Community Award Winners

Tonight we are celebrating community at our annual Community Awards Recognition Dinner. I want to continue to share information about the awards and tell you the story of why the recipients were chosen. The following three awardees celebrate the community of Montrose and why it is such a special place.

Our Community Endearment Award goes to Once Upon A Time bookstore, the oldest children’s bookstore in America. In 2008, Publisher’s Weekly, the international journal of book publishing and bookselling, verified that Once Upon a Time is indeed the nation’s oldest continually operating bookstore dedicated to children’s literature. In April 2003, when the bookstore went up for sale, the daughter of present owner Maureen Palacios, Jessica, changed everything. Jessica faxed a letter to the editor of the LA Times asking where she could buy her fifth Harry Potter book if Once Upon a Time was no longer in business. This was the catalyst that inspired her mother Maureen, a past Montrose Shopping Park Association board member, to leave her human resources career and take over Once Upon a Time. Since then, Once Upon a Time has become very successful and has managed to stay open despite the very difficult times retail stores are experiencing. In 2016, Once Upon a Time was named the Small Business of the Year by State Senator Carol Liu. Hats off to Once Upon a Time for keeping our kids reading!

Our Community Enhancement Award goes to Fremont Elementary. In 2016, the Glendale Unified School District received an Overcrowding Relief Grant from the State of California to replace Fremont’s outdated and overcrowded bungalow classrooms with a permanent, modern and up-to-date facility. All 20 classrooms in the new facility are outfitted with 21st century technology including smartboards, computer labs and audio/visual systems. This new facility benefits the community and the entire area surrounding the school. Hats off to Fremont for giving our students a better environment in which to learn.

Our Frank Roberts Award honors a great citizen whose decades of patronage and support of the Montrose-Verdugo City area resulted in the highest expression of community involvement. Frank Roberts, or “Mr. Montrose” as he was known, was an innovative, forward thinking and caring man with an infectious energy who spent nearly a lifetime of service to make Montrose shine. Before Frank passed, he gave us some explicit attributes he expected of the recipients of his award: The person accepting this award must be a proven asset who helps improve the image and the stature of the area, someone who has shown great care for the community through service and dedication and helps preserve the integrity of the foothills communities and the essence of Montrose. This year’s award recipient fits the bill. Mike Shaar has tirelessly volunteered many hours in different capacities to make Montrose a better place. He served on the Chamber board of directors for 10 years, serving as the first vice president in 2004 and as president of the board in 2005. He acted as a liaison for the Crescenta Valley Town Council meetings for several years and volunteered as an Oktoberfest captain for 10 years. In the true spirit of Frank Roberts and his dedication to all things Montrose, Mike has been a Montrose Christmas Parade Association committee member and first responder’s captain since 2001. We are proud to present our 2018 Frank Roberts Award to our good friend and past president Mike Shaar.

We still have seats available for tonight’s dinner if you would like to join us. The show starts at 6 p.m. at the Oakmont Country Club. We hope to see you there!

Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce: Your source for all things local! Our mission is to actively support and enrich the community, vitality and pride of Montrose, to help preserve the historic district and small-town atmosphere, and to promote economic stability and positive, productive relationships within Montrose and the surrounding communities.

Upcoming events
2018 Annual Community Awards Recognition Dinner is tonight, Thursday, Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. at Oakmont Country Club, 3100 Country Club Drive, Glendale 91208.

  melinda clarke