April 7 - April 20, 2020
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Youth Rec suspends queen campaign this year Mercedes Diaz named Youth Rec Queen; will also serve next year By Raiza Giorgi
publisher@santaynezvalleystar.com
M
ercedes Diaz has been going to and participating in Santa Ynez Valley Youth Recreation activities since she was a small child. She loved helping whoever was the Queen for that year, from arranging flowers, helping sell raffle tickets and any other job that needed doing. “I love getting to see how everything is done and so many people giving their time and money to gets projects accomplished that benefit our area,” Mercedes said. “I have probably used everything that Youth Rec has either helped build or donated to.” And now, Diaz herself has been named the 2020 Youth Rec Queen. The 16-yearold from Buellton is the daughter of Oscar and Allison (Brown) Diaz. Her parents both grew up in the valley and they are high school sweethearts. This year will be unique as the COVID-19 situation has put a halt to fundraising this year, according to Frank Kelsey, Youth Rec executive director. “We are so disappointed to put this on hold, but with this situation we don’t want to ask anyone of our major donors or sponsors for money or donations,” Kelsey said. “They will be struggling to get through this as we all are. We want to take this year to recover and go strong next year.” He added that he was reluctant to put the campaign on hold, but was overjoyed to know that Mercedes was willing to put her reign on pause as well. “Mercedes is such a great kid and she has been a great trooper through all of this,” Kelsey said. SYV Youth Rec has raised more than $3 million in the past 62 years for local youth programs and facilities and has funded many projects at Santa Ynez High School,
Youth Rec Queen Mercedes has grown up with a love for volunteering, shown here handing out ice cream cones during a local senior center dinner.
Even since Mercedes parents were kids they knew how much Youth Rec (at that time they were part of the Elks Rodeo) did for the community. “Oscar and I both played soccer as kids and my family have been longtime supporters of the Elks and Youth Rec,” Allison Diaz said. Diaz said after high school her husband entered the U.S. Army and they were stationed overseas in Germany, when she was pregnant with Mercedes. She decided to come home while Oscar was deployed to Iraq. When Mercedes was three, Oscar got a job at Vandenberg Air Force Base and YOUTH REC CONTINUED TO PAGE 22
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Photo by Mike Mesikep Mercedes Diaz was crowned the 2020 Youth Rec Queen and, given the COVID-19 situation that postponed the campaign, will serve as next year’s Queen as well.
fields at local elementary and middle schools, and the volleyball, baseball and
Variety of soups available to warm you up
soccer fields at Sunny Fields Park, among other accomplishments.
Go to: www.californiafreshmarket.com/recipes/weekly
2886 Mission Drive • Solvang • 805-688-4300 elranchomarket.com
FYI
Coronavirus Resource Guide Page 11.