“It’s important for the generations that come after us to know the rich history of Dixon"

DIXON, CA (MPG) - They weren’t really missing. They were just forgotten about over the past fifteen years. Fifteen beautiful brass plaques were purchased by the Downtown Dixon Business Association at a time when the organization was thriving with Redevelopment Agency monies given to the nonprofit organization for continuing the promotion of downtown. But, then the Great Recession hit and the DDBA struggled to stay alive on minimal membership dues and volunteerism while their downtown office closed.

The plaques probably would have stayed forgotten if it weren’t for Chamber CEO Shauna Manina forming a Cultural Arts Roundtable at the Dixon Chamber of Commerce.

“I love public art,” said Manina, a Vacaville resident who also lived in Europe for a few years, served on the Centennial Committee in Vacaville and also on Vacaville’s Arts Advisory Committee before becoming Dixon’s Chamber CEO. “Cultural arts is an important part of the quality of life. A civilization is judged on statues, paintings, and music,” she added.

A monthly meetup by interested members was formed a few months ago, and they’ve been busy making plans for recreating the Historic Walking Tour originally created 20 years ago with buildings marked by the plaques. At that time, there were 28 buildings identified but only 15 plaques were ordered due to the expense. The problem was they could only find two buildings that had the plaques installed.

City Councilman Don Hendershot is the City Council’s representative to the Chamber and volunteered to find the plaques, soliciting help from Dixon History Museum Director Gary Erwin, former Downtown Dixon Business Association Director Angela Meisenheimer and Tim Osterhout to research. Jill Orr and Bill Schroeder also assisted.

“I love this kind of stuff,” Hendershot enthused. “I grew up on the East Coast around Revolutionary history. I was happy to jump right on it. It took me about a month to track them down and then the committee determined that we needed to order not only the 13 plaques that had not been ordered but additional plaques for historic sites that had not been included in the old tri-fold brochure."

The plaques were soon found in storage and brought to the Chamber office; Then Hendershot went to work to find a source who could duplicate the original plaques, contacting metal shops and engraving companies. There was a connection from one of the companies he contacted who still used that company out of Pittsburgh for his own specialty work.

“Then all the pieces fell together,” Hendershot said beaming as he sat among the numerous plaques inside the Chamber, one showing a delivery label from August 2005.

Enter fundraising ideas since each plaque costs about $500 to purchase equaling a need of about $10,000 to get the remainder of the plaques. The group arranged with the City of Dixon to do the installations at no charge. Donation letters were sent out last month along with social media requests, and to date, they’ve raised a healthy chunk of $4,000, she said. As a means for additional fundraising, donors will be listed in the Dixon booklets holding the map of the historical locations and on the mobile app that will be offered.

“We’ll be publishing the new Historical Walking Tour booklet with details about all the historical locations in Dixon where the plaques will be installed and a detailed map of where the plaques are located,” said Manina. They hope to have them up by September 1.

“It’s important for the generations that come after us to know the rich history of Dixon,” she said. The group is now raising money for a Cultural Arts Trust Fund and are excited about murals and mosaic designs in the future. For more information or to donate to the cause, contact Manina at (707) 678-2650 or email [email protected].