Mayor Guerra in Dublin with Lord Mayor Claire Byrne

Mayor Guerra is in Dublin Ireland today with Deputy Lord Mayor Claire Byrne of Dublin at The Lord Mayors Mansion. Mayor Guerra said, “She is wearing the Clancy Chain, only one in world, made of Gold and very heavy.Sshe has to wear at every official function. It is Celtic motif from book of Kelly and the Tara Brooch, it is an inscribed medallion bearing the City’s coat of arms in blue and red enamel. She is from the Fine Gael Party. Very nice and welcoming. Pretty cool having coffee in Lords Mayor Mansion for over an hour!”

As part of Downey’s Sister Cities Association, Mayor Guerra is visiting Roscommon Ireland which is the birthplace of Downey Founder, John Gately Downey. The Sister Cities Association hopes to share and promote business opportunities between the Sister Cities.

Tomorrow, Mayor Guerra will travel to Roscommon to meet with The Mayor, Tom Crosby and the entire City Council. Roscommon is about two hours away from where the Mayor is now. Once Mayor Guerra arrives he will be met Mayor Crosby and the two will sit down for lunch, and I’m sure a very interesting chat. On Thursday at the City Council meeting there will be a ceremony and the Sister Cities papers will be signed. Quite the successful trip!

Ann Guera at the Lord Mayors Mansion

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A beautiful day with some really beautiful people
Photo by John Zander

On Saturday May 18th, Downey’s Wilderness Park was stocked with smiles… and 500 pounds of catfish.

Photo by John Zander

The Downey Rotary Club once again hosted a day of fishing, fun and lunch for some of the wonderful students of the Arc. “The purpose of the event is to give individuals with developmental disabilities some one on one attention for several hours.” said Kevin MacDonald, Arc CEO. Fishing is not something that the Arc students usually do, and they were all very excited. I could tell from the moment that they arrived, they could not wait to get a line in the lake.

Jesse was the champ with five caught!
Photo by John Zander

The annual event is sponsored by the Downey Rotary and supported by the Department of Fish and Game. In fact, the Department of Fish and Game stocked the north side lake at Wilderness Park the previous night with 500 pounds of fish, weighing about a pound each. That is a lot of fish! Overseeing and organizing the event for the Rotary Club is long time member, Larry McGrew. It was Kevin who originally contacted the Department of Fish and Game to get their support on the event. I was told that at previous events the entire group caught one fish. Well, McGrew took care of that. McGrew made a joke out of it and told some Rotary members that it would take a “real” fisherman to get anything out of that lake, but guaranteed that they would catch fish. After speaking with some friends at Fish & Game he arranged to have the lake stocked the night before the event. McGrew said, “After five minutes they all started laughing and hollering and we caught 112 fish that day! They caught more catfish then they knew what to do with. They were flying out of the ice chest!” ” That was six years ago. The Rotary Club had been doing the event four years prior to McGrew running the event.

The group ready to fish!
Photo by John Zander

Photo by John Zander

The day began with some Rotary members and a few from Fish & Game preparing for the Arc students arrival. Fish & Game supplied the poles and tackle and had everything ready to go by the time the Arc students arrived. Once the bus pulled up, all you saw was one smile after the other get off. After a quick gathering to fill everyone on what they were going to do, it was off to the lake! Each Arc student was paired up with a volunteer from the Rotary Club. Quite a few of the volunteers had fishing experience, which was obvious. I don’t know which group had more fun. The Rotary Club members were like kids on a day off from school. Really enjoying the day and their fishing buddy.

Photo by John Zander

The paired up fisherman (and women) we set up on a couple side of the lake. Five minutes after the poles hit the water, bam! First fish. And it was a steady flow from that point. Arc student Jesse, who has been paired up with McGrew for the last three years landed five catfish! He was so happy, and McGrew couldn’t have been prouder of him. In total 39 fish were caught that day and I believe that everyone caught at least one. It really was a wonderful day. Laughter and screams rang out across the lake each time a fish was caught. `

Dr. Dan Fox, Larry McGrew and fishing champ Jesse
Photo by John Zander

A word on The Arc. This is an amazing place where the developmentally challenged can go to learn a variety of skills. It is all about independence at the Arc. I am working on a full article on the Arc, which will be followed up with a regular series of pieces on all that they Arc does. Please look for that in the Downey Beat very soon. If you have a friend or family member that you think may benefit from the Arc’s services, you can contact them at (562) 803-4606
http://www.thearcla.org

Photo by John Zander

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This June Downey will join hundreds of other cities in an annual global celebration of that extraordinary talent that is unique to human beings – our ability to make music.  First organized in Paris in 1982 as Fete de la Musique, these one-day music festivals, usually at the time of the Summer Solstice, have grown in international popularity.

Joining cities large and small, the Make Music Downey celebration will be in the form of “Open-Air”, free public performances on June 8, From 11am – 6 pm, Downtown and around town Downey.

Make Music Downey is a city-wide music festival open to anyone.

We celebrate all genres of music and we want your participation, even if you are an amateur musician!

Whether you play in a garage band or a chamber group, whether you play Mariachi music or jazz, country or new age, Hawaiian melodies or hip-hop. The stages will be located throughout the city at, Main Stage is at the First Presbyterian Church at 7th Street and Downey Avenue. Then we have Mambo Grill, Stacked Burgers next to Krikorian Theater, Stay Gallery, Epic Lounge, and Downey Music Store on Firestone.

Your music will thrill and move everyone because it comes from your heart.

Make Music Downey is an all-volunteer effort. Volunteers are still needed.

For more information check the official Make Music Downey Web Site @
http://www.makemusicdowney.org

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Photo by John Zander

On Saturday May 18th the Downey Theater had another fabulous concert. The world famous Four Tops performed to a full house.

Photo by John Zander

The foursome were backed up by an amazing, and large live band. The band opened the show, setting the mood with some R&B. When the Four Tops came on stage, the crowd went crazy. They opened with “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and the hits continued from there.

Photo by John Zader

The show was what one would expect from the Four Tops. Amazing vocals, harmonies and choreography . Only one of the current group is an original member. Abdul “Duke” Fakir has been with the group since his teen years and the beginning of the group.

Photo by John Zander

Throughout the show, the group remembered, and paid tribute to the members who have passed. Fakir also told a few stories about his former friends and bandmates. This was done with humor and respect. There were obviously many Four Tops fans at the show. The crowd sang along with each hit.

Photo by John Zander

The Four Tops have been performing and recording since the mid 50s, but you would never know it by watching them. Meaning they sang and moved like teenagers. The concert was really impressive. I had a great time and enjoyed every minute, as did everyone else there.

It is really amazing to have events like these at the Downey Theater, right in our own back yard. You would think that you would have to go to Vegas or a large So. Cal Casino to see a group like the For Tops and their band. But the Downey Theater is bringing in more and more large acts and shows. The theater is comfortable, the sound is good and tickets are really reasonable. Not to mention probably no more then a 10 minute drive for any resident.It is a real gem within our city.

Photo by John Zander

For info on upcoming shows check the Downey Theater Upcoming Show Page, CLICK HERE. And the 2014 season will be announced soon!

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Physicians from Kaiser Permanente join in to ride with the kids
Photo by John Zander

Downey schools took part in National Bike To School Day on May 8th. CLICK HERE to read the full article.

Thank you to Alexander Gayton for sending over the video!
Video by Mr. T.

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