APRIL 3 - APRIL 16, 2026
Making Communities Better Through Print.™
SANTA YNEZVALLEYSTAR.COM
SYV kids gather their eggs in 35th annual Easter Eggstravaganza Families get to start their Easter celebration early, and enjoy bunny pics and other activities at Buellton’s River View Park By Mike Chaldu michael@santaynezvalleystar.com
T
he Santa Ynez Valley got a jump start on this year’s Easter celebration as kids and families came out for the 35th annual Easter Eggstravaganze on Saturday, March 28, at Buellton’s River View Park. Easter this year falls on Sunday, April 5, and the Buellton and Solvang rec departments had until this year staged the big egg hunt on the day before Easter. However, Buellton Recreation Center Director Paul Smith said the department decided to do it a little different. “We like to get local churches involved in this, and they bring great activities for everyone to enjoy, but it was getting hard to get many for the event because they had there own preparations and plans for Easter weekend, so we thought we could do
weekend, some of which involved travel out of town.” While Doupe said he enjoys the more secular festivities of Easter, he and his wife, Rhonda, and mother-inlaw Danna Way, were at the event to remind attendees of the real meaning of the holiday. “The objective for us and other churches here is to celebrate Easter’s meaning and show the gospel,” he said. “We’d like to show people that Easter is more than the colorful eggs and the Easter Bunny.” Like years past, the plastic eggs, scattered out by members of the National Charity League beforehand, were waiting in the vast field of River View Park, which was split up by caution tape into areas divided for different age groups. Egg hunt emcee and DJ Fred Lageman reminded the youngsters they could wander into an area of an older age group, but not a younger one. After Lageman led the countdown to zero, hundreds of kids ran out and Kids and their parents take off to pick up some Easter eggs at Buellton’s River View Park during the Easter Eggstravaganza on Saturday, March started picking up colored plastic eggs 28. Photo by Mike Chaldu/SYVS with all kinds of goodies inside them, the week before when they weren’t quite one of a few church groups to put up a to have a chance to meet the public followed by parents or family members tent at the event. so busy,” Smith said. at events like these, but it was harder following with baskets to fill and/or That sentiment was echoed by Grace “It’s much easier for us to have it getting volunteers because many people cellphones up to capture the moments Bible Church Pastor Dr. David Doupe, the weekend before,” he said. “We like had their own plans for the holiday CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Local organizations stage Veterans Celebration at Solvang Vets Hall Veteran and former SYHS teacher/coach Dave Smith is featured speaker one day before National Vietnam War Veterans Day
Arts & Nonprofits | Pg. 10 SYHS production of ‘The Sound of Music’ fills theater during multi-day run
By Mike Chaldu michael@santaynezvalleystar.com
News Briefs . . . . . . . . . Pg. 2 • Rancheros Visitadores ride for cancer care returns on May 2
P
am Gnekow, CEO of SYV Community Outreach, can still remember the day she found out her son, Brandon, who had earlier joined the Marines, would be involved in heavy military activity with the U.S.’s launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. “He had been in the Marines, and there wasn’t any kind of big conflict, so I wasn’t too worried,” she said. “But then I found out that they were going into Iraq a couple years after 9/11, and know he was going into a war. “So I was extremely worried, and upset, and out of the blue I got this message from Dave Smith, who was a teacher of Brandon’s and my other sons’” Smith, who had served in Vietnam and knew the horrors of war, asked Gnekow to meet him on the football field the next day. “So I met him and he said he understood what I was going through, and said Brandon was going to be OK,” Gnekow
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News . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 3 • Buellton City Council dismisses partial building relocation on Avenue of Flags • Solvang City Council discusses Parks and Rec Master Plan, ideas for local parks
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col.(ret.) Al Salge speaks after receiving a proclamation from (from left) Buellton Mayor David Silva, Vice Mayor Carla Mead, and City Manager Scott Wolfe. Photos by Mike Chaldu/SYVS
continued. “And then Dave gave me a medal he had earned in Vietnam. He told me to send it to Brandon and tell him he could return it when he got back home.” This story has a happy ending: Brandon did return home and was able to give back the medal to Smith — and all three were present on Saturday, March 28, at the Solvang Veterans Memorial Hall for
the Veterans Celebration. The event was held the day before National Vietnam War Veterans Day, although vets from all U.S. wars were honored during the event. While Pam Gnekow, through her SYV Community Outreach, organized the event along with the Santa Barbara County Veterans Foundation (and help from VFW Post 7139, Al Salge, Santa
Barbara Veterans Collaborative, and American Legion SYV Post 160), Brandon introduced the POW-MIA empty table and setting at the front of the hall, explaining the significance of every item. And Smith was the featured speaker for the event, telling of his time serving in Vietnam and the people he served with. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 4 • SYHS girls beach volleyball program still going strong in fifth year Community . . . . . . . . . Pg. 5 • Master Lego builders returning to Solvang for its second annual ‘Brick & Builds’ April 18 and 19 Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 6 • Dr. Lee: Change the way you walk, change your health Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 6 • Pirates boys volleyball team back on track after two early defeats Calendar . . . . . . . . . . Pg. 8 • Government meetings and events