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The only Farmworker Monument in the nation, located at corner of Santa Barbara and 9th streets in Santa Paula’s Railroad Plaza, was dedicated in colorful ceremonies Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Brian D. Wilson) |
Farmworker Monument, first in the nation, dedicated with gala celebration
August 18, 2010
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A portion of East Santa Barbara Street was closed Sunday as the crowd milled around to get a better look, many looking specifically for engraved names they would recognize or perhaps had sponsored themselves. “It’s beautiful,” rancher and banker Ralph Leon said Sunday during the dedication of the only Farmworker Monument in the nation, located at corner of Santa Barbara and 9th streets in Santa Paula’s Railroad Plaza.
Leon noted the faces of the two bronze figures - one male holding a ladder and basket of fruit, the other female crouching down in the hot sun harvesting crops - were obscured for a reason. “They were all farmworkers, primarily Latino, but Anglos, Chinese, Japanese” were also part of a long list of nationalities that for generations have toiled in the fields and orchards. “It’s about time something like this was done,” said Leon.
Hundreds of people gathered for the dedication, ranging from union leaders and Astronaut Jose Hernandez to farmworkers and ranchers. Among them was 86-year-old Albino Pineda of Santa Paula, a former farmworker who went on to later success.
Pineda spent years getting the project started to pay tribute to those whose hard work puts food on the tables of the world. There are numerous statues, murals and streets named after labor leaders such as Cesar Chavez, but Pineda and other supporters say this is the first tribute to the people who toiled in the fields such as Johnny Galvan.
A native of Santa Paula, Galvan said the monument is “very nice... my family’s name is on there” among the present 1,500 honoring generations of those who worked in agriculture. Galvan, who worked at Limoneira Company - a major sponsor of the monument - for 42 years before retiring, said, “It’s nice to see my family’s name and others that I know” inscribed on the limestone holding a sunburst book-ended by the life size statues.
“I’m excited, this is long overdue,” said Bob Carson of Santa Paula, who was also delighted at the “turnout here, it’s more than I expected.”
Bill Grant said so many names were familiar to him: “I think the monument is fantastic... it’s great we can all come up and read the names of people we know on such a beautiful monument.” And with others in the stretch of Railroad Park and throughout the city, “We’ll be known as the monument capital of the world now... and this is the first in the nation. It’s a monument that represents everybody.”
Musical entertainment and food vendors added to the celebratory atmosphere.
“As someone who worked in the fields I can’t tell you how proud I am,” Pineda told the crowd. The monument was a dream come true, including “the dream the whole community” of those whose lives center around agriculture - from farmworkers to growers “who have such an impact on our lives” - would join in the effort to pay tribute to their own.
Ventura County’s agricultural history is long and strong, and Pineda said with a now $1 billion plus annual bounty employing thousands of people, the monument pays tribute to “past, present and future” farmworkers and growers. Pineda thanked those who offered support, notably City Councilman Dr. Gabino Aguirre, “the person from the very beginning” who not only embraced the idea, but became project coordinator and fundraiser and “is responsible for the development and completion” of the work. “The original concept is my gift to you, Santa Paula,” and, said Pineda, “the nation.”
Aguirre introduced keynote speaker Hernandez, noting the astronaut’s story is a prime example of “how far can a farmworker go”; as it turns out, to the stars. Astronaut Jose Hernandez, 48, was born into a migrant family near Stockton, and started working the fields on both sides of the border as a boy.
He was always fascinated by space, and as a high school student working in a California beet field his dream was solidified when heard a report on his transistor radio about NASA’s first Latino astronaut. After earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering - a goal he knew would be required by his quest - and working in private industry, Hernandez joined NASA in 2004 and become part of a space shuttle crew.
Hernandez, who wore his NASA uniform, said he was inspired by the monument and hoped the dedication is only the first of more he would attend in the future. “All the country needs to be aware of nuestra gente’s (our people’s) role in ensuring food is readily available at every American dinner table,” he noted. And although labor leaders were often known for their battles with growers of grapes or lettuce, “it was always the people,” the farmworkers, that were the focal point of the issue.
The monument and its plaza cost $250,000 and was funded by corporate as well as private donations, including individuals who gave $100 - or what they could afford - to have names inscribed on the monument. Inscription opportunities still remain, and the next goal is to raise an additional $100,000 for an endowment for future maintenance.
Tax-deductible contributions can be sent, made payable to the Ventura County Community Foundation, 1317 Del Norte Rd., Suite 150, Camarillo, CA 93010, with a notation the gift is for the Santa Paula Monument Project.