The Ashland Amigo Club has selected two Guanajuato scholarship recipients who will study winter and spring terms at Southern Oregon University as part of its Amistad student exchange program with the University of Guanajuato.
Juan Carlos Romero Hicks and his wife, Frances “Faffie” Siekman, who will receive Southern Oregon University’s prestigious President’s Medal next week, have connections with the university and Ashland dating back 44 years. Romero Hicks campaigned unsuccessfully to be president of Mexico in 2018 and is seeking his party’s backing again for the 2024 elections.
Entre Amigos: Sister City Guanajuato, Mexico, sent its summer festival queen and five other representatives to Ashland to participate in Ashland Fourth of July celebrations, resuming a 50-year tradition derailed in 2020 and 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Entre Amigos: Two Guanajuato summer festival queens may travel to Ashland in late June to join its Fourth of July parade and celebrations, a sister-city tradition for more than 50 years; a small gathering in May marked the official opening of the revamped lower level of the Ashland Public Library; and Ashland organizations are preparing multiple Independence Day activities this year following a two-year, COVID-forced interruption in the annual festivities.
Ashland sister-city related happenings include Mexican percussionist Ivan Manzanilla, a specialist in contemporary percussion music, will share his talents next year at SOU; the Amigo Club will again offer Mexican paletas during Ashland’s Fourth of July celebration; and longtime friend-of-the-club, artist Betty LaDuke, has opened a new show.
Southern Oregon University and the University of Guanajuato are collaborating on a project for their business school students to provide development plans for rural and small businesses in Mexico and the Ashland area.
Obituary: Jefferson Straub, 78, passed away Feb.25, 2023, in the arms of his wife, Kelly Nash Straub. A celebration of Jeff’s life will be held at the Ashland Congregational Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 6.
Herbert Rothschild: “When they covered the 20th anniversary of our invasion of Iraq, our mainstream media were as craven as they were during the run-up to the invasion itself.”
Productions of all kinds and sizes abound at the Oregon Fringe Festival, which will begin its five-day run of unfiltered creative outpourings in Ashland on April 26. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the festival is produced by the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University.
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument officials are accepting applications for the annual Artist-In-Residence program through April 17. Selected artists receive a residency at the monument during the early summer months, where they will spend time creating art while surrounded by the monument’s natural beauty.
Ashland Rotary will host its annual Easter egg hunt event at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 9, at Lithia Park near the pickleball courts, according to a news release.
Abacela Winery CEO Dr. Greg Jones will speak about climate’s influence on sustainable wine production at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at Southern Oregon University’s Hannon Library, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., in the Meese Room.
(It’s free)
