more media hits than any Inland Empire online media delivers.

A press release allows for all the information to be in one place, permitting fast distribution of materials through all social networks and other online channels.

Foster joined Southern California’s leading public relations and advertising agency, Dameron Communications to build a foundation in public relations and decide if this is the career for her.

Foster is mentored by Carl Dameron, agency director of Dameron Communications and has learned the most important thing is to gather information, research, write a good press release and tell the story across all media including print, online, TV and radio.

“I have learned how to communicate information and learned that the foundation of communications is the same as it was 20 years ago. We just have new ways of getting information out,” Foster said.

“I know I am greatly expanding my knowledge and skills to be competitive in the field of public relations,” Foster said. “This has been a great experience and a wonderful opportunity.”

Foster began her communications major with a concentration in public relations, April of 2009. Now as a senior at Cal State San Bernardino, she hopes to land a job at a prominent public relations firm before graduation in March 2011.

“My university education has taught me critical thinking skills, effective communication and crisis communication,” Foster said.

At Cal State San Bernardino, Foster joined Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). She learned more about public relations and how new trends in the field of communications could be applied in the business world.

Activities included listening to guest speakers in the field of public relations and establishing networking connections.

Dameron said, “It is a pleasure to have Melissa work with us. She has quickly learned to write a good press release that has earned media coverage, a difficult task for people with years of professional experience. Every one of her stories has run in several local daily and weekly publications. She is a hard working young professional who I believe will be very successful in this business.”

About Dameron Communications
Since 1989 Dameron Communications has creatively met the needs of our diverse client base locally, regionally and nationally. It is an award-winning agency that creates integrated advertising and public relations solutions to increase clients’ sales and profits, win elections, inform the public or gain acceptance of potentially controversial issues.

Dameron Communications creates advertising for television, radio, newspaper, magazine, and billboards, web sites, mobile web applications, email and more. Public relations services include press releases, press conferences, media relations, television programs, web sites, opinion editorials, promotions, event creation and management, government relations and community relations.  

Dameron Communications has earned media coverage for clients from: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, CBS MarketWatch; Fox News, CNN, CNNfn, Nightly Business Report; The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Dow Jones News Wire, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press and many more.

For more information go to: http://www.DameronCommunications.com/ or call (909) 888-0017.

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