Tag: Fairfield

The country’s largest beer company is closing its last Bay Area brewing facility. Anheuser-Busch announced Thursday morning it’s shutting down operations at its Fairfield plant early next year.

The Budweiser plant has been called the heartbeat of City of Fairfield after serving it for 49 years. Thursday, workers and the community learned it’s closing for good.

“Shock, shock, and surprise just very sad, sad for my coworkers sad for everybody that’s already retired,” said Christine Peters, a Budweiser employee.

Longtime Budweiser employee Christine Peters describes how many are feeling after learning Fairfield’s Budweiser brewing facility will be shuttering.

Peters got the news when she came into work Thursday morning. She’s worked at the plant nearly her entire career.

“It’s meant everything started here as a kid 20 years old. I’m a few months away from retirement,” Peters said.

Anheuser Busch notified the City of Fairfield this morning that the plant is among three locations across the country that are shutting down after conducting a thorough review. In a statement it says it’s shifting operations to other facilities, saying, “These changes will enable us to invest even more in our remaining operations and in our portfolio of growing, industry-leading brands.”

“They said it’s a done deal. They didn’t wanna talk to the city manager anymore or me. They just said it’s done,” said Catherine Moy, Fairfield mayor.

Fairfield’s mayor calls Budweiser’s departure a huge hit. She says it’s been a great partner through the years, funding the city’s first police dog, bringing its signature Clydesdales to town for special events, and providing good paying jobs.

“Anytime we needed something in the city we could go to Anheuser Bush Budweiser right out here,” said Moy.

“Obviously it’s a pretty cool thing to have a Budweiser facility in your town and a big part of Fairfield’s identity has been that for a long time,” said Dave Zellers, Fairfield director of Community and Economic Development.

Fairfield’s director of Economic Development says the city is already thinking about what’s next. He says the facility has green power generation on site and a huge capacity for water and sewer, ideal for another manufacturing company to move in.

“A lot of interest in Solano County right now with ship manufacturing possibilities, manufacturing possibilities. You have a site that has a lot of assets that are going to be necessary to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there,” Zellers said.

The city says it’s also focused on helping the 200 workers’ transition. The workers and community are trying to soak in the news the plant will be going dark early next year.

Nearly two decades after a popular Fairfield councilmember was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity, his mother and stepfather are carrying on his legacy of public service.

Together, Teresa and Raymond Courtemanche have walked a horrific journey in memory of their son, Matt Garcia.

“He loved his community. He loved Fairfield,” Teresa Courtemanche said.

Garcia had just made headlines in 2007. At age 21, he was elected the youngest city council member in Fairfield and one of the youngest in California history. Then, 10 months later, at the age of 22, he was shot to death, apparently mistaken for a drug dealer.

As his mom Teresa and his stepdad Raymond grappled with their grief, they vowed not to let go of Garcia’s dream.

“Matthew was a donor, so we were talking about his organs to meet needs. And it became real crystal clear to me, ‘Keep the dream alive,” said Raymond.

Teresa added, “We need to invest in our young people. That’s what he did, and we just want to keep that going.”

Three months after Garcia died, the Courtemanches began a nonprofit in his name. The Matt Garcia Foundation continued the work of the Fairfield native who declared as a sixth grader that he would one day hold public office.

“So, the idea is ‘community’ for us, really. That’s Matt’s message. Period,” said Raymond.

Teresa and Raymond organize volunteers a wide range of activities, from arts and crafts events, to grocery giveaways, to monthly downtown cleanup days, all funded by proceeds from an annual golf tournament.

The foundation works to support organ donation and gun buyback programs, and fight youth homelessness and human trafficking. Once a month, Teresa helps lead a Homicide Survivors Support Group, the only one of its kind in Solano County.

Licensed clinical social worker Patty Ayala comes alongside the participants and says the meetings foster hope and resilience.

“They say hurt people hurt people. And it doesn’t have to be like that. People who are healing can share their healing with other people,” Ayala said.

The foundation also presents thousands of dollars in scholarships to about a dozen students a year, including volunteer Autumn Carabajal. She’s thankful to the Courtemanches for the financial aid that allows her to study at community college and follow her dream to become a paleontologist.

 “They’re really supportive with everyone around them. There’s no judgments. There’s just lots of love,” Carabajal said.

The foundation’s logo, “FFINEST”, for “Fairfield’s Finest”, was Garcia’s personalized license plate. It now embodies his parents’ hope for the lives they touch.

“That’s really the theme behind it – encouraging people to be the finest that you can be. Your friends, your family, your future,” said Raymond.

When asked what Matt would say to what his parents are accomplishing in his name?

“I feel him all the time, and he’s so proud,” said his Mom. “We can stand up in the most devastating of times and make change for the better.”

For carrying on Matt Garcia’s legacy of service to their community, this week’s CBS News Bay Area ICON Award goes to Raymond and Teresa Courtemanche.

A person was arrested after an alleged DUI crash in Fairfield sent a person to the hospital Friday night, police said.

Officers responded to a traffic collision involving a pedestrian on Sunset Avenue, north of East Travis Boulevard, at around 10:15 p.m., according to authorities.

Officials said the pedestrian was transported to a local hospital with major injuries while the driver involved, identified as 57-year-old Monte Parker, was arrested on suspicion of DUI.

The police department said this is an ongoing investigation.