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Community Corner

Dispatches: Snow Day in Watsonville City Plaza

Hundreds lined up to donate cans of food and play in the snow.

Saturday’s third annual Snow Day was a benefit for the  and the Salvation Army. Admission to play in the snow was as cheap as one can of food, and by 5 p.m., the Second Harvest Food Bank estimated that they had collected well over 1,000 cans. 

“A lot of them, they have never seen snow,” said Doug Mattos, a senior administrative analyst with the city of Watsonville who organized the event. He explained that many Watsonville families don’t have the means to take their children to ski resorts Tahoe.  

June and Rogelio Ponce of Sun Valley Farms started the event three years ago, when they decided to take the money they had saved for their son's birthday party and order snow to share with the rest of the community. Since then, they have “rallied the troops and raised the money,” Mattos said. “It’s really for the community and for the children.”

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In past years, Snow Day was on Friday evenings during the farmers market, but a change in the source of the snow—which is actually crushed ice—led to the schedule shift. Some farmers market vendors still came for the event, and others sold tacos, flautas, papusas, churros, and corn. gave out free hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies to people waiting in line for the snow. There was also an arts and crafts booth where people could decorate their own paper bag stocking.

The most popular booth of all, though, (after the snow field) was the Santa booth. Families lined up to take photos with Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. 

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"It's cool because I'm a single mom and it's nice to have something to come out and do together on a Saturday," said Cassie Bellairs of Watsonville, who held her 2-year-old son Draven. 

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