Here’s a tidbit not many people know: The Ashland Family YMCA (540 YMCA Way) has been around since the 19th century! Founded in 1899, the 501.C.3 nonprofit now serves approximately 8,500 members and many more future community members.

When you stand at the corner of Talent Avenue and Wagner Street in Talent, you look across the street at total devastation from the Almeda Fire in September 2020. Behind you are two restaurants that miraculously escaped the fire—Gather and the Vintage Coffeehouse & Sake Bar, which has been serving customers for the last 18 months. Gather, of course, is the site of the old Downtown Coffeehouse, a popular gathering place in Talent, before it succumbed to the Covid pandemic.

Deborah Costella’s love affair with cooking goes back to childhood, and in 1999 she parlayed that into a business called Kids, Cookies & Caviar, based in Las Vegas. That has now segued into Cosmic Muffin School of Cookery (296 E. Main, next to Bloomsbury), which she opened last year.

It’s good to see some stability in downtown Ashland, and as The Black Sheep (upstairs on the Plaza at 51 N. Main) celebrates its 30th year in business, it has gradually become an institution. Owners Clarinda and Jon Merripen, who bought the popular British-styled pub in 2017 from Susan Chester, have kept the tradition going with the same great food served in a bar-like atmosphere with a TV in the corner and plenty of events that make it a fun place for the entire family.

It’s been a long and winding road for Tim and Kathy O’Leary, owners of Long Walk Vineyard on the grounds of Valley View Orchard at 1800 N. Valley View Road. The couple met at Stanford University while pursuing individual careers and sharing lifelong interests in sports, music, wine and travel, and they got married in 1989. Their two children, Brian and Margaret, followed in 1991 and 1994.