El Centro celebrates
110th anniversary
EL CENTRO — Just as its neighboring city of Calexico did so this week, the city of El Centro celebrated its 110th year of existence, and decided to commemorate its morethan-a-century milestone with a city-wide celebration Saturday afternoon at Bucklin Park here.
The free and family-oriented event featured musical and dance performances, activities for children and booths from a number of local agencies. After an introduction from the city’s mayor, Cheryl Viegas-Walker, those in attendance sang “Happy Birthday” to the city.
“110 years for a city, in terms of California, that’s kind of on the older edge of being an incorporated city, so we have a lot to celebrate,” Viegas said. “We have a lot of people who are really committed to making this an awesome place to raise a family. As I see it, it’s not just a birthday celebration, but it’s a celebration of us and our community.”
Among the organizers of the event was El Centro City Manager Marcela Piedra.
“We really went after looking for sponsorships because, just as how would with any birthday party, we wanted to make sure we gave people food, raspados, drinks because it’s a celebration,” said Piedra. “We’re thanking our community and we’re very fortunate that we have local businesses that support us. Being in existence for 110 years is quite a milestone, so for us, that’s very worthy of celebration.”
Piedra has been an El Centro resident for more than 30 years and mentioned her favorite part about the city was its welcoming community.
“I was just hearing some comments from people today that it’s a very welcoming community,” Piedra said. “And even people that come from other communities and make El Centro their home, they said they’ve never felt so welcomed coming into an area before. I think that’s part of the reason my parents brought us here, because it’s such a welcoming area here. You want to raise a family here, there’s just so much to offer. We’re fortunate we have that kind of lifestyle here in the city of El Centro.”
The city manager said she also enjoyed the luxury of only have to take about a seven-minute drive to get to work each day, unlike most of the larger cities in the state.
Viegas has been an El Centro resident for the past 30 years, and moved here after meeting her husband Steve Walker, who was born in Calexico and raised here, during their time at the University of Washington.
“We moved back here for work, and it has been an amazing place to raise our family,” the city mayor said. “Being with the people, our friends, our coworkers and our family, I would say that’s been my greatest joy living in this community.”
Viegas also enjoys the opportunities the city has provided her, such as serving on the El Centro city council.
“There’s a lot of amazing opportunities that this community has provided, not only for our family, but a lot of our friends and their families,” Viegas said. “What I love about this community is that we’re kind of that gritty underdog. We really have to maybe strive a little harder, but we compete with the best and this is just an amazing place to be.”
What the city mayor enjoyed most about the city’s celebration event was that it gave young residents the opportunity to meet face-to-face with the city’s fire and police department personnel.
At the El Centro Fire Department’s booth, firefighter Eddie Ramirez gave youths a plastic fire helmet and a quick hands-on tour on one of the city’s fire trucks.
“I think it’s a pretty positive event,” Ramirez said.
“I think it’s pretty awesome to have the kids running around and checking out the fire truck. Especially going out in the field, whenever we do have an emergency and we encounter kids, we want them to know that we’re there to help and not to be scared. Although we do have emergency situations, we do want our relationship with the community to be positive.”
The El Centro Police Department brought out a patrol unit and an armored truck for kids to tour inside.
“They could crawl all over it, ask questions and do whatever curiosities they have,” ECPD Interim Chief Alvarado Ramirez said. “And you know what, we never know. With that kid, we can plant that seed and it could grow into a tree and maybe become one of our future police officers. The only way for them to get to know what they want to do is to get to know us. So for this event, and for any other time, we welcome the community to come and talk to us.”
Ramirez has been a life-long resident in the Imperial Valley, and enjoyed the historic context that Saturday’s celebration event provided.
“I was born and raised here, the only time I left was when I was in the Marine Corps from ‘96 to 2000,” Ramirez said. “Then I came back and I was fortunate enough to get a chance to be with the El Centro Police Department. I’ve been in the area since, and I was also with the city when we celebrated 100 years. Growing up here, I really didn’t have any type of context on how long the city has been incorporated, so it was pretty neat to hear about the history today.”
The ECPD interim chief said the event gave him a good sense of context to see where the city started to where it is now.
“There’s so many projects going on in the city. New services that are being provided such as the work that our hospital is doing, it’s great and they’re expanding. Also with the passage of Measure P, we’ll see the landscape of our city change quite a bit, including Bucklin Park. There will be a couple new projects coming up, like a police facility and a new library. It’s exciting to see our city grow this way. Hopefully it’s exciting to the community as well.”