Sister cityhood origin

Gramps Says

And, I know they’re not alone. There’s a desire for the arts, dance, music and singing lessons here in town. I know athletics and 4-H/FFA have always been our big things for local youths to participate in. Yet there is a whole range of children and teens who would thrive and blossom in a theatre, artistic environment

The Winters Joint Unifed School District currently has Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP) funding to provide enrichment programs and opportunities for Winters students. If partnered with the right nonprofit organization, I’m sure scholarship opportunities could help to provide funding for non-Winters JUSD youths who live in town.

In fact, ELOP funding supported both this year’s

See ARTS, Page 6

Sophie promised to have a sequel telling the story of how Winters came to have a sister city in Spain. Following is a brief history of that event as told to me in person by Woody Fridae and from the Winters Express archives. See article “Our Sister City” written by Woody and Rebecca Fridae, Feb. 10, 2023, online. His dream of uniting Winters with a sister city in Spain became a reality when Miguel Ruiz raised the flag of Almogía on the Winters City Hall flag pole in April of 1993. Miguel Ruiz was born in Winters and is a descendent of Spanish immigrants who arrived in Winters in the early 1900s. After receiving an inheritance from his father of a small house and land in Los Nunes, a province of Almogía, Miguel and his wife decided to move back to his father’s homeland to live and retire in Spain.

Miguel had to leave Spain “when his wife had a heart attack because there was no such service available to the Ruiz family in Almogía.”

During the year of 1991 the Winters City Council gave Mr. Ruiz a green light to move forward with his quest to form sister cities, which came to fruition when representatives from Almogía traveled to Winters and met with city officials. The Fridaes wrote, “Mayor Torreblanca had travelled to Winters in 1993 as a council member to help celebrate the initiation of sisterhood of the two cities, he and two of his fellow council members marched in the Youth Day Parade.”

In January of this year, Woody wrote, “That 30-year anniversary of our hermandad (sisterhood) with the rural town was celebrated this week when Rebecca and I delivered a proclamation (renewing our historic connection) from the city of Winters to the Mayor and two of the Almogía councilors, or members of the ‘Ayuntamiento’ de Almogía’, their city council.” The article further stated, “But we can clearly report that Almogía has not forgotten the Ruiz dream: from the street they named for us, to the plaque on the town hall meeting chambers, to the living memories of those we met, the sisterhood with Winters is alive and well.”

Sophie Says

Now is the opportune time to honor the rich Spanish heritage of Winters and to especially recognize our Sister City by naming the downtown pocket park “Almogía Park” and designing it in the Spanish fashion. In respect we should also learn the correct pronunciation of the town. Several knowledgeable sources have informed Gramps that it should be pronounced Al-mohee-ah. Gramps has been pronouncing it Al-mo-gee-ah, but he should have known better as Gerald is pronounced Heraldo in Spanish, with the ‘G’ sounding like an ‘H.’ We will all become very familiar with the name Almogía after the city council approves it, as they should, as the official name of the downtown park. Gramps is more concerned about nuances than I am. I will rest easier when