The Santa Ynez boys volleyball is on a great run in the middle of its Mountain League schedule and hopes to put itself in good shape for the upcoming CIF Central Section playoffs.

After a three-game sweep over non-league opponent Cabrillo (25-12, 25-14, 25-9) on Tuesday, April 8, the Pirates stood at 4-0 in the Mountain and 13-3 overall. SYHS has won seven straight regular matches; it’s only recent blemish was the Bishop Diego Tournament in Santa Barbara on Saturday, April 5, where the Pirates won four (two-out-of-three-sets) matches before losing to host school Bishop Diego, 25-22, in a one-set final.

The success shouldn’t be all that surprising: SYHS is in the second year of the return of Hall-of-Fame coach Chip Fenenga, who actually established the boys volleyball program in 1992 and won seven CIF Southern Section championship in his first stint coaching the boys. He recently won his 500th as boys coach, and also won 199 in a previous stint as girls volleyball coach.

“Oh, I’ve had good players,” Fenenga said with a laugh after the Cabrillo game. The coach said the key with this year’steam is its defense.

“We’re very good defensively,” he said. “We are just able to force teams to get out of their game and make mistakes.”

Sophomore outside hitter Nathan Biron agrees.

“Our defense is like no other on the Central Coast,” he said. “It’s our backbone. It allows us to get our setters to pitch it out to our hitters.”

According to senior team captains Manny Sanchez and Ben Suerman, a pair whom Fenenga calls “the backbone and heart of the team,” has been a team that been very in sync.

“Our communication is how we’re doing so well,” Sanchez said. “We’re better this year at talking and making sureeveryone knows what they’re doing.”

Suerman said that extends outside the court.

“The morale on this team is amazing,” he said. “It’s the closest team I’ve ever been a part of.”

The Pirates played at Templeton on April 10, and will close out its regular season with three home games, against San Luis Obispo (April 15), Atascadero (April 17), and Arroyo Grande (April 17), all starting at 6 p.m. After that, the team will find out where it will be placed in the CIF Central Section playoffs; the Pirates were placed in Division at the season’s start, but could be moved up to Division I

“We have great expectations for CIF whether or not we go Division I or II,” Sarumen said. “We’ve scouted the teams up in the Central Valley in the Fresno and Clovis area; they’ll be tough, but were excited about playing some heavier-hitting teams.”

SYHS golfer shoots personal-best score in dual match

Santa Ynez senior golfer Brayden Mlodzik shot a career-low one under par 71 as the Pirates boys golf team defeated Sierra Pacific 403-458 in a non-league dual match on April 9 at the Alisal River Course in Solvang.

Mlodzik’s score beat his previous low by one stroke, and he has had a solid scoring average of 77 through 12 rounds this season, according to head coach Sara Ovadia.

Mlodzik also shot 78 for the Pirates’ low score in the fourth Mountain League tournament of the season, this one hosted by SYHS on the Alisal course. The Pirates shot a team low in league with a 426, with placed them fourth on the day.

San Luis Obispo was low team with 386, one stroke Arroyo Grande, who had the medalist in Ned Tarter with a score of 70.

Beach volleyball squad loses tough one to Arroyo Grande

The SYHS girls beach volleyball squad lost another tight one to Arroyo Grande, whom they lost to in the CIF Central Section final last year.

In this matchup, on April 1, the Eagles beat the visiting Pirates 2-1. Arelie Perez and Natalie Bailey teamed up for the Santa Ynez win, defeating Bixby Hardy and Diana Sorondo 21-14, 21-18.

The Pirates’ Scarlett Ollenburger and Jordan Gann won their first game against AG’s Bella Strickland and Grace Kennedy 21-13, but lost the second game 21-16, and the decided third game, 15-8. Helina Pecile and Kailyn Snekvik also went three games, with Elizabeth Trimble and Isla Smith, as AGHS took the first game 23-21, SYHS won the second 21-15, and the Eagles’ duo won the decider 15-10.

“AG has great ball control and does a really good job of limiting their errors,” said SYHS head coach Melissa Rogers.”In addition, they are a tough serving team. Our 1’s and 3’s struggled today with their serve receive and as a result did not get into system consistently enough to pull out a win.” 

However, Rogers had praise for her winning duo.

“On the 2’s court, Arelie Perez and Natalie Bailey cruised to victory, playing a very solid match,” Rogers said. “They are playing very dominant volleyball right now.  Their strengths and weaknesses really complement one another.”

The Pirates (4-1 in league, 12-5 overall) followed up that match with wins over San Luis Obispo (2-1) and Bishop Diego (5-0). They will end the regular season with a home game against AGHS, and then await their first CIF opponent.

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On a busy weekend in Solvang, a number of Santa Ynez Valley demonstrators gathered along Mission Drive in front of the Veterans Memorial Hall to participate in a national day of protest on Saturday, April 5.

The protest, referred to as “Hands Off,” was against the recent policies of President Donald Trump, including newly imposed global tariffs, cuts to government agencies and federal workforce, and raids to round up undocumented immigrants, among other policies made by the president after his reelection in 2024.

According to the Associated Press, demonstrations were organized for more than 1,400 locations in all 50 states, with an estimated 3 million participating.

Among the ones on the Central Coast was the one in Solvang (there were also demonstrations in Santa Barbara and Lompoc) spearheaded by Solvang resident Christine Pickavet, with help from Santa Ynez resident Leslie Churchfield.

“I wanted to go to Santa Barbara, and I saw there was one in Lompoc, but I knew we had a strong presence of people here in Solvang to do one,” Pickavet said. “So I contacted Leslie, and we got the word out.”

Pickavet said she organized the demonstration mainly to give people a voice, and there was no one issue over the others that prompted her to protest.

“We wanted something here in Solvang for local representation for our voices, because I think it can lean the other way sometimes,” she said. “I just wanted everyone who shares our perspective to know that they’re not alone here in the Valley, and I knew it could gather even if it was just Leslie and I on the corner.”

Plans for the protest were curtailed somewhat by the Bricks and Builds weekend-long event, which was an inaugualconvention for Lego builders and enthusiasts. Organizers had reportedly sought to use Solvang Park, but the Bricks and Builds already had activities and entertainment set up there. The protesters gathered instead at Mission Drive in front of the Veterans Hall, which was the main location of the Lego event.

Most demonstrators had handmade signs that they held up for passing motorists to see, many playing off the “Hands Off” idea, and others referring to more specific subjects, like the tariffs, governmental cuts, immigration, and LBGTQ+ issues. Motorists could be heard sounding their horns, presumably in support, as they passed the protesters.

“The reactions from people passing by has been very positive,” Churchfield said. “We’re getting a lot of honks.”

While the more than 100 protesters had a few issues to protest, Nancy Dale of Solvang said it all stemmed from what she thought the federal government was becoming.

“With who’s in charge now, I feel the government is becoming autocratic, and that really scares me,” she said.

Amy Derryberry of Solvang, who came to the demonstration with Dale, agreed, saying, “I think it’s become a power grab that’s unconstitutional and with all of [Trump’s] that are completely not qualified for any of the offices that they’reat.”

Ultimately, for Churchfield and other protesters, it was the satisfaction of being a part of something bigger, and letting her voice be heard.

“We’re taking part here, but it’s the National Day of Protest, and we’re standing strong with apparently two and a half million other Americans, and that feels good,” she said.

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The Buellton City Council put in a little extra time in the first full week of April, conducting its regular meeting on Thursday, April 10, before holding a special meeting on Saturday, April 12, at the Buellton Library to discuss future budget priorities.

In the regular meeting, for which Mayor David Silva was absent, the council listened to a presentation by the United Way of Santa Barbara County on its Brighter Futures Childcare Initiative, a program designed to improve access to childcare for low- and middle-income families in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Later, in the meeting’s first business item, Steve Ortiz and Rose Levy of the United Way of Santa Barbara County gave a presentation explaining the organization’s Brighter Futures Childcare Initiative. Having the United Way come to explain the program was something suggested by Councilmember Hudson Hornick, who has two children in the Zaca Preschool in Buellton, and said he has seen the difficulty that some have had in getting affordable childcare.

“I’ve talked with Shelley Grand, the executive director of the preschool, and she told me she has a waiting list of 100 to get into the school,” Hornick said. “This is just a staggering obstacle for families to get proper care.”

In her presentation, Levy pointed out that the county has a child-space deficit (people waiting to get in to childcare) of 9,371, and their are over 1,000 on waiting lists in the Santa Ynez Valley alone.

Levy said the issues facing families trying to get their kids into childcare include high tuition rates, difficulties ofrunning a childcare facility, lack of providers, and inability of parents to fully participate in the workforce.

The Brighter Futures Initiative tries to narrow the gap with scholarships for the “missing middle” (middle-income families), and programs to encourage more childcare, among other things.

Levy suggested ways for Buellton to engage would be create revenue sources to help strengthen the childcare sector,and gave examples from elsewhere in the county.

“In Goleta, they have the Measure B sales tax; in Aspen, Colorado, they use a real estate transfer taxes; and in Hood River, Oregon, they use [transit occupancy tax] to fund childcare opportunities,” she said, naming just a few of many.

Levy said the city can also help by looking at its land-use policy to make it less restrictive for preschool and childcare facilities to open.

In response, Vice Mayor Elysia Lewis said she could direct staff to look at Buellton’s land-use policy, whileCouncilmember John Sanchez suggested the city could incentivize future housing project to include a building or facility for childcare. Hornick, who has already joined a county coalition on the issue, said he would like to explore the possiblity of partnerships with the United Way to help the process.

In other business, the council agreed to install signs at the transit stop near the Buellton Library on Valley Dairy Road. In the March 13 meeting, staff was directed to find a solution other than a red curb to prevent parking at the stop.

Director of Public Works Rose Hess recommended signs prohibited parking while the transit buses were still in operation, which Hess said would be from approximately 6:49 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday. After agreeing to keep a red curb in front of the fire hydrant just before the Dairyland Road intersection, the council voted 3-0 to approve the signs.

On Saturday, April 12, the City Council convened in a conference room at the Buellton Library for a special meeting to discuss budget priorities, one that City Manager Scott Wolfe said would be an “informal discussion” on the city’s budget needs. Hornick had suggested the meeting at previous regular meetings because he believed the council would have to deal with a deficit in future years.

However, after Finance Director Shannel Zamora gave her presentation, which had new numbers that showed the city would be operating with a surplus for the rest of its 10-year forecast, Hornick said the discussion was probably unnecessary as the forecast now did not show a future deficit, thanks to, among other things, an expected spike in the Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT).

The councilmembers still decided to go over the budget priorities that were listed in an earlier meeting.

Among the listed items included in the projection:

Willemsen Property Parking Lot: Cost given at $2.6 million which will be split between separate fiscal years. Sanchez voiced his opposition at a stairway up to the library, but Wolfe assured that they would be looking to build a ramp instead.

Highway 246 Safety Improvements: To cost $2 million, to be split between fiscal years.

Motor Officer add to Sheriff Contract: Listed at $270,200 per current contract proposal.

Median 3 (Avenue of Flags) design/improvements: Listed at $3 million — $850,000 paid in FY 2024-25 and $2.15 million paid in FY 2025-26.

Children’s Museum: City has agreed to partner up with museum on Willemsen property, projected as $800,000, with a $350,000 start-up contribution, $150,000 per year in years 1 and 2, with a $150,000 match at 2 for 1 in year 3.

Two items on the list not projected included a splash pad (thought to be part of Children’s Museum budget), and a shade canopy at the River View Park playground (deemed not feasible due to frequent high winds at park).

The City Council will meet next on Thursday, April 24, at 6 p.m.

The post Buellton City Council puts in a little overtime appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

With the recent devastating fires in Pacific Palisades and Pasadena still fresh in everyone’s minds, the steps to protect one’s home and property from wildfires becomes more and more important.

With that thinking, Santa Ynez Valley residents attended a public meeting to address fire safety and preparedness, co-hosted by Santa Barbara County 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, Buellton Mayor David Silva. and Solvang City Councilmember Elizabeth Orona on March 31 at the Solvang City Council chambers.

With other local leaders from the Valley present, the meeting had fire personnel and county evacuation experts on the panel to give presentations and answer questions from the audience on fire safety and prevention.

Orona opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and noting that the meeting was held for local residents to be “more aware, more informed, and more prepared” for potential wildfires in the area.”

“Not that we weren’t already conscious of it, but it is important for intercommunities to be coordinated and planning our reponses,” Orona said. “Fire safety and fire abatement is most effective when we work together and follow programs.”

Silva then spoke and urged to practice preparedness for not only fires, but other emergencies.

“Even smaller emergencies can cause havoc,” he said. “Buellton’s a commuter city, and if an emergency happens here at the wrong time, you could be miles away. That’s why you need to be proactive in the neighborhood; emergencies aren’talways going to be with a FEMA element attached to it.”

Hartmann then spoke and delivered a message that would set the tone for the evening: “Resilience is built on relationships, and having social connections gives you a better chance for survival.”

She then introduced Santa Barbara County Fire Marshal Fred Tan, who said that the key for residents is to maintain fire mitigation by keeping vegetation clear around one’s property, and that the county is doing its part in that.

“We take a lot of action in this county, my deputy fire marshal, Vince LaRocco, is the backbone of the mitigation,” Tan said. “We’ve conducted the Spalding-Midland burn, a roughly 1,600-acre project that creates about a 10-year buffer to protect the communities and next year we’re planning the Sedgewick burn, which should help clear more vegetation and keep us safer from wildfires.” 

After Tan spoke, Hartmann then introduced Anne-Marie Parkinson, the executive director of the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, for which Hartmann is a board member. The Fire Safe Council works with fire agencies to reduce risk, and also with neighborhoods, encouraging them to collabarate on fire prevention and mitigation.

Parkinson spoke to the audience about Firewise USA, a program that provides collaborative framework to help neighbors, get organized, understand risk, and work together to decrease wildfire risk. She began her presentation by showing a video of actor James Woods recounting how he saved an elderly neighbor after authorities lost track of him during an evacuation.

“I got chills seeing that, because that is the whole point of Firewise,” Parkinson said. “That man was rescued because the neighbor [Woods] knew him, knew where he was, knew his son’s number, and the man is alive because of that.”

She then went on to say the county had 30 Firewise communities in Santa Barbara County and were looking for more, hoping to have the whole county under the program. The Firewise program promotes creating a committee, identifying boundaries and risk assessments, and putting together an action plan.

Hartmann then proposed a Firewise community be formed in the Santa Ynez Valley and eventually link it to others in the county.

“We’re working on a Firewise community in Lompoc, and we just finished one on the Gaviota coast,” she said. “Having one in Santa Ynez Valley can help bridge the effort to be ready for fires.”

The next speaker was Sara Aguilar, director of animal services for Santa Barbara County, who advised on the evacuation of animals during a fire.

Emergency time is short options shrink immediately,” she said. “You can’t just load your animals in a car, or take them to a hotel. Saving animals can be risk to human lives. The key is to have a plan for evacuation.”

Aguilar also provided a QR code for a livestock registry that can be used so those with the county who are evacuating your animals know the particular and eliminate any confusion at your property. She also suggested an evacuation practice at night to make sure you can load your animal and get out quickly. She said if you can do that at night, it will be much easier during the day.

After the speakers were done, the floor was opened for questions and comments from the audience.

The first audience member pointed out that air support is important for fighting fires, but that the county is currently working with “Vietnam-era helicopters” that need to be upgraded.

“It cost money, but the investment is important, and we have people in this area with money,” the man said. “If the chiefs bring the proposal forward, we’ll support you.”

That speaker also proposed more night capabilities for aircraft, when the conditions were better, and also said partnering with the Chumash Fire Department could also be beneficial.

Another audience member pointed out the shortage of roads to get out of Valley towns during a fire or other catastrophe.

“We have one road in and one road out: I don’t get how it can work,” she said. “We can’t get out on the 4th of July, how will we get out if there’s a fire? where’s the infrastructure?”

To that end, Tam urged an early warning notificiation, and for the people to be self-aware and leave early if they feelthey need to instead of waiting for officials to order them out.

“We’re phasing in an evacuation plan,” he said. “It’ll be a challenge, but with early detection, we should do OK.”

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The City of Solvang was awash in multi-colored plastic bricks on the weekend of April 5-6 as Solvang Park, the Solvang Veterans Hall, and a few other locations hosted the inaugural Bricks & Builds event, celebrating all things Lego.

Solvang, known for its deep Danish roots, was an appropriate site for the event, as the Lego company was started in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. Two years later, his company came to be called “Lego”, derived from the Danish phrase “leg godt,” which means “play well”. In 1947, Lego expanded to begin producing plastic toys, and soon created the interlocking blocks we all know so well. The company is still based in Billund.

The Lego craze has resulted not only in countless playset and products, but conventions and expos all over the country where Lego builders and fans gather to build and meet up with others who share the passion.

However, such events have been few and far between in California, something that Bricks & Builds organizer Allyson Gail wanted to rectify.

“I really wanted to get something going here, because we haven’t had any Lego event in California after the Bricks LA event stopped a couple years ago,” said Gail, who was on the reality show “Lego Masters” and actually helped organize a similar Lego event in Solvang in 2022. “I just wanted to give somewhere for the Lego builders to go to. We have people from the Bay Area down to San Diego, and from Long Beach, Orange County and LA.”

Gail pointed out the different things going on with the event.

“We have all the builds displayed here, we have vendors in the other room selling Lego stuff,” she said. “We have our town-wide building competition, where we have builders at different locations putting together a build based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, to give it a connection to Solvang.”

One of those builders, John Cooper of San Diego, was set up at Solvang Park, near a public “brick pit” where kids and their parents could build things out of random Lego pieces, various vendors, and a live band playing at the gazebo.

“I guess I’m just a hardcore fan of these,” said Cooper, who was assigned “The Ugly Duckling” for his Andersen work. “I used to do monthly competitions at Legoland [in Carlsbad] with both my daughters.”

One of Cooper’s daughters, Juliana, accompanied him at the table, and said she’s dabbled in Legos herself.

“My dad and I will do some mass-market kits,” she said. “And we enjoy doing the architectural models that they have.”

The time was well spent for John Cooper as he took his completed work to the Veterans Hall on Sunday and won the popular vote over the other town-wide contestants.

Visitors to the Veterans Hall on Saturday and Sunday got to take a look at a number of finished Lego projects, as well as talks with a number of Lego Master Builders, and those who run the Lego community website, Bricklink, a website that has products for sale, but also a designer program where you can design a build online and even enter a contest where one’s design can be picked as a set to be marketed and sold.

“Bricklink is a very fan-centric portion of the Lego community,” said Alex Kastelic, who is the Bricklink Designer Program Lead at Lego. “We are the community space for the most passionate Lego fans, and we pretty much cover the whole world.”

Like many adult Lego enthusiasts, Kastelic can go back to his childhood as his start at building with the plastic blocks. Also like many, there was a period where his building waned, but the interest came back.

“I got interested in other things as I got older, but then I got back into right before COVID,” he said. “It was in 2019 and it was the 20th anniversary of the Star Wars sets, which were the last ones I had as a kid. When they brought them back, it was nostalgia for me; I started doing those and never looked back. And now I’m working for the company.”

Many attendees expressed their gratitude that the Bricks & Builds event has happened in Solvang, among them Jesse Gros of Venice Beach, who won the Lego building contest at Solvang’s Danish Days last September.

“I love it; it’s my favorite new Lego event,” said Gros, who won the category for space/steampunk creations. “We haven’t had any events in California for a while, and it’s good not to have to travel so far.”

At the end of the event on Sunday, the winners for the various categories:

Town-wide Lego Build: John Cooper (The Ugly Duckling). Also entered (with each basing his work on a Hans Christian Anderson story): Riley Blissmer (The Snow Queen), Tim Heinderich (The Emperor’s New Clothes), Conard Scoley (The Little Mermaid), and Tyler Strampp (Princess and the Pea).

Best Solvang-themed build: Lia Von Damm (Solvang stamp and others)

Best Space/Steampunk build: Jesse Gros (The “Aetherhive” from Magic: The Gathering)

Art/Pop Culture build: Nino Guba (Ghostbusters RTV)

Best Lego City/Train build: Bruce Heller (Brentwood Sunshine Preschool)

Best Castle/Fantasy build: “Shy” (Original castle/battle scene)

Public vote winner for inside the Veterans Hall expo:

Scott Thomas (coral reef)

The post For a weekend, Solvang becomes Legoland appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

Local musician Davis Reinhart can still remember the inspiration that brought his and Sylvia Jiang’s musical collaborative its name.

“When our organization began to take shape, I remembered being in New York City when COVID hit in 2020,” Reinhart recalled. “I saw long lines of people at the foodbank there, and I likened the need for food for a community’s need to experience music and artistic expression.”

And from that, Reinhart came up with the name Muffin Music for the organization’s he started with New Zealand-born pianist and the group’s Artistic Director Sylvia Jiang in 2022.

Reinhart had a desire to play music as long as he can remember.

“I learned piano early on and was always heavily involved in that,” he said. “Then going into school I picked up the trumpet and started playing that too. Through Oak Valley (Elementary) and then Santa Ynez High, I was always a band person.”

Reinhart and Jiang met in 2018 while attending the Music Academy of the West’s Summer Festival and found they both saw a need to provide music education to artistically underserved communities. 

“Our vision really took shape thanks to grant from the then-new Arts and Culture Program and I used it for the first-ever Buellton in the Park Festival, held at River View Park,” he said.

The festival was an amazing success, bringing eight hours of free performances to the community of local musicians and dancers, as well as internationally acclaimed musicians, as people celebrated Buellton’s 30th anniversary as an incorporated city. 

“Since that event, we’ve continued an annual Residency Program which involves Muffin Music visiting local schools to run music workshops and discussions, as well as free community concerts,” Reinhart said. “Just this past year we started a new program that brings instructors and live performances to Hope Refuge, a rehabilitation clinic based in Goleta for young girls from Santa Barbara County in need. Finally, we have our annual M2 Program, offering top notchmusical training for young musicians of all musical backgrounds.” 

This year, the M2 Program is particularly exciting as Muffin Music will be collaborating with the Dunn School to run the program. The group will be offering both an M2 Camp for local youth ages 8-18 of all musical backgrounds (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) day camp, and the M2 Piano Intensive for pianists from all over the world (boarding program). Students participating will have a chance to work with each other and learn from working professional musicians and world-class teachers, one of which being Yong Hi Moon, one of the greatest piano pedagogues who currently teaches at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University. This program will take place from July 11-20 this summer.

“I was able to get together with Dunn for this thanks to Guy Walker, who’s a graduate of Dunn and on the board of directors,” Reinhart said of the man who is also on the Santa Barbara County School Board. “He and C.J. Jackson, who owns Alisal Ranch, suggested I use Dunn for the camp. It’s got boarding facilities, and students can use that or just come to the day camp.”

Reinhart said that registration for the camps will open on May 1, and scholarships are available to attend.

Meanwhile, Reinhart and Jiang will be holding two community concerts this month, both in Santa Barbara County. The first will be at Unity of Santa Maria (1165 Stubblefield Road, Santa Maria) on Friday, April 11, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and the second at Shepherd of the Valley Church (3550 Baseline Ave., Santa Ynez) on Saturday, April 12, also from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The free concerts are open to the public.

For more information on Muffin Music, and the camps, go to muffinmusic.org. 

The post Muffin Music has the right recipe for musical education appeared first on Santa Ynez Valley Star.

On a Saturday last month, Dunn School in Los Olivos hosted a large group of budding entrepreneurs from around the country, who polished their presentation skills pitches for their business and product ideas.

On March 1, for the second straight year, Dunn hosted the regional competition for the Diamond Challenge, a competition billed as “The Ultimate High School Entrepreneur Challenge.”

Dunn Head of School Kalyan Balaven welcomed the competitors and help up the event as an example of what his school and the schools represented are trying to convey.

“This event is the perfect example of how education and innovation intersect,” he said. “The students here are not just dreamers, they are architects of our future.”

Although Dunn did not have any students who competed in the Diamond Challenge, the event matches up well with the efforts of the school to teach the philosophies and practices of business and entrepreneurship.

Dunn teacher Chad Stacy oversees the program as the Director of Entrepreneurship and explained how it works.

“At the heart of program is our student-run store 24/7 convenience store, where students can get food and snacks and other needs and pay electronically,” he said. “It’s our main revenue producer, and it’s where our new students are put to learn the basics. It’s real hands-on.”

Stacy said as the students get older, they can branch off into different areas.

“We can offer additional entrepreneurial courses, where the students can propose and make their own products and sell them in their own store,” he said. “And we have students invest some of the money they make from the store in the stock market and see how that can grow.”

Meanwhile, the competition offered a wide range of business ideas and concepts for the judges to evaluate. Presentations were made in two “pitch rooms” representing two categories: Business Innovation and Social Innovation.

In the Business room, judges heard pitches for many different ideas including those for The Chess Mate, a service to find willing players for chess that includes the ability to organize tournaments and look at tutorials to become a better player. There was also a proposal for a company called (eye)deal, that can detect eye disease remotely with an online camera. And there was Fizzle, proposing a device to installed in stoves to keep them from overheating and causing fires.

“I actually had a neighbor in the San Jose area who had his home damaged because his stove caught fire,” said Ishaan Mandala, who teamed with his Silver Creek High classmates Adarsh Sharma and Tanish Srinivas for the presentation.“So I started thinking about how we could help prevent that, and came up with this.”

Over in the Social Innovation room, threat of fire was also the inspiration for a concept called SkyScouts, which was proposed as a system to predict wildfires, so they can be dealt with before they do too much damage. The judges for that part of the competition also heard pitches for MeloSign (with the slogan “Making Music Tangible”), whose creators envision a way for the hearing-impaired to truly enjoy music, with visual cues on a screen and a wearable device on the wrist with hoptic vibrations to allow the person to feel the beat of the music.

Also in the Social category was Rhythmiq, billed as an all-encompassing online tool for professional, amateur, and aspiring dancers that would be a search engine for affordable training and dance studios, and online help to learn dance steps and create your own routines with the help of AI.

David Zheng, Russell Qian, and Suri Li, who all got to know each other through their dance experience were at Dunn to present their idea.

“This presentation and how we did it is kind of recent, but the idea kind of hatched with me about two and a half years ago,” Zheng said. “I was trying to get into auditions for K-pop and while doing that I realized there were so many talented people who just didn’t have a way to get their foot in the door. So I started looking for a way to create something for that, and meeting up with my partners, we tried to find an all-inclusive tool to help dancers and performers.”

After all the pitches were done, the students heard from the event’s keynote speaker Autumn Badelt-Fanning, a Dunn School alumna who created a mobile veterinary business in Paso Robles and now manages a vineyard in that town with her husband. She told the audience about her difficulties getting the mobile veterinary business off the ground before it was successful, and presented it as a lesson to not get discouraged if thing don’t work right away.

At the end, the winners were announced in each category who would advance to the Limitless World Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on May 1-2.

The winner in the Business Innovation category was Soundwave, the creator of an AI accent moderator for foreign call centers to help they and the customers better understand one another. The winner if the Social Innovation category was GradeWithAI, which use AI technology to modernize methods for grading and “empowering educators to educate.”

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A week before the Solvang City Council chambers would be the site of a Valley-wide community meeting on fire prevention, councilmembers heard the yearly “state of the fire department” report from department officials and also received the Fire Abatement and Brush Removal Program Update.

For the Fire Chief Year in Review Presentation, Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig was joined by Deputy Chief for Emergency Services Garrett Huff and Capt. Lonny Maniscalco of the Solvang fire station, where the council chambers are located.

Huff gave the Year in Review address, beginning with the department new addition, the Regional Fire Communication Center.

“The new communication center opens May 12, which is slightly overdue,” Huff said. “However, it will provide dispatch services for all emergency medical services and non-federal resources on one common operating platform.

He then recited the statistics for the county in 2024. Overall, the county fire department had 17,082 incidents in 2024, broke down by the following: Rescue/EMS, 9,915; fires, 372; public service calls, 1,416; vehicle accidents, 843; public concern, 3,969.

For Solvang, which had 681 incidents over the year, they broke down as follows: Rescue/EMS, 412; fires, 8; public service calls, 96; vehicle accidents, 14; public concern, 96.

Huff said incidents were up 7.24% from 2023, although fires were down 33.3%.

After the report, Councilmember Mark Infanti asked about the old ambulances that the city had stopped using, with Huff answering that the county wants to dispose of/liquidate the vehicles and it will be an agenda item for the April 1county Board of Supervisors meeting.

Mayor David Brown asked what a typical response time was for emergency personnel in Solvang. Huff said he didn’thave the numbers in front of him, but estimated the typical response to be 4 to 6 minutes.

After that, Maniscalco came to the podium to address three well-known fires in Solvang last year, all involving restaurants.

The most recent one was at Solvang Brewing Co. on Mission Drive, which happened on Jan. 25 of this year. The others were the blaze last Oct. 13 at the Fire and Vice in Buellton, and the one in December at the former Sear Steakhouse. Maniscalco said casualties were avoided because Solvang Brewing and Fire and Vice were closed, and the Sear Steakhouse building had been unoccupied for the last six months as it’s up for sale.

The fire captain also noted that the Solvang Brewing and Fire and Vice fires were caused by oily rags left unattended, which is a big fire hazard, and the restaurants did not have a sprinkler system or automatic fire detection.

Later in the meeting, the city’s management analyst, Olivia Uribe Mutal presented the item Discussion and possible action to Receive and file the Fire Abatement and Brush Removal Program update.

Mutal said that clearing vegetation near properties is as important as ever.

“Solvang faces significant wildfire risk, and the burden is on county for fighting fires, but on the city for code enforcement,” she said. “Before the risk was just raised during the spring and summer months; the risk is now almost year-round.”

Mutal did note some things were being done, noting recent vegetation management at Hans Christian Anderson Park, and plans to contract the California Conservation Corps, and even to get goats to graze on some of the park lands.

She also announced the release of the updated fire mitigation maps (see brief below).

In other business:

The council approved an emergency item to approve a modification of the liquor license held by Chumash Casino and Resort. The casino modified the license in order to establish a “happy hour,” which it considered crucial to compete with other establishments.

After a long discussion about local short-term rentals, council directed Planning Director Rafael Castillo and staff to look into drafting an ordinance and other measures to crack down on STRs.

The next City Council meeting will be Monday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m.

Proposed Fire Hazard Severity Map Update – 2025

Consistent with California Government Code Section 51178, the State Fire Marshal is responsible for identifying areas throughout the state as Moderate, High, or Very High fire hazard severity zones. These designations are based on consistent, statewide criteria, including fuel loading, slope, fire weather, and other contributing factors — such as wind patterns —t hat influence the likelihood and behavior of wildfire.

As part of this ongoing process, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has released updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ) maps for areas under local responsibility, including the City of Solvang. These routine updates incorporate the latest science and data to better reflect current wildfire risk conditions.

The maps classify land according to potential wildfire severity and are used to inform building standards, real estate disclosures, emergency planning, and community safety initiatives. Solvang’s draft map was released on March 10, 2025, and is now available for public review and comment. In accordance with state law, the Solvang City Council must adopt and designate the updated zones by ordinance within 120 days of receipt.

Areas on the map: 

• Gray areas: Not zoned for wildfire risk
• Yellow, orange, and red areas: Reflect increasing levels of fire hazard (Moderate, High, Very High)

View or download the proposed map here: https://www.cityofsolvang.com/568/Proposed-Fire-Hazard-Severity-Map-Update

For more preparedness information: www.readyforwildfire.org

Public Input Welcome

Residents are encouraged to review the map and submit feedback during the 30-day public review period. 

Submit comments to planningdept@cityofsolvang.com

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In one of the periodic “Deep Dives” into a city issue, the Buellton City Council in its Thursday, March 27, meeting learned the ins and outs of the “traffic-calming” devices of speed humps (which are different from speed bumps) and the possibility of installing them on Buellton’s city streets.

However, any residents expecting the installation of such humps moving forward anytime soon are going to be disappointed.

In the first Business Item on the meeting agenda, City Manager Scott Wolfe made the presentation on the speed humps as a traffic-calming measure. In starting the presentation Wolfe, pointed out he was doing so as a “non-engineer/non-expert” in traffic engineering in lieu of  Public Works Director Rose Hess, who was absent from the meeting. The city manager said Hess would be the best person to answer some of the more technical questions on the humps and other traffic measures.

Wolfe state there has been a lot of talk in town about ways to slow down traffic in Buellton, especially in residential areas.

“There have been questions from neighborhoods about people speeding through their streets; it’s not uncommon, but it’sbeen coming to a head lately,” he said. “The typical request is for speed bumps, or humps.”

Wolfe explained to begin with, while many call the traffic devices “speed bumps,” actual speed bumps are the kind found generally in parking lots and aren’t permitting on actual roads. They measure 3.5 inches high and 18 inches long. Speed humps, on the other hand, are 3.5 inches high and 12 feet long, enough in many case to contain a crosswalk if need be.

Wolfe continued that although speed humps are usually suggested as a solution by residents concerned about speeding, it is one of many, and also not one that’s popular among many cities’ leader and staff members.

“All the cities I have ever worked for have the same disinclination to install speed humps as a general rule,” he said.”While they sound good, the detriments tend to outweight the benefits.”

Wolfe said that if the city should decide to pursue the addition of speed humps, it should make sure to establish a city policy explicitly allowing them to install the humps. He noted that two neighboring cities have had policy allowingthem to build the humps.

“Lompoc installed a few back in 2014, I believe, but by 2019 decided not to allow any more to be installed,” Wolfe said. “Solvang still has a policy for them but only installs them on local roads with a 25 mph speed limit.”

Finally, Wolfe point out the policy of the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority, which he said takes no formal position, but states that before they are installed, jurisdictions must have them approved by traffic engineers, make sure regulations are followed, and establish a resolution allowing them.

During questions and comments, the councilmembers said they were more interested in exploring other options to calm traffic, of which Wolfe said were many. Traffic officers and the “speed trailers” that track the speed of passing cars were two that were mentioned.

Vice Mayor Elysia Lewis was the first to voice opposition to the humps.

“I’m not a fan of bumps/humps,” she said. “I think we should concentrate on getting a motor officer in Buellton. That’s a better deterrent.”

Later on, Councilmember John Sanchez was even more adamant in his opposition to the idea.

“I haven’t talked to anyone who likes speed bumps,” he said. “I’ve read articles on joggers tripping on bumps. I don’tsee anything good about this, and I don’t want to waste money on this. I like speed trailers. In fact, I’m willing to make policy prohibiting bumps.”

Councilmember Hudson Hornick, however, reminded his colleagues it’s not necessary to pass any policy against the humps.

“This doesn’t call for us to do anything,” he said. “I’m a fan of properly placed speed humps, but we don’t need to take action now.”

Mayor David Silva said he’s open to speed humps, but only if the city has a policy backing it up; however, he agrees there are other ways. 

“I feel humps is the only solution residents seem to be aware of, but there are more creative solutions,” he said. “I don’twant any bumps without policy backing it up, so I guess I’m against them in general. We can just educate public on other solutions; we’re still addressing the issue.”

Listening in on the traffic discussion was an audience member with a vested interest: Sheriff’s Sgt. (and “soon-to-be-Lt,” according to Wolfe) Travis Henderson. Earlier in the meeting, Wolfe introduced Henderson as the person who would be Buellton’s new police chief, replacing the retiring Lt. Frank Valencia.

Henderson had a chance to address the council after the Councilmember Comments segment.

“I’ve been with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s for almost 20 years,” Henderson said. “Getting this assignment, I couldn’t be happier. The Valley is my home, and where my heart is. I’m excited to start this next chapter.”

In other business:

• Council approved a 5% Cost of Living Adjustment for city employees to ensure salaries remain competitive and aligned with inflation.
• Council also OK’d a few mid-year budget amendments for the fiscal year 2024-25.

The City Council meets next on Thursday, April 10, at 6 p.m.

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The Santa Maria Valley Elks Lodge honored its two most recent Students of the Month from Santa Ynez High School during recent meetings. Ben Flores is the February honoree, while Mykah Hardy is the March honoree.

Ben, the February Students of the Month, has earned recognition for his athletic exploits, having been a three-sport star all four years at SYHS. He was a team captain and co-MVP in football, team caption and two-time all-league in wrestling, and a four-year varsity letterman in baseball.

Ben is also strong academically, having completed all his A-G requirements to be eligible for a four-year school. 

He hopes to play baseball at Santa Barbara City College or Allan Hancock College and then transfer to Oregon or Cal Poly SLO. He is considering a major in engineering. 

“Ben is such a joy to have on campus,” said Alexa Tomasini, administrative assistant at SYHS. “His attitude is infectious as well as his smile.  I have never seen Ben in a bad mood but I love that I have seen him in a very intense mood. He is someone that gives it all.”

Mykah Hardy, the Elks Student of the Month for March, has distinguished herself with her work in the Santa Ynez FFA. She is currently FFA vice president, participating in public speaking competitions, raising a lamb for the 2025 Santa Barbara County fair, and attended several conferences with SYHS’s FFA chapter, such

as the state conference, where she was a Job interview sectional finalist (public speaking).

Mykah has taken eight college courses and six courses in the A-G pathway. A National Honors Society member, she currently has a 3.5 GPA, and is going to attend Texas Tech University, majoring in pre-vet and minoring in agriculture. She plans to become a large-animal veterinarian specializing in horses and cattle. She has done ride-alongs at Alamo Pintado with Dr. Tyler Stevenson and Dr. Carolina Lopez.

She played varsity softball her sophomore and junior year, serving as team captain her junior year. She also loves rodeo, especially breakaway and team roping, which she does for fun. Outside of school, she currently works at Pico restaurant in Los Alamos a few days a week, and has worked for Fess Parker Ranch Beef, marketing/selling wagyu beef at the Santa Barbara farmers markets on Saturdays and Sundays.

Both students received a check from the Elks Lodge toward future school expenses. Congratulations to Ben and Myka.

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