A Montclair landmark will observe its 100th anniversary on May 2. The Centennial Celebration at Montclair Elementary School will be a community-wide event, including an invitation to students past and present. The program is called “it takes a village,” and indeed, that’s the ethos on which the school was built.
The Montclair Women’s Club, The Montclair Dads Club, Montclair Improvement Club and the Piedmont Avenue School orchestra all participated in the dedication ceremonies in March 1926. The children performed skits and songs. The school, with its distinctive Spanish-style architecture, cost $39,500 to build and had 71 students in spring of that year.
The Montclair Improvement Club even conducted a survey to help identify kindergarten-age children who could attend the new school in the fall. The newly formed Parent-Teachers Association put up safety signs on nearby streets and organized a reception for the teachers on opening day.
This year’s May 2 celebration will feature a daytime program in the upper playground (1:30 to 2:30 p.m.) with speakers, a fifth-grade mural dedication and a student concert. The evening program in the cafeteria will feature a picnic, music and tours (4:30 to 6:30 p.m.), then speakers (6:30 to 8 p.m.) and time for reminiscing (8 to 9 p.m.).
Updates will be posted on the Facebook event page “Montclair Elementary Centennial: It Takes a Village.” If you have questions or would like to volunteer, contact Marilyn Spingarn at montclaircentennial@yahoo.com.
Swapping spaces: For the last several months, Chase Bank has had two locations in Montclair Village.
That will change when the longtime branch at 2015 Mountain Blvd. closes its doors July 8 (staff will move over to the newly opened Chase Bank at 2110 Mountain Blvd.). The move will leave a high-traffic corner building empty in the heart of Montclair Village.
Sipping sustainably: O Smoothie and Paddington Café are the first Montclair Village merchants to incorporate reusable to-go cups into their business models.
The cups are designed to reduce single-use waste and are supplied by OKAPI in Alameda. Customers download an app and pay a one-time $10 membership fee to take part in the program at dozens of participating businesses in the East Bay. See the list at okapi-reusables.com.
Picnic time: On the heels of the Taste of Montclair dine-around event, the next Picnic on the Plaza is set for 12 to 4 p.m. April 26 and is sponsored by F&M Bank. The event is designed to encourage diners to eat outdoors and meet their neighbors at communal tables along Antioch Court.
Free tree: Friday of next week is Arbor Day, and if you missed ordering your free tree from PG&E, you’ll have to wait until the program rolls around. The public utility sent saplings to 3000 customers in a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation.
Most of the Japanese Red Maples, Japanese Snow Bells and other free trees will be delivered by Easter Sunday this weekend. The Arbor Day Foundation has planted more than 500 million trees, mostly in neighborhoods and forests, since 1972.
Ginny Prior can be reached at ginnyprior@hotmail.com and followed on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com.