July 29, 2017

48th Bon Odori

I've said it before but I'll say it again ... no two weeks or even two days are the same as your Mayor! This week was filled with meetings and opportunities to learn.

Saturday was the 48th annual White River Buddhist Temple Bon Odori. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious and the dancing and drumming were amazing. Obon is the Japanese Buddhist holiday to honor the spirits of one's ancestors through dance and the floating of lanterns inscribed with the names of their ancestors. The dances and music were beautiful. I was honored to welcome the many guests and artists as the festivities began. Reverend Koshin Ogui and his wife are so gracious, and invited my daughter Lucky and me to partake in the dances. While we're no experts in the movements, it was very fun and we had some wonderful teachers that made the dance much simpler for us. Arigato gozaimasu, White River Buddhist Temple congregation!

Music & Movies Under the Stars

More fun was had Friday night at Lea Hill Park as we held our Summer Sounds and Cinema event with "The Zaniac Comedy Show," "That '80s Band" and the movie "Sing." The park was filled with families enjoying a beautiful evening with three inflatable rides for kids and lots of other fun activities. Our next Summer Sounds event will be Friday, August 4 at Sunset Park at 6 p.m. Entertainment will include "Mister G," "Hall Pass Band" and the movie is "Moana."  August 11, the entertainment will be at Les Gove beginning at 6 p.m. with "Eric Ode," "Rain City Time Machine Band" and the movie will be "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." 

 If you're looking for something fun to do tonight or tomorrow, check out "The Wedding Singer Musica Comedy" at Auburn Ave Theater. The performances are by Auburn Community Teen Players and should be very entertaining. Times are 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Check out our talented teens!

"Characterize people by their actions, and you will never be fooled by their words."

            -Anonymous

Sharing Auburn Successes & Ideas Internationally

Earlier this week, our office received an email that "Honorary Consul of Ukraine Goloborodko would like to arrange a meeting of Mayor of Ukrainian city Gnivan with Mayor of Auburn to share the experience in business development."

Mayor Kuleshov Volodymyr and Honorary Consul Valerly Goloborodko visited us on Thursday afternoon to learn more about Auburn and share information about their own city and country. Without getting into politics, the Ukraine has gone through much and many of the people are in war-torn parts of the country. Mayor Kuleshov shared problems in his city with garbage and wanted ideas on how businesses might be able to succeed. Doug Lein, our Economic Development Manager, provided the group with copies of our Ten Year Economic Development Strategic Plan to share how Auburn is approaching our goals. We are always proud to share and always honored to welcome guests from other countries who are interested in Auburn!

Thank You, Lea Hill!

Our fourth Community Picnic was held Thursday night at Lea Hill Park and it was another success! Thanks to the Mola di Bari Sister City group for providing a delicious meal of pasta and salad to all of our attendees! Team Auburn and Valley Regional Fire Authority come out in full force to meet you, answer your questions, play a game or two of cornhole and enjoy our great parks. We have two picnics left this summer - West Hill, August 10 at Evergreen Heights Elementary at 6 p.m. and Lakeland Hills, August 17 at Sunset Park at 6 p.m. We hope to see you at those events!

Being a Good Canine Citizen

Recently, a wonderful resident, Mary, and her service dog, Lady, began attending our city council meetings. She spoke of some concerns about sidewalks and then came back two weeks later to thank us for our very prompt response to her concerns - she even brought homemade cookies! She continues to attend those meetings - with her beautiful and dedicated dog at her side. We met this week to discuss her concerns with other dogs that may not be trained to be good canine citizens. She sees many people while she's out with their pets and wishes that they could go through a training program to ensure they are socialized and that owners are being responsible. She also hopes that we would all respect service dogs and realize that when they are working, they are not available for us to pet or for play. Good reminder for all of us!