Spring plant sale raising funds for Atascadero Printery
Spring plants flowers, perennials, houseplants will be available along with decorative yard art, baked goods
– On Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., members of the Agua Caliente Chapter of Questers and the Atascadero Printery Foundation will host a Spring Plant Sale at 7820 Cortez Avenue, Atascadero.
Spring plants and flowers, perennials, and houseplants will be available for purchase along with decorative yard art and baked goods. Proceeds will go toward the restoration of the historic Atascadero Printery Building. Additionally, retired city arborist, Ron Combs, will be on hand from 10:30-11:30 a.m. to answer any tree-related questions.
The Historic 1915 Printery Building in Atascadero.
The printery, completed in 1915, was the first civic building in Atascadero. It held the first rotogravure presses west of Chicago and was the largest printing operation west of the Mississippi. Atascadero founder E.G. Lewis first published the Atascadero News in 1916 with an initial printing of 100,000 copies. He also printed the Illustrated Review, a photo/news magazine, as well as sections of the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Sunset Magazine. Unfortunately, the 2003 San Simeon Earthquake left the unreinforced masonry building badly damaged. It became the foundation’s primary task to stabilize the structure.
The large arched entry to the building features murals by artist Ralph Holmes and Italian Carrara marble panels. Some of this work has been destroyed over the years and the foundation is working toward restoring all the distinctive historic features of the building. To date the shoring of the gym is complete, and non-historic additions will soon be removed. Agua Caliente’s renovation project of the printery front doors is in the works, and they are working on a fundraising campaign for the “20 (Windows) in 22” project. The campaign aims to renovate the front 20 windows of the printery building. Proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale fundraiser will be used toward completing many necessary renovations.
