Coronado MainStreet has a gift idea that will give your gift recipient hours of mind-boggling pleasure and help support the economic growth of downtown Coronado while shopping local for a great cause. When the MainStreet budget was recently cut by City Council, Director Rita Sarich and the board brainstormed creative ways to make up the $20,000 deficit. The first idea to be put in motion came from long time board member and former Holland’s Bike Store owner Eddie Warner, who got the idea from a puzzle she found on vacation at Mt. Rainier.
“We wanted to showcase the diversity of Coronado and we found the right balance with Evgeny Yorobe’s iconic Hotel del Coronado photo and whimsical village collage by Jody Esquer,” comments Warner. She is a puzzle aficionado and challenges people to beat her time of three hours to complete The Del puzzle, which is a photograph taken by award-winning photographer Yorobe. Jody Esquer, artist and owner of Night and Day Café, actually created the collage art in a collaborative effort with her daughter Sophie’s third grade class approximately 10 years ago. She worked with the kids having them clip newspapers and magazines and select colors and shapes to create the Coronado-themed motif. She ultimately created the picture, with the kids adding their names around the border. The picture was bought by someone at a school fundraiser and ironically she purchased the canvas back from them.
This project happened fast as Warner brought it to the Mainstreet board at the beginning of November and puzzles were available for sale starting the week of Thanksgiving. “I had no idea how many decisions had to be made to make this a reality, but we moved at a quick pace deciding how many pieces, difficulty level, box design, company to produce it, how to sell it and more,” says Warner. They selected a small U.S. company for production.
Coronado Mainstreet’s mission is to protect the vibrancy of downtown to make a clean, safe and inviting hub for our residents and visitors. These 300-piece limited-edition puzzles can be found at Seaside Papery, 1162 Orange Avenue, or at the MainStreet office, 1001 B Ave. Ste 216 for just $25.99. MainStreet board member and owner of Seaside Papery, Jori Jackman Fentiman, has pledged to donate all the proceeds from the puzzle to MainStreet, so they can continue their vital mission. Sarich and Warner are happy to report that the puzzles are selling quickly, so recommend that you pick up several for the puzzle fiends and Coronado lovers on your holiday list. For more information, call (619) 437-0254.
