March 2016 • Volume 1, Number 2
www.santaynezvalleystar.com
SY Valley residents and tourists may soon zip across the hills by Raiza Giorgi
news@santaynezvalleystar.com Stuart Gildred is following in his father’s footsteps by creating a business that will bring people together and get them moving, literally zipping across the hills of the Santa Ynez Valley. He expects Sky Ranch Ziplines and Adventure Park to be open within the next year. The project was recently approved by the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission after three years of effort. “My dad instilled a love of the Santa Ynez Valley into my family. He was passionate about horses and the hills, and I know he would be so proud of what we are trying to
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accomplish,” he said. Gildred was granted permission to build five separate zip lines, which guests will be able to ride tandem on two separate runs ranging from 420 feet to 2,100 feet long. The zip line and adventure park will use 40 of the 1,186-acre ranch he owns off Highway 246, south of the Santa Ynez River between Solvang and Buellton. “We got the idea to build our own zip line after taking my sons to the one at Lake Lopez. We had such a fun time bonding and spending time away from the electronics that it inspired me. I had been looking for a good use of my property that would bring the community together, and I found it,” he said. Gildred said he started investigating what it
would take to put a zip-lining and ropes course on his property, since it’s the first one in Santa Barbara County. His ranch once belonged to Slick Gardner, known locally for being an Auto Racing Club of America driver turned wild-horse rescuer and then animal abuser, who was eventually evicted from the ranch. Gildred has owned the property for a decade now after spending most of his career working for wine giants such as Gallo and Kendall Jackson before returning to the family business of real estate. “Even though we were in real estate, my dad was always a professional cowboy in my Contributed eyes,” he said. Stu Gildred modeled his zipline after a similar one at Vista
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Lago Adventure Park at Lake Lopez, but said his will be even bigger and better.
A mother’s love turns memories into a business Bittles Boutique. Bardessono started selling her teddy bears, and now rabbits and other news@santaynezvalleystar.com handmade items, on Etsy, an online retailer ost young children have a favorite focusing on handmade and homemade animal or blanket they take with items. them everywhere. For Kelly BardAround Easter 2014, Bardessono reessono’s daughter Mackenzie, it is a bunny ceived a special request from a local woman rabbit named Rose. who had lost her husband. She wanted “As a parent one of the worst feelings Bardessono to take her husband’s clothes is when a favorite possession gets lost or and turn them into “memory bears” for her damaged because your child is beyond three young children. consolable. That’s when I decided I “It was so touching to me, and I just knew should learn how to sew to fix Rose one CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 day or be able to replicate her,” Bardessono said. Photo by Raiza Giorgi She started making teddy bears to Kelly Bardessono works on a teddy bear for her shop Bittles practice and sold a few to friends until Boutique. Bardessono learned to sew after her daughter lost her stuffed bunny rabbit. word-of-mouth popularity led her to start
by Raiza Giorgi
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