We know COWs like to have a good time, and what better reason to celebrate than our nation’s birth? There are a lot of activities around our area

First of all, of course, is the annual Woodside Junior Rodeo, now in its 59th year of bringing a taste of the Old West to our Town and showcasing youthful equestrian talent. Presented each year by the Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County, the festivities include a dinner and dance at 6 p.m. on the night of July 3rd and the Rodeo itself on the Fourth.

The Rodeo will again be held at the Mounted Patrol headquarters at 521 Kings Mountain Road, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids under 18 are $7, adults are $15, and children under 6 are free. The “famous” Pig Scramble is held in the afternoon and the petting zoo is open all day. The main Rodeo activities – roping, bull riding, barrel racing, and more – really kick off after noon with the presentation of the Colors. For more information call (650) 851-8300, or to check out some exciting pictures from previous Rodeos see here.

We know many people like to start their patriotic juices flowing with a parade, and there’s no better opportunity for that than the annual Redwood City Fourth of July parade! Redwood City’s “Family Fourth” is now celebrating its 71st year of family fun with the biggest Independence Day parade in Northern California. The internationally famous parades theme this year is “All Things Musical” and features 200 entrants divided into five divisions, including marching bands, antique vehicles, youth and community groups, veterans groups, Shriners, lots of horse riders, and even a calliope! To see this year’s entrants, check here – you’ll even see the Mounted Patrol and Woodside stables represented!

The parade gets started at 10 a.m. at Winslow and Brewster. Get there early to find a good spot. Be aware that the Redwood City Police begin shutting down the parade route to cars around 8:30 a.m. The parade winds down a little before noon, after which you’re encouraged to enjoy the festival in the surrounding streets, including food booths and arts and crafts booths, the Marshall Law Band from 1-5 p.m., and a kid’s area with face painters, a bounce house, and a magician! A Battle of the Bands between the UC Davis Aggies and the Stanford Marching Band kicks off at 1:30 in the San Mateo Credit Union parking lot. At the Courthouse Square, the Redwood City will be hosting a car show and two bands, High N Tight and Stealing 3rd.

If you’re in San Jose and wanting to see a parade, we can recommend the Rose, White and Blue parade in the Rose Garden area of San Jose. While it’s only in it’s second year, the parade is sure to grow. Check it out from 10 to 3.

Since baseball is our national pastime, perhaps you’d like to take in a game. This year you’re in luck! The San Francisco Giants are playing the Houston Astros at home in AT&T Park in San Francisco at 1 o’clock. Or, if you prefer supporting the little guy, you could always go and see the San Jose Giants minor league team playing the Modesto Nuts at the San Jose Municipal Stadium at 9:30.

Some other quick ideas for the Fourth:

Enjoy a picnic in the park in Sunnyvale’s Baylands Park from 8-5. Bring a picnic and enjoy the antics of juggler and stiltwalker Lerum from 12-2.

Take the kids out for a beautiful day on the ocean with the Farallon Islands Whale Watch trip, leaving San Francisco at 8 am and coming back at 4 pm. The trip is lead by a naturalist and actually stops at the southern Farallon Island for lunch!

The Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco features such musicians as Wayne de la Cruz and the Jazzstronauts, on Fillmore between Jackson and Eddy from 10 to 6.

Or you could celebrate the Fourth onboard an actual aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, which is marking our Independence Day with live music.

The Alameda County Fair is going on over at the fairgrounds in Pleasanton, from 10 to 9.

Pier 39 hosts its annual bash – the Waterfront Celebration runs from 1-9, featuring bands and the usual Pier 39 activities, but also providing a great view of San Francisco’s annual fireworks display.

Fireworks are many people’s favorite part of the 4th. Most Bay Area towns and cities, including Woodside, ban private fireworks displays. Given the fire danger, especially in our Town, that’s a very GOOD thing! However, some Bay Area cities do let you shoot off your own “safe and sane” fireworks, including Pacifica and San Bruno.

If you prefer to let the professionals handle the explosives, San Francisco, Foster City, Redwood City, Oakland, Vallejo, Berkeley, Santa Clara, San Rafael, and Santa Rosa all have fireworks displays this year – most starting fifteen or thirty minutes after nine. Two unique ways of seeing fireworks displays this year are the Red and White Fleet’s Fireworks Cruise on San Francisco Bay, and the Fireworks Spectacular at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, featuring the San Francisco Symphony!

Enjoy a safe Fourth!

The COWncil met for a long meeting on Tuesday, running more than three hours. You can check out the meeting on video on Mootube here.

On the consent COWlendar were a few interesting items: Susan George was authorized to hire “outside service providers” like contract planners and engineers with blanket authority, subject to a limit laid out in the Municipal Code but not stated in the resolution – no doubt because it’s $125,000! (See Municipal Code § 38.03 for details)

The COWncil’s annual month of August off was approved.

The contract for Jean Savaree, Town Attorney since 2004, was renewed and her hourly rate raised to $240 an hour this year and $250 an hour next year, rising from the $212 an hour in the current contract. Although that is a very big percentage increase, it is certainly much less than many COWs pay attorneys when fighting Town Hall.

After the COWlendar was passed unanimously, the COWncil took up the matter of twin bike races that the National Senior Games (aka “the Senior Olympics”) wished to hold on consecutive days in early August on Cañada Road. The Games were first held in 1987, and have been held every two years since then in various places around the country. Athletes 50 years and older are eligible to compete in 18 different events, with almost 13,000 projected to appear this year. The last event was held in Louisville, Kentucky, and this year the event(s) will be held in and around the Stanford campus from August 1st- 15th.

The organizers wished to shut down Cañada Road in its entirety for two days (August 6th and 7th) for their 20k and 40k bicycle races; after consulting with the Town staff and the Sheriff’s department, they decided to only request the closure of the southbound lane of Cañada Road from Cañada College to Woodside’s northern edge. The race would continue on county roads and U-turn at Highway 92.

The COWncil members generally agreed that it seemed to be a well planned event but expressed COWncerns over the inconvenience to residents and wariness over these sorts of events happening frequently. The head of the local organizing committee put those fears to rest by saying that Woodside “would never see her again” since the Senior Games are held in different locations around the U.S. For more information, check out their website here. The COWncil did end up approving the race. Signs announcing road closures will go up soon, and postcards will be mailed to every Woodside household detailing when and where the road closures will be.

Next the COWncil issued the demolition permit for the Jackling House. See our separate article on this discussion.

The Town COWncil also took up the New Building definition discussion again. The New Building definition is important because it triggers compliance with the Town’s restrictive 7A fire ordinance and the companion “7A-lite’ Town-wide fire ordinance – which, while they definitely help protect the Town and homeowners’ buildings, can be expensive to comply with. If and when a remodel is a “New Building” is thus a hotly debated issue. There are also concerns that if the Town has a “New Building” definition, it could trigger County septic system requirements as well. Paul Nagengast, the Town Engineer and Curt Clark, the Town Building Official seem to be getting closer to what the COWncil wants but they are not there yet.

The COWncil also adopted the Town Budget for Fiscal Year 2009-2010 and approved the Town Budget for Fiscal Year 2010-2011; Susan reported that the Governor was having trouble rounding up a 2/3rds vote in the Legislature to take Prop 1A monies from Woodside and other communities (see our reporting here). It’s likely that the Governor will keep trying to take the money, however, so we’re still offering to film any local COWS COWments to the Governor.

The meeting wrapped up with Mayor Mason wanting to put the creation of a subcommittee to work with the Woodside Fire Protection District onto the next agenda. Town Manager George implied it would be on the next agenda.

COWncil member Hodges complained about the “slaughter” of an oak tree by PG&E. She pinned Paul Nagengast down and asked for an explanation. Paul said that PG&E had deferred tree trimming for a long time so they were now doing a lot of it – and doing it badly. This prompted both Mayor Mason and COWncil member Tanner to decry the generally poor job that PG&E does with trees, with Tanner stating that they hire subcontractors who try to get people to agree to have trees cut down entirely. Mr. Nagengast said the best he could do was “try to keep them honest.” We at COW would like to help if we can, so if you have had bad experiences with PG&E let us know.

The COWncil meeting adjourned shortly after that.