Photo by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier
Bob Hatch is the new president of the Los Altos Village Association, and is a longtime volunteer for the Arts & Wine Festival.
Special to the Town Crier
Bob Hatch's involvement with the Los Altos Village Association began 15 years ago, when he was asked to help pour beer at the association's annual Arts & Wine Festival. At the time, he was a Main Street entrepreneur with his Altos Insurance.
This year, Hatch is president of the Village Association, helping the downtown merchant's group prepare to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Arts & Wine Festival.
Hatch has been an enthusiastic volunteer in the event that has evolved from its start on the South Plaza parking area in 1980 to one of the top 100 in the country in quality of exhibitors. The event has grown from 150 to 400 exhibitors. Art manager Nancy Allie said she has more than 1,000 artists who apply to participate, making it easy to keep the quality of artists high. Allie first suggested the festival idea to the Village Association.
"I find it great fun," Hatch said of his festival volunteer work. "The festival is a unique and important thing for Los Altos."
For the past 10 years, Hatch has coordinated the wineries for the July event. He suggested the theme of focusing on smaller Santa Cruz Mountain wineries. And he developed a pattern of combining festival regulars such as Page Mill Winery of Los Altos Hills with a rotation of vintners "to add variety and broaden the exposure to wines," he said.
There are many things that make the Los Altos festival unique from others, Hatch said, including its Kids Zone, started five years ago as an expansion of the Kid's Stage.
"This festival is unique in the number of community volunteers involved each year," he said. Local Realtors, for example, have found a unique role as wine pourers, a result of the association's efforts to involve more non-retailers.
That outpouring of community support helps make the festival a success, Hatch said. "People who come feel that they're coming into and enjoying a community," he said.
As Village Association president, Hatch wants to promote that community feeling wherever possible. "I would like to see people excited about their involvement in membership and on the board, feeling that they are reaching their objectives," he said.
His goals for the association include getting "a clearer picture of the type of retail businesses that will be good downtown, and to be clear about what our goals should be."
He hopes to see the association work in concert with the city's new economic development coordinator to be "a well-informed resource for downtown."
A good working relationship with the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce and the city on areas of mutual interest ranks high on Hatch's priority list. "The downtown parking issue is one area where we've worked well together," he said. "I hope there will be more."
How to expand retail throughout the downtown business triangle, beyond Main and State streets, is another important issue, Hatch said.
And there is the question of "how local businesses can survive as the cost of retail space goes up." That takes the cooperation of Realtors and landlords, he said. "Some Realtors really understand that it's better to get a tenant who can survive rather than one that just fills the space for the landlord."
Hatch envisions an association Web site where member merchants would have a presence. "I see people pre-shopping on the Internet first, but coming into stores for that tactile shopping experience," he said.
"I see the challenge in the next few years in defining ourselves as an evolving downtown maintaining its community flavor," Hatch said.
For information on the Los Altos Village Association, the Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival and its volunteer opportunities, call 949-5282.