WATSONVILLE—New metal signs were installed Wednesday on the “Welcome to Watsonville” signboard on Main Street.
The move, headed up by the Sons of Italy, the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture and the Watsonville Woman’s Club, was designed to update the large wood signboard with more of Watsonville’s long-standing organizations.
Janey Leonardich, president of the Watsonville Woman’s Club and the Sons of Italy, said club members of both groups have been researching the signboard recently with the idea of posting a sign for their organizations. That led to a number of discoveries, including the fact that the two welcome signs (the other being on Riverside Drive) are indeed owned by the Chamber of Commerce and that they are maintained by the Freedom Rotary Club.
Thanks to research and footwork by Casey Clark of The Sons of Italy, Leonardich said, seven new signs were made by Pajaro Valley Printing and mounted on the Main Street welcome sign.
Work is underway to mirror the project on the Riverside Drive sign as well, according to Shaz Roth, CEO of the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture.
“We owe so much thanks to Casey Clark for all the work he did in moving this project forward,” Roth said. “The new signs speak for Watsonville and its diversity. Casey is involved with so many local groups that he was the perfect fit for this.”
Roth added that the signs are designed to represent local member-based service organizations.
The new signs are the Order Sons of Italy in America, Slavic American Cultural Organization, Watsonville Elks (an upgrade replacement), Pajaro Valley Historical Association, Agricultural History Project, Watsonville Woman’s Club, Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Foundation and the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture. The existing signs were Soroptimist, Rotary International, Lions International and VFW Post No. 1716.
“It’s nice to let people that are coming into town know that we are active and alive,” Leonardich said.
