MADERA COUNTY — Everyone is invited to come and learn from UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners Barbara Mattice, Cynthia Majors, Lyn Woodall and Agnes Jenkins how to build raised garden beds, including construction, soil content and planting. The Raised Bed Gardening Workshop will be held on Saturday, May 21, from 10 a.m. to noon at Madera Community College Center, 30277 ...

OAKHURST — The Yosemite Jazz Band has been entertaining diners on the patio at the Oakhurst Pizza Factory for over two decades. They return to their old stomping grounds on Thursday, May 5, and will be delighting audiences throughout the summer from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It all began in 1993 when The Yosemite Jazz Band established its roots in ...

BASS LAKE — One of the $10,000 fish has been snagged very early on in the Bass Lake Fishing Derby, set to run through tomorrow. This morning at about 9:30 a.m., Chor Vue, 36, of Fresno was fishing from the shore near the dam with his 4-year-old son Ryan, when he landed one of the two fish tagged with a ...

Shannon Cole for Real American Cowboy Magazine — Coarsegold, California has had its name changed a half-dozen times since 1849 when gold was first discovered there – first declared “Texas Flat,” over the years giving way to five more name changes, it eventually became Coarsegold. But, there has only been one name for its rodeo… the Coarsegold Rodeo. One of ...

MADERA COUNTY — The Madera County Sheriff’s Office in cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is hosting another Medication Take-Back event scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 30. This service to the public is scheduled twice annually, once in the spring and once in the fall. Sheriff Varney wants to remind the public of the importance of proper disposal of ...

NORTH FORK — The ladies arriving to open the Grace Community Church Senior Center in North Fork on Saturday were greeted with evidence that someone had broken into the building sometime overnight. It appeared that whoever broke in did so by managing to jimmy a door open with a small knife or screwdriver, as opposed to breaking something such as ...

NORTH FORK — Local author Gaylen Lee will be sharing stories of the Mono as the featured speaker at the Sierra Vista Scenic Byway Association annual meeting on Wednesday, Apr. 13 at 7 p.m. at the North Fork School. Gaylen is the author of Walking Where We Lived, Memoirs of a Mono Indian Family, and will be speaking on the ...

CHEF GRANDMA Mardi Gras ended weeks ago. The Carnival that was, is no more. Gone is the feasting… but not the fasting. Days of celebrations and merriment have faded into the solemn and somber days of Lent. Some people give up pleasures during these 40 days as a fasting sacrifice. As a child in Kansas City in the 1940’s, I ...

Written by Len McKenzie — The charismatic Great Gray Owl, an iconic species in Yosemite National Park, is the largest owl in the world by length, and for most birders seeing one is a breathtaking experience. With a wingspan that can exceed five feet, these majestic, nocturnal birds of prey typically perch in trees on the edges of meadows at ...

Bill Ritchey is a native of Chowchilla. As a young adult, he worked for 10 years in Madera County as an EMT, Paramedic, Operations Manager and partner at Pistoresi Ambulance Service. During that time, he also completed his education as a Registered Nurse and worked as a Certified Emergency Nurse. Bill was involved in advocacy for local emergency services, and ...