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If you're wondering about the temporary community of campers at Bolado Park, it's the time of year again for the California Gymkhana Association State Championship Finals.

Chris Cunningham has a Hollister garage full of motorcycles. A few years back, those bikes sparked intrigue from his daughter, Christina, then 3 years old. When she won a deal between the two - by riding a bicycle without training wheels before age 4 - she was supposed to get a motorized dirt bike.

The number of residents estimated to experience homelessness at some point in time this year in San Benito County is 1,153 people.

A little white fruit stand along the side of Highway 25 has been upgraded. Market 25, a small open building filled with local fresh produce, officially opened July 3 after having undergone construction since spring 2012.

While I was an enthusiastic supporter of bringing back Hollister’s Motorcycle Rally, I did not believe there was enough time to do it well until 2014 – well, I was wrong and I’m glad of it. By obtaining professional management, implementing many of the ideas put forward by the public, and right-sizing the rally for the moveable Fourth of July holiday, they pulled it off very well. The credit goes first to the public, then to the Hollister City Council, community organizations, city departments, public agencies, sponsors, volunteers and the management team at Worldwide Dynamics in no particular order; we needed them all.

Scheduling details are set, as San Benito County food and wine producers will have a chance to promote locally grown or produced items at the first San Benito Olive Festival slated for Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Paicines Ranch.

This is truly a wonderful and historic day for the South Valley! Right in our own backyard, we celebrate 35 years of one of the premiere food festivals in the entire world: The Gilroy Garlic Festival. The festival is the inspiration this week for a classic West Coast salad, which features beautiful grilled garlic shrimp.

At some point when you become a parent, you lose your coolness. Seriously. I don't know where it goes, but it's gone. And you, the person voted “coolest” in high school are suddenly lumped in with the rest of the goofy parents - basically every single parent on the planet. There is no escape, no matter who you are or how cool you once were. I'm pretty positive even Mick Jagger's daughter looked at her dad and thought, “Will he stop with the duck lips? It's soooooooo embarrassing. And who dances like that at his age?”

To the casual observer, South Valley seems to be a prosperous area. There are lavish homes, well-kept landscaping, expensive cars and other signs of wealth. But beneath this glitzy surface there is a good deal of poverty and despair.

Last time we talked about the hold-up play to effectively sever the communication link between your opponents and minimize the number of tricks they can take. This time, we will talk about one of the most exciting auctions in bridge: bidding for slam. It’s not always the most comfortable process, but it’s definitely more exciting because the stakes are very high.