Gary Moffat is a writer, former publishing executive and 2000 transplant from Chicago whose family launched one of Old Town Auburn’s favorite entertainment venues, Carpe Vino, in 2002. Moffat, who now has a print outlet for his opinions in a regular Sentinel column, has written for the Chicago Tribune, national shelter magazines, telecom industry publications and two self-published Internet newsletters. And, oh yeah, he wrote more than 100 columns on wine for the Auburn Journal. Carpe Vino, his latest venture, is a local magnet for lovers of fine wine, fine dining and fine art.
Auburn is in desperate need of fresh ideas to help drive economic development. I’ve been giving some thought to this and what we have, in essence, is a basic marketing problem of positioning and promoting our community. The rub comes in trying to get everyone on the same page, at the same time.
What would really simplify this exercise is if we could finally isolate a “silver bullet” – you know, come up with the “big idea” that will solve all of our problems. I am happy to report that while spending last Sunday off the grid at a friend’s home in Yankee Jim’s, I was struck with an epiphany. Actually, it was more like being hit in the frontal lobe by a lightning bolt.
For years, Auburn has worked tirelessly to foster a reputation as the “Endurance Capital of the World,” taking advantage of the river canyon and all of our natural resources to attract the world’s greatest athletes. This past weekend, as an example, more than 500 hard bodies rallied in the Auburn area for three very successful endurance events.
Thursday, May 8, marks the return of “Dinner at the Dump,” and I’ve been looking forward to this event for weeks, ever since I got an invitation in the mail from Sue Dossa, public relations maven for the host, Auburn Placer Disposal Service (APDS). At a time when our local economy is in the dump, as well as the spirits of many people who have been hit hard by financial reversals, this annual community gathering will help put a smile back on the faces of many—even if it’s just for a single evening.
The concept is brilliantly absurd. Dinner is served “in” not “at” the Auburn Transfer Station of APDS out on Shale Ridge Road, directly in the flight path of Runway 7/25 of the Auburn Municipal Airport. That’s right, tables are set up on the massive, covered concrete pad where Auburn-area residents drive their pick-up trucks to dump household, garden and construction waste. It is also the temporary holding pen for all of the garbage that APDS trucks collect before being loaded on to giant vehicles for transport to the main disposal site near Lincoln, just beyond Thunder Valley Casino.
The new South Pine Café, a third location for this venerable tofu eatery founded in Nevada City and aimed at the tie-dyed set, opened with virtually no fanfare last Friday in south Auburn’s Skyridge Courtyard shopping center. I enjoyed breakfast there with a friend Saturday morning, occupying one of only two active tables in the main dining room, though a half dozen patio tables were filled with al fresco café-goers.
With just Starbucks, Subway and Roundtable Pizza franchises as choices, residents packed along the southern border of town will rejoice once they learn this new option is available, though this has proven to be a tough place for restaurants to make a go of it. An espresso café and Steve’s Place are two notable examples of joints that went belly up in the Maidu neighborhood.
But that got me to thinking again about how many restaurants are enough in our modest community of less than 13,500 souls. For years, many Auburn residents insisted you couldn’t get a decent meal here and resorted to leaving the city limits in search of savory dining delights down the hill. The consequence has been that many quality restaurants here either struggled mightily before strangling or suffered an even worse fate: they were cursed to limp along marginally, making just enough to survive but never thrive.
Advice for the Politically Forlorn
These are tough times we’re facing and the “people” want answers. The people want to know how we managed to get into this mess, and more importantly, the people want to know who is going to lead us back to prosperity. And no one is under more pressure than both our elected and appointed government officials. Everyone from the president of these United States to the mayor of Auburn is feeling the heat.
It’s lonely at the top, especially when the economy stinks, so as a public service and because I really do care, I’m launching this new column—The Savage Spinmeister—which will appear occasionally in place of The Other Side of Auburn. In it, I will present “Advice for the Politically Forlorn,” and serve as a sounding board and life coach/counselor for politicians who are struggling to find the “answer” for demanding constituents.
It is awards season in Auburn, and on Friday evening the Chamber of Commerce will stage its annual “State of the Community” dinner, an event that recognizes the good works of our town’s leading citizens. There are tough choices to be made because so many businesses and individuals have contributed so mightily.
So every year there seem to be deserving candidates who always end up as bridesmaids, never making the final cut. . .the Ron Santos who never score enough votes to make it into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. And then there are award categories that simply lack wide enough appeal to be added to the list, kind of like Texas Holdem’ Poker failing to make it as an Olympic sport.
