SALINAS VALLEY — Monterey County and Deadend Magazine joined together with the cities of King City, Greenfield, Soledad, Gonzales and Salinas to host the Monterey County Cruise for the Count to get the last local census forms completed by residents.
Cars from Deadend Magazine cruised from Salinas to King City, then back north through the four towns before ending at Salinas for a 2020 Census event on Sept. 26.
“This is all in support of the census,” said Maricruz Aguilar, King City’s assistant planner. “In King City, we have a question assistance center.”
The King City kickoff area not only had a small car show with the cruisers, but also included food trucks and census information tables set up next to the King City Library.
Community members gathered there and learned there were free tacos and snow cones available to those who completed their 2020 Census forms on site.
Not only were there food and cars present, but chalk artists partnered with the census effort to create art on the sidewalk to encourage census participation.
In addition to getting the word out like other South Monterey County cities, King City also had an information table set up across the street from the library, the site of its planned plaza park project, which could use the assistance of Prop 68 funding to move forward.
A miniature workshop was held there on that Saturday to get community input on which design the community liked more for the downtown plaza.
“The city’s going to be going out for Prop 68 funds this December, so hopefully we get selected so we can build the plaza,” Aguilar said. “This is a project we’ve been working on for a while now. … This workshop today is getting people that are walking down Broadway to get feedback on which design they prefer. From there, we’ll take that information and apply it to the grant.”
