AgHub sets up shop in Escondido

When the San Diego County Farm Bureau decided it needed new digs to support the 21st-century farmer, it didn't need to look far from its old location.

The search in 2017 led the organization, which advocates and promotes the agricultural interests of its 2,000 dues-paying members across the county, to downtown Escondido where the organization embarked on an ambitious plan - to make a central hub to accommodate the exchange of ideas, information, and resources among the ag community.

With that, the AgHub was born.

Located in a two-story building off of Broadway and 4th Avenue, the San Diego AgHub houses the offices of the Farm Bureau and the San Diego Re
gion Irrigated Lands Group - which the bureau administers - the University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisors program, Montoya Insurance, a leading agriculture insurance agency; as well as conference and meeting room space available to all farm bureau members.

The UC extension program provides academic and natural resource advisors as well as nutrition educators who work with both farmers and the public alike on such issues as pest management, efficient growing methods, wildfire education and nutrition. 

"We wanted this to become the hub," said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. "We want agricultural organizations to kind of feel that this is their home as well."

Nearly two years later, Larson said, while much of San Diego's ag industry is in the communities of Valley Center, Pauma Valley, Fallbrook, and Bonsall, the AgHub has become the "brains," so to speak.

That the Farm Bureau's home is in Escondido is not a coincidence. The city has been inexorably tied to agriculture since the 1800s. The county's first avocado tree - perhaps the county's signature crop - was planted in Escondido in 1892.

In 1967, the Farm Bureau moved its offices from the San Diego Chamber of Commerce Building to a strip center in Escondido, where it remained until 2017.

But Larson said the Farm Bureau outgrew the storefront on East Valley Parkway, and after it was sold, there was a desire within the agricultural community to centralize a number of critical functions necessary to help the bureau serve its purpose of fostering agriculture in San Diego.

The industry today, Larson said, continues to expand and evolve and its value to the economy is nearly $4.4 billion - placing it in the top 20 of all counties nationwide. Agriculture countywide supports 16,000 jobs, Larson said, and, because of its presence in North County, is a major economic force in the region.

After a search, the Farm Bureau zeroed in on the two-story building that was the former home of a general contractor. A fundraising drive was started to raise money for the new building.

Those fundraising efforts are memorialized on a wall next to the building's main staircase, where donors names are printed on different sized tiles corresponding to the amount of the contribution. The wall reads like a "who's who" of San Diego's ag community.

"As a nonprofit organization, of course, we have limited funds and so when the decision was made to relocate, we owned that building on East Valley Parkway, sold it, plus with the funds from all the donors, we were able to buy this building," Larson said. "It was seven figures."

One of the key features of the new facility is the first-floor boardroom. 

On any given day, organizations will host seminars, training sessions, and board meetings in the room, including the Farm Bureau's various committees and board of directors. 

And the space is available for any agricultural organization in San Diego for free. 

"They (the ag community) like it; consequently if you look at the schedule, it's 'meeting, meeting, meeting,'" Larson said. 

The space also allows the Farm Bureau to foster and incubate new organizations.

"You have fledgling groups across the county; for instance, there is this new North County wine grape growers group," Larson said. "By giving them access to something like this, it is easy for them to evolve."

Larson said the Farm Bureau hosts regular seminars on emerging crops - dragonfruit, coffee, industrial hemp, wine grapes, and avocado dense planting have gained steam across the county - that previously would have been held wherever space was available in the region. 

"The classes are here - as opposed to "Gee, where can we find a meeting space?" he said.

And the AgHub's downtown Escondido location makes it convenient for growers and the Farm Bureau executives.

"Escondido was the exact perfect location," Larson said. "We didn't want to get west of the (Interstate) 15. Even though logic might have said 'Let's go further north,' the farm bureau staff spends a lot of time going south into San Diego - all the regulatory agencies are there. From this location, it's pretty easy to reach those locations."

The location also had an added bonus: it's pretty cool, Larson said. 

"The neighborhood is pretty neat," Larson said of the Old Escondido neighborhood. 

"Escondido has been a great partner with the Farm Bureau for years, and we are proud to continue that tradition in our new home," Larson said. 

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Java & Jazz: Live entertainment flows from downtown coffee house, wine bar

The deep aroma of espresso hangs over the small crowd in the Downtown Escondido storefront, as Dan Naylor approaches a microphone positioned on a small stage near the entrance of the shop. 

Naylor, a popular figure around town who works for the city and moonlights as a sign spinner for the coffee shop - He's affectionately known around town as "Dan the Man" - has Cerebral Palsy. He pulls down the microphone and speaks with a slow drawl. 

"You wanna hear a joke?" he says. 

"I was hit by a car when I was younger and was in a six-month coma and I still wanted to be a stand-up comedian but was in a wheelchair," he continues. "So I said I would be a "sit down" comedian and be rolling with the jokes."

The crowd erupts with laughter.

This is the scene on Friday night at Kettle Coffee & Tea on Grand Avenue, where jokes might fly, spoken word might be uttered, or a song might be sung at the Kettle Open Mic Night, a fixture at the coffee house for the past seven years. 

Live entertainment - especially acoustic music - has been a crowd pleaser at several coffee shops, wine bars, and restaurants in Escondido, attracting guests who want to sip a cup of java or enjoy a glass of wine with the relaxing ambiance of Spanish guitar, or a joke told by Naylor.

"Kettle is about coffee, community, and care," Naylor said. "We get all original music, poetry, and stand-up comedy, and the crowd enjoys it, he said."

Thursday was originally the Open Mic Night day, but the date was changed when the Kettle changed owners last year. 

It took a while for the new date to take traction, but the past few open mics have been very well attended, Naylor said. 

The new Open Mic Night day ties in well with the festive atmosphere in downtown Escondido on Fridays between April and September, when downtown hosts Cruisin' Grand, billed as the "largest weekly car cruise west of the Mississippi."

"It's really fun," Naylor said. 

Escondido has a number of unique coffee houses, providing a break from the daily grind. Koffie, Cute Cakes, and Esco Gelato all bring a distinct flavor to the downtown area and Blue Mug Coffee & Tea fills your java fix on the city's northern edge on El Norte Parkway.

For those looking for tunes and a drink with a little more oomph than a cup of coffee, just west of Kettle, visitors can enjoy sipping on locally produced wine and beers at Sip Wine & Beer, downtown's newest wine bar.

And every other week, patrons can sway to the guitar and drum beats of Latin duo Jimmy & Enrique, or be serenaded by the vocals of Jacob Acosta as he strums his acoustic guitar. 

"Our goal is to support the local wineries by carrying their wines, as well as offer live music to bring people in," said Cassandra Schaeg, Sip's CEO and founder. "I think it gives people an opportunity to experience a different vibe in addition to having good wine and accessibility of local wine, one thing that keeps people coming back is the events and the live music we showcase."

Sip, which just celebrated its fourth anniversary, is hosting live music acts Warren LaPlante on June 22 and Ruben DeAnda on June 28.

"People are saying we enjoy coming to Sip and are bringing our friends because we are the only wine bar and we're offering live entertainment that brings a different vibe to the downtown scene," Schaeg said. 

Escondido visitors looking to get away from the urban scene but who still want that fusion of music and imbibing can take a short jaunt to west Escondido or the picturesque San Pasqual Valley, where the wine and the music flow copiously.

Throw on your cowboy boots and bring your best dance moves every Friday at Cheval Winery in Hidden Hills for Country Wine (Line) Dancin' from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 

On Fridays and Saturdays, Orfila Winery in San Pasqual Valley hosts Tunes on the Terrace, where patrons are welcome to dance, relax, and enjoy smooth jazz, blues, modern and more styles of music on the patio overlooking the vineyard.

And Hungry Hawk Vineyards (also in San Pasqual Valley) has a plethora of live music on its calendars on the weekends at its tasting room, such as the acoustic guitar/vocal duo Father & Son, which is slated to perform June 23. According to the bio, the father and son team performs "an electric mix of music from Cole Porter to Coldplay."

For more information about these and other events, check out the Visit Escondido calendar of events! 

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