Gilroy Welcome Center Becomes One of Eighteen State Designated Centers
California's Newest Visitor Center
Written By Kimberly Ewertz
J
ane Howard, Executive Director
of the California Welcome Center
Gilroy, beams with pride as she talks
about the center and its evolution over
the years. Its greatest achievement to
date: being selected as one of only
18 California state welcome centers.
The journey to claim that
designation began last year when
Visit California decided to open
four additional centers. “They [Visit
California] wanted some more cen-
ters throughout the state and figured
that our location, not only being in an
outlet center but right along the free-
way, would be an ideal location,” Pam
Gimenez, the center’s Visitor Service
Manager, said.
In 2001, a 30-page Request for
Proposal was submitted by the
Welcome Center to Visit California. It
included letters of recommendation
from the Gilroy Chamber of
Commerce, the Economic Development
Corporation, (EDC), Gilroy Gardens,
Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike
Wasserman, City Administrator Gabe
Gonzalez, the Wineries of Santa Clara
Valley, and Casa de Fruta co-owner
Gene Zanger—all praising the center’s
success over the years.
“They had seen how successfully we
88
had operated this location as the Gilroy
Welcome Center…they knew we could
do it,” Howard said.
Once the proposal was accepted the
next step was a site visit. Three Visit
California representatives inspected
the center as well as the entire Outlet
location, checking for easy access to
highways, and quality visitor amenities.
Howard and her staff made sure the
center lived up to its name.
“Our mayor was here to welcome
them, the city administrator was here to
welcome them, Visit Gilroy board chair,
and vice chair,” Howard said, her smile
widening with the memory. “I mean we
had a welcoming committee.”
After receiving the official
notification that Gilroy was being
considered as a state welcome center,
there was one final step before receiving
the official designation.
Howard and her staff had 30 days
to detail all necessary changes needed
to reflect the center’s new designation.
No longer was the center representing
Gilroy alone, with the new designation
the center was representing all visitor
destinations throughout the entire state
of California.
Included in those changes was new
signage, inside and out, representing
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
june/july 2019
the name change from the Gilroy
Welcome Center, to California Welcome
Center Gilroy. An expanded display
of brochures representing all visitor
destinations throughout the Golden
State, and the installation of a 42-inch
monitor to display promotional videos
of those locations, were also needed.
Howard’s confidence in her staff’s
ability to implement those changes in
the designated time given convinced
the board to approve the proposal.
Soon after submitting the proposal, the
center received its official designation.
To celebrate the victory and the
renaming of the center an Open House
was held, complete with a ribbon-
cutting ceremony.
“It was so much fun. . .I would say
we probably had close to 150 to 200
people here,” Gimenez said, crediting
the large turnout to Howard.
“She’s so beloved by so many people
in this town,” Gimenez said. “She’s very
well connected, she does everything,
she’s just so sweet and nobody wants to
let her down. I truly believe that’s why
we had so many people.”
Howard’s passion for Gilroy began
when she and her husband Al, owner
of E-Z Clean Car Wash on Monterey
Street, first moved to Gilroy in 1980
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