JANUARY 21 – FEBRUARY 3, 2025
SANTA YNEZVALLEYSTAR.COM
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Road begins toward a new Solvang Senior Center Administration, donors, and city and county officials join in breaking ground at site next to Veterans Building
INSIDE
By Mike Chaldu michael@santaynezvalleystar.com
I
t was a moment Solvang Senior Center Executive Director Ellen Albertoni had been waiting for, and for a split second the emotion of the moment got to her. As the head of the Senior Center was welcoming a packed house at the Solvang Veterans Center on Juan 15, her voice cracked a bit. “This is so overwhelming,” Albertoni said after quickly composing herself. “This is a momentous occasion, and what better way to ring in the new year, the first month of the new year, than with a brand new building we all worked so hard for.” Albertoni admitted later, after the ceremony, that the emotion of the moment briefly got to her. “I promised myself I wouldn’t do that, but really, how can you not be emotional,” Albertoni said later after the ceremony. “It’s been a long road to get here.” And the road to building Solvang Senior Center’s project to construct a new state-of-the-art
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(From left) Donor Alfred Holzheu, Donor Janet Garufis, Donor C.J. Jackson, Senior Center Executive Director Ellen Albertoni, Donor Dr. Virgil Elings, Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, Adrian Hernandez of Urquides Building Company, and Solvang Mayor David Brown man the shovel line for the groundbreaking. Photos by Mike Chaldu
facility has officially begun. After demolition of the existing modular building was completed earlier this month, and the groundbreaking took place at the American Legion Wing of the Solvang Veterans Memorial Building. The event included remarks from key stakeholders, refreshments, and
the ceremonial “golden shovel” moment to mark the start of construction at the site next to the Veterans Building, along Maple Avenue. The ceremony before the “shovel” moment, held in the packed dining room, featured a number of speakers in addition to Albertoni, including Board Member Jan
Clevenger; Kathleen Campbell, daughter of former Solvang Mayor Willi Campbell, and Linda Johansen, who did a lot of fundraising for the center. For Campbell it was a special thing to speak at the event, because as she said, “I am granted the CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
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