Appliance Repair in Modesto, CA

Modesto’s annual summer celebration gets back to where it belongs this year.

Graffiti Summer returns to June with a month of events planned for car lovers and fans of Modesto native George Lucas’ film homage to his hometown teen years, 1973’s “American Graffiti.”

Two stars from the film are set to appear at separate events.

Last year’s events were held in August, pushed because of the pandemic, which canceled completely the 2020 celebration.

The move to August didn’t appear to deter from the event, according to Todd Aaronson, CEO of the Modesto Convention & Visitors Bureau, which markets the summer celebration.

“It went great. We don’t do street counts, but it seemed incredibly well attended and it seemed incredibly well received,” he said. “In spite of what was going on in the world in August of last year, I would say it was very successful as a community event.”

The centerpiece of the activities is a three-day car extravaganza hosted by the Kiwanis Club of North Modesto.

Friday, June 10, brings the car parade, a nod to the “cruising” that took place for years and was at the center of “American Graffiti,” set in 1962.

Modesto City Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer will be grand marshal of the parade and is being honored for her years of community service. She also will be inducted into the Legends of the Cruise Walk of Fame.

Saturday and Sunday bring the American Graffiti Festival & Car Show, where spectators can walk through rows of vintage and classic vehicles at the Modesto Junior College West Campus. Bands will provide music, and there will be special guest appearances and more.

Car customizer John D’Agostino and actress Candy Clark from “American Graffiti” will be at the festival.

MJC’s Great Valley Museum and planetarium will be open both days of the car show with a discounted admission of $1.

Other local car clubs and groups also get into the action, including the Graffiti Museum presenting this year’s inductees into the Walk of Fame. Actress Mackenzie Phillips, another star of “American Graffiti,” will be among those inducted and will appear at the event, according to founder Chris Murphy.

Plans continue to evolve, but here’s a look at some of the Graffiti Summer events:

GRAFFITI CAR ART EXHIBIT – June-August: Kruse Lucas Art Gallery celebrates with the work of Rick Raef, who has photographed local graffiti events. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 525 Tully Road, Modesto. 209-529-9111.

GRAFFITI USA MUSEUM OPEN HOUSE – June 4: Graffiti Summer kicks off with historic exhibits and a drive-thru chicken dinner fundraiser. Visitors can take a walking tour, see the plans to complete the museum and visit the store for souvenirs. Open house 10 a.m-4 p.m., dinner pickup 4-7 p.m. 610 N. Ninth St., Modesto. Open house free, dinner $25. graffitiusamuseum.com.

“AMERICAN GRAFFITI” – June 4: The State Theatre shows Lucas’ film chronicling a night of teenage cruising in his hometown. 1 p.m. State Theatre, 1307 J St., Modesto. $5. thestate.org.

MASRA GRAFFITI CLASSIC – June 5: Modesto Area Street Rod Association’s car show. There will be a designated area only for Mustangs. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. McHenry Village, Modesto. modestoareastreetrod.com.

MID-VALLEY CHEVY PARK-N-SHINES – June 7 and 9: Mid-Valley Chevy Club car shows. 5:30 p.m. June 7 at Century Center, Modesto; 5:30 p.m. June 9, Cool Hand Luke’s, Riverbank. midvalleychevy.com.

LEGENDS OF THE CRUISE WALK OF FAME CELEBRATION – June 8: Along with Phillips and Kenoyer, Ron Pippin, Bob Rose, Vern Silva, Dan Vierra and the Deacons Car Club will be inducted into the Walk of Fame. There will be a car show during the event and live music following. Car show 5:30 p.m., inductions 6:30 p.m. 10th Street Plaza, Modesto. www.modestocruiseroute.com.

MOBAND OPENING NIGHT – June 9: Classic rock opens MoBand’s new season. 8 p.m. Mancini Bowl at Graceada Park, 401 Needham St., Modesto. www.moband.org.

AMERICAN GRAFFITI FESTIVAL PARADE – June 10: Kiwanis Club of North Modesto hosts as up to 1,000 classic cars travel downtown and on McHenry Avenue to Briggsmore Avenue. 6 p.m. americangraffitifestival.com.

NORTH MODESTO KIWANIS CAR SHOW – June 11-12: Two-day show and music festival with rows of vintage and classic vehicles. Car customizer D’Agostino and Clark from “American Graffiti” will be at the fest, which also features local bands, food and vendors. Modesto’s Cars and Coffee group joins Sunday with modern muscle cars and exotic vehicles. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Modesto Junior College West Campus, 2201 Blue Gum Ave. $10, free ages 12 and under. For more, call 209-447-5962. americangraffitifestival.com.

“GREASE” – June 11: Patrons can sing along during screening of classic musical. 2 p.m. State Theatre, 1307 J St., Modesto. $5. thestate.org.

GRAFFITI NIGHT WITH THE NUTS – June 17: The Nuts take on the Lake Elsinore Storm. Planned are classic cars along the concourse. More events may be added. Game time 7:05 p.m. John Thurman Field, 601 Neece Drive, Modesto. $8 advance, $11 at the door. www.milb.com/modesto.

BACK TO GRAFFITI AT THE FRUIT YARD – June 18: F-100 Elite presents show with trucks, muscle cars and hot rods, music, vendors and more. Benefits Soroptimists, Community Hospice and Shriners. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fruit Yard, 7948 Yosemite Blvd., Modesto. Free. www.thefruityard.com.

“REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE” – June 19: Modesto Film Society presents screening of classic. 2 p.m. State Theatre, 1307 J St., Modesto. $9. thestate.org.

GRAFFITI CON COMICS AND CARS – June 26: Droids, stormtroopers, cosplayers, vendors, comic books and toys. There will be several comic creators and actors including those from “Star Wars,” “Gremlins,” “Day of the Dead” and more at the event. Also appearing will be Cooley Jackson, who taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk dance move. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Graffiti USA Classic Car Museum, 610 N. Ninth St., Modesto. $5. www.facebook.com/GraffitiCon209.

ROD & CUSTOM CAR SHOW – June 26: Modesto Elks presents cars, trucks and motorcycles. Food also available. Breakfast 7-10 a.m. for $10. Show 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Free. Elks Lodge, 645 Charity Way, Modesto. 209-524-4421.

This story was originally published May 31, 2022 7:00 AM.

The Modesto City Schools district board on Monday night unanimously approved a resolution to place on the November ballot a roughly $198 million bond measure to make facilities improvements at all its high schools.

On the agenda, the item was called a vote to order “an Election of Modesto City High School District Classroom/Science Lab Enhancement Measure.” And its description specified “updating career training classrooms, labs/ equipment to prepare students for the workforce; update classrooms/ science labs for quality instruction in math, science, reading/ writing; and repair leaking roofs/ deteriorating plumbing. ...”

But it’s the bond measure’s inclusion of athletics program improvements that drew an audience to Monday’s meeting.

Enochs High School football players and coaches postponed Monday’s practice to attend the meeting. Head coach Tracey Traub and a couple of players addressed the board. A couple of other players read statements written by supporters including Modesto Junior College head football coach Rusty Stivers and former Stanislaus State athletic director Milton Richards, who’s now a Yosemite Community College District trustee.

Traub, who’s coached in the district for a decade, spoke to advocate for athletics facilities improvements, and specifically for a stadium at his school. “I’ve witnessed how sports are motivators for many students to stay on a path of success,” he said. “I’ve worked with athletes who’ve received little or no support at home, and football was the one thing that kept them from dropping out. I currently have a player right now who is living on somebody’s couch as he is homeless, and football is the one thing that’s keeping him motivated.”

Gavin Prutch, a class of 2024 student athlete at Enochs, told trustees that building stadiums at his school and others would mean “home games” really would be at home. That would create more school spirit and pride and would drive students to get better grades so they can continue to play football, he said.

Shelley Akiona, a professor of business administration at MJC, said she’s had many students over the years who are “athletically brilliant, and they use their physicality and their knowledge of their game to drive them academically. Many of those students, their academic grit is really what unlocks their potential as being successful and often that starts on a field or in a pool or in a gym.”

Athletics improvements stated in the bond resolution passed Monday are much broader than stadiums. They include fields, pools, courts, physical education facilities, locker rooms, updated equipment, fencing, lighting and more.

In an email to The Bee on Monday night, Associate Superintendent Tim Zearley said no specific projects have been given for any one high school. “As of today, no plans have been made for schools, as we hadn’t officially approved the ballot measure.”

If voters approve the bond measure in November, the impact will be far-reaching.

Projects to provide upgraded space for instruction and support include replacing portable buildings with permanent classrooms. They include building, upgrading, repairing or replacing science labs, career technical education spaces, libraries and visual and performing arts spaces and venues. And they would improve site accessibility for disabled students.

Other projects would improve energy efficiency to reduce utility costs and accommodate increased usage of technology. Still others would provide basic repairs and safety upgrades like repairing or replacing roofs, doors and windows, replacing outdated and inefficient heating, cooling and ventilation systems and addressing deteriorating plumbing.

Trustees expressed support for the bond measure when they heard an informational report on it at their June 6 meeting, so Monday’s unanimous vote to approve the resolution was no surprise.

They’ve also been clear they realize winning the necessary 55% voter approval will be tough, especially with a 1% city of Modesto sales tax measure and a state school facilities bond both possibly on the same ballot.

Monday night, board member Cindy Marks thanked the Enochs students for their support and urged them to help with the bond campaign by walking precincts to hand out flyers. “If you guys are as enthusiastic as you are tonight in the fall, it’ll help us get this passed.”

The next steps, Zearley told the school board Monday night, include formation of a bond campaign committee made up of community members, parents and, on their own time, teachers and staff. The district anticipates the committee will meet in July for a campaign kickoff.

For more on the high school bond measure, go to sites.google.com/monet.k12.ca.us/mcs-hs-bond-measure.

Some 21,000 to 28,000 items of clothing — from pants and shorts to dresses and shirts — cycle through The Salvation Army Family Thrift Store and Donation Center in north Modesto about every 10 days.

That is part of what helps the store raise about $100,000 each month to support the army’s Stockton Adult Rehabilitation Center, a 106-bed residential drug addiction program for men from across Northern California.

That support came to an abrupt stop Thursday afternoon after a fire started in the donation center’s warehouse.

The blaze was contained to the metal warehouse. A firewall separates the warehouse and the attached store. While all the donated goods in the warehouse were destroyed, the store and its donated items sustained water and smoke damage. The store and warehouse are about 35,000 square feet, according to a previous Bee story.

The store was open at the time of the fire, with salespeople in the front and a couple of staff in the warehouse. But no one was hurt.

Modesto Deputy Fire Chief Darin Jesberg said Friday that the cause of the fire remains under investigation. He said a damage estimate and whether the warehouse can be repaired were not yet available.

Salvation Army Maj. Sylvan Young said Friday the army hopes to reopen the thrift store in three to four weeks. And as of Friday afternoon it had set up a trailer in the thrift store parking lot for donations. They can be made 10 am. to 6 p.m. every day.

Young is the business administrator for the Stockton Adult Rehabilitation Center. He said the Modesto thrift store — which is at McHenry and Bangs avenues and nestled among car dealerships — brings in about $1.2 million annually toward the rehabilitation center’s roughly $5 million annual budget.

He said people can drop off at the trailer donations of clothing, books and records, small appliances like coffee pots and toasters, pots and pans and other housewares — everything the donation center had been accepting before the fire except large items, including kitchen tables and couches.

“Once we figure out what we can do, maybe we can take some of the larger items,” Young said. “We want to be back in business as quickly as we can.”

Young said he is grateful the water and smoke damage in the store is not as extensive as he first thought. He said the store needs to be cleaned and its goods need to be assessed to determine what still can be sold.

He said about 21,000 to 28,000 items of clothing cycle through the store about every 10 days. He said about half of it is sold in the store and what does not sell is sold to be recycled into rags.

He said the Modesto store is the biggest and busiest of The Salvation Army’s three thrift stores that support the rehabilitation center. The other stores are in Stockton and Lodi.

“It is a huge asset for The (Salvation Army’s) Stockton Corps,” said Dave Kerr, chairman of The Salvation Army Modesto Corps’ advisory board.

Young said the warehouse was about half full at the time of the fire. He said the donated items are kept in what are called Gaylord boxes — 4-foot-by-4-foot cardboard containers. He said there were 160 of them in the warehouse when the fire started. The boxes were stacked on wooden pallets.

Young said about 11 people work at the thrift store and donation center. He said that is one reason the army placed a trailer for donations in the thrift store parking lot, to provide work for some of the employees. He said others can work at the other thrift stores or use vacation time while the store is closed.

“We don’t want to displace anyone,” Young said about the store and donation center’s staff.

The Salvation Army opened the thrift store and donation center in north Modesto in April 2019. The site at 4418 McHenry Ave. replaced the army’s older, smaller store on Yosemite Boulevard.

The store and warehouse had been the home of Simi Floral Supply Center from 1981 to 2018. The Simi family closed the business in 2018 and then leased the building to The Salvation Army.

(Ron Simi built the store in 1981. Sons Robert and Richard said the warehouse was built about a decade later. It was the last location for a business Ron Simi started in 1963.)

Jesberg, the deputy fire chief, said roughly 80 firefighters from several agencies responded to the fire, including ones from Manteca, Tracy, Lathrop, Escalon and Ripon. The resources included 23 fire engines and three ladder trucks.

The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services fed the firefighters Thursday evening, providing them with 22 pizzas, six cases each of water and Gatorade as well as chips, cookies and peanuts, according to a Salvation Army Modesto Facebook post.

People can support the Stockton Adult Rehabilitation Center by donating at stocktonarc.salvationarmy.org, and donations to The Salvation Army’s programs in Modesto can be made at modestocorps.salvationarmy.org/modesto_corps.

This story was originally published June 4, 2022 6:00 AM.

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MODESTO, Calif. —

California is hoping to get a new state park. The site, now known as the Dos Rios Reserve, is just a 20-minute drive from Modesto and may be open to the public by next year if Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget is approved.

The site is where two rivers, Tuolumne and San Joaquin, meet.

“I was looking at a map of it and it literally looks like a heart, with two big arteries going around it,” Armando Quintero, the California State Parks director, said over Zoom. "It's a real move to providing equitable access to all Californians. This park is going to be just 20 minutes outside of Modesto."

Quintero said Newsom has set aside $5 million in his upcoming budget proposal to transform Dos Rios, known to locals as “Twin Rivers,” into California’s 280th state park. Quintero explained that the River Partners organization plans to transfer the site to the state, rather than sell the 2,100-acre lot. Quintero said River Partners has been restoring the property since 2012, by planting native vegetation and trees. If approved, and plans move forward, the total acreage could be 2,500.

With the transfer instead of a sale, the millions earmarked, could go towards amenities such as public workshops, restrooms and picnic tables.

“Hopefully, we'll be able to use some of those funds, some of that funding for the initial capital improvements,” Quintero said.

If approved, Quintero also said the state plans to remove levees that now sit on 1,500 acres. The hope is to open the park by 2023 and as work progresses, more features such as picnic tables, campgrounds, and kayaking will become available.

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“It (the removal) will reduce the negative impacts of flood zone communities and farmlands and it will also take that water and put it back into the groundwater,” Quintero explained.

All these efforts to transform this land into a local destination, to become a beautiful forested area like how the historic San Joaquin Valley once was, Quintero said.

If Newsom's revised budget is approved and the plan moves forward, the state will schedule public workshops to gather input from families about what they would like to see at Dos Rios Reserve. Renaming the site is also possible.