A few of the pieces that make Lodi unforgettable

If you have lived in Lodi for awhile, some of the things that make Lodi great have become as invisible as old wallpaper. The Lodi Chamber of Commerce, Lodi Memorial Hospital and the Lodi Grape Festival — just to name a few — are there year in and year out for us and yet do things other towns only envy.

This past week or so, their accomplishments jumped off the wall and seemed to get in our face.

The Lodi Chamber of Commerce's September newsletter says more than 80 people have signed up to join a mission to sell wine and other local products in China. The trip is probably booked at this point.

The China trip is a very savvy move on the part of President Pat Patrick and the chamber board and we hope it leads to great things for old livable, lovable Lodi.

Lodi Memorial Hospital began construction this week on its new south wing.

While many communities are closing their emergency rooms and downsizing medical services, Lodi has supported a growing hospital.

Besides providing first-class emergency and in-patient care, Memorial is the hub of a whole medical economy. Sure medical insurance costs more and Social Security and Medi-Cal are cutting back reimbursement rates. Lodians can still get local doctors to perform most of the services they need. Having a local hospital means doctors can make rounds and families can visit sick relatives right here in town.

Nobody wants to get sick, but when it happens, Lodi can take care of its own, thanks to Memorial.

The Lodi Grape Festival is still our best event. Although farming and the annual grape harvest no longer employ the masses they did in the day of hand-picking Tokays, the festival still performs its original function: It brings together rich and not-so-rich, locals and travelers to celebrate our agriculture and our community.

There are lots of "events" in Lodi, but few of them attract the broad social and geographic spectrum that the festival does. We hear people still talking about the lions and baboons, which were new this year, and the many old friends they saw.

Some complained about the few fights that broke out and we don't condone it. Some teenagers misbehave. But at least teenagers — well behaved and otherwise — go to the festival. There we can mix with them and, if need be, the Lodi P.D. can keep an eye on them.

Manager Mark Armstrong and his festival board keep this annual event fresh enough to grow the crowd without wiping out the traditions. The festival is bunches of fun after all these years.

Agricutural-Industrial Manufacturing, AIM, must be some sort of throwback.

California is generally believed to be leading the economic revolution turning America into a service economy. We invent, we insure, we consult, we educate, we heal, we sell and, man, do we litigate. But most of us accept the idea that things aren't actually made in America anymore.

In Lodi, Super Mold is history. Lodi Metal Tech, Lodi Chrome and others have fallen by the wayside. We're lucky to still have General Mills, Lodi Iron Works and Valley Industries.

But snoop around Main Street, Stockton Street, East Pine and Industrial Way and you'll find some others — small manufacturers like Quashnick Tool Corp., Pete's Workshop and Meelheis Modular Building.

AIM, is there on Beckman Road. Not only do they make grape harvesters and sell them all over the world, they also make harvesters for coffee and rice, we're told.

This week they rolled out a behemoth cotton defoliator.

Who says nobody in California makes stuff anymore?

Lucas Winery is another example of a local business that still has the hands-on approach. In fact, you have to "hand it" to Dave Lucas for continuing the tradition of hand-picking grapes.

We happen to agree with Stanton Lang and most Lodi growers who are happy to have converted to a mechanized harvest. Harvesters make for better wages and working conditions. Dino Mencarini (and many others) still hand picks his zinfandel vineyard, but Mencarini says there's nothing romantic about it — it's hot, dirty work.

Lucas takes the Tom Sawyer approach. He makes work fun. Each year, Dave talks some of his "friends" into volunteering to pick grapes.

Dave, you prove that the modern winery operator must be and can be a marketing genius. Just don't invite us over to whitewash that fence, buddy. We're busy that day.

Lodi News-Sentinel

Reader Feedback

To OTH wrote on Oct 1, 2007 12:23 PM:

" Lodi is gasping. It exists for the rich and the entitled. and non english speaking... "

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