2 Santa Rosa commercial printers join forces; Luther Burbank Savings gets grant

Odell Printing in Santa Rosa in April acquired GW2 Printing in Santa Rosa, adding to its grand format capacity and the types of mailing jobs it can handle.

Odell owner Nicholas Ammar said the acquisition, completed in April, will allow his company to offer grand format printing, signs and banners and roll labels.

Ammar said during the pandemic that instead of cutting back the business “actually increased our marketing efforts, hired more sales people and pushed hard to grow in every way that we could as a business.

“I invested in new equipment, software, people and a complete rebranding strategy that was set to begin in Spring 2020. For many printshops in the Bay Area, COVID19 forced them to shut down permanently. Printing is a very competitive and margin tight industry, so the pandemic made an already tight marketspace even tighter.”

Ammar has been in and out of the printing business all of his life and in 2016, along with his wife Irene, with his wife, Irene, purchased Ajalon Printing from Nicholas Ammar’s parents. “Then in 2018 we bought Odell Printing and moved Ajalon Printing into Odell’s Rohnert Park facility,” he said.

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Luther Burbank Corporation (NASDAQ: LBC), the holding company for Luther Burbank Savings, announced that it was awarded a $25,000 grant by FHLBank San Francisco (FHLBank) to benefit organizations promoting financial stability in communities throughout California.

The $25,000 grant will be used to fund Rebuilding Together’s capacity-building award for low-income seniors struggling to maintain their homes, the Santa Rosa-based institution stated.

Simone Lagomarsino, president and CEO of Luther Burbank Corporation shared, “We are proud to support Rebuilding Together in preserving homeownership for low-income seniors and I’m so grateful that FHLBank recognized the need for funds to be distributed in the communities we serve.”

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Jean-Charles Boisset and Gina Gallo-Boisset have acquired the Ink House south of St. Helena, the couple announced.

The Napa Valley Register reported the Boisset family bought the property from the Castellucci family, who fully restored it into a boutique luxury inn in 2017.

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Napa County has denied Pickett Road Wine Company's request for more visitors after hearing from neighbors worried about falling groundwater levels amid a severe drought.

The winery near Calistoga, owned by Kelly Fleming, wanted to double its annual visitation limit. The Napa Valley Register reported the county Planning Commission on Sept. 22 decided annual visitation should remain capped at 3,618.

Reports by neighbors of diminishing groundwater during the deep, two-year drought was a factor, though winery consultants said the water use increase connected with more visitors would be minimal.

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Cheese, olive oil and now, cannabis. California’s long established state fair has announced cannabis products will now join the judged awards at the annual state fair.

Recreational use of marijuana in the state was approved by voters in 2016 which kicked off the explosion of a market now estimated to reach multi-billion dollar levels.

Now starting with the July 2022 fair, cannabis growers will be able to compete in : three primary divisions for submission by light source: Indoor, Mixed Light and Outdoor. About 80 medals will be awarded including a Golden Bear trophy for “Best of California.”

The CA State Fair is set to take place July 10-26, 2022, at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds in Sacramento, California. Officials said the submission window opens on Nov. 1, 2021 and will remain open until March 30, 2022. Award winners will be announced in May of 2022. Visit www.castatefaircannabisawards.com.

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The Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) is launching “Our Common Ground,” an ongoing series of conversations between MALT CEO Thane Kreiner, Ph.D., and guest panelists to explore a range of issues related to the future of agriculture and food. The inaugural episode will be Sept. 29 with the topic of carbon-negative dairying.

Most 2021 “Our Common Ground” conversations will begin at 4 p.m. Pacific time via Zoom (the Food Justice conversation on Nov. 10 will begin at 3 p.m.Pacific time), with replays available later on the MALT website. Anyone can sign up to watch the conversations live and free of charge. Registration is now open.

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This year’s 10th annual Taste of Atlas Peak in the Napa Valley will be held on Saturday, Oct. 30 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Silverado Resort & Spa, 1600 Atlas Peak Road, Nap. Tickets are $150 per person. Visit https://bit.ly/EventbriteTicketsToAP2021

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UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education presents its Introduction to Wine and Winemaking online from Sept. 27 to Dec. 13.

Designed for individuals working in the wine industry and affiliated networks as well as wine enthusiasts, this course explores such topics as the history of wine, fundamentals of winemaking, wine and health issues, basic wine tasting, interpreting a wine label and wine-growing regions around the world. This course can be taken as a stand-alone course or as the first course in the Winemaking Certificate Program.

The cost is $685 at cpe.ucdavis.edu. 800-752-0881, cpeinfo@ucdavis.edu.