Riverside Food Truck Festival VIP Ticket Giveaway

Hi neighbors -

Have you heard? We're giving away 2 VIP tickets to the 9/3 Riverside Food Truck Festival! It's easy to enter. Just follow these steps:
1. From 8/5-8/18 Like us on Facebook here
2. Leave a wall post and tell us what you think is a unique destination, event, attraction, restaurant - anything "one of a kind" to the IE.
3. Check the Facebook page on Friday, 8/19, when we announce our winner.

Here's what you get with the VIP tickets:
- Early entrance to the event (10 a.m.)
- Air conditioned VIP Tent
- Goodie bags
- Private Bathrooms
- Free Water and Soda
- Private Patio to Watch the Concert(s)

For official rules you can check it out here.

We hope to hear from you! Good luck :)

One of a Kind IE: Citrus-y Past / Ticket Giveaway

Hi neighbors!

Over 150 miles of traveling around the IE later and we have our new blog post! Wandering around the IE the agricultural history is visible all around the region.

For example did you know that the city of Pomona is named after the Roman goddess of fruit, Riverside is the birthplace of the California citrus industry and Upland was established as an irrigation colony by William and George Chaffey (you know...Chaffey College)? These are just a few tidbits of our rich citrus-y past. Some of the remnants and homages to our rich agricultural history are still around in the left over plots of citrus farms from yesteryear scattered around some of our neighborhoods and of course my favorite - the murals and city signage influenced by vintage citrus labels.

Our team went on a field trip using some spots I've been meaning to visit and a few friend's suggestions about where we could find some vintage citrus label signage and murals (Sorry, @HDBuzz, we couldn't get to the Barstow Main Street Murals - next time! Same to @SoapGourmet *sad face*). We visited a few sites and took some photos so that we could share with you something we feel is definitely "One of a kind IE."

Here are only a few photos we took on our excursion and you can check out more on our Facebook and Flickr.







So in line with our "One of a kind IE" column we want to hear from our neighbors! We want to know what you think is one of a kind in the IE. What are some unique spots in our neighborhood that you love? We want to hear it so badly that we're giving away one pair of VIP tickets to the upcoming, September 3rd Riverside Food Truck Festival. Starting at 10:00 a.m. PT this Friday, August 5th, you can enter to win our ticket giveaway by liking our Facebook page (here) AND leaving a wall post telling us what you think is "One of a kind IE." On August 19th, one randomly selected lucky winner will get two VIP tickets. For official rules you can check it out here.

How about them apples? (hehe) So keep an eye out for the FB post on Friday morning then Like us, leave a wall post and good luck! Hope to hear from you...

(p.s. To our already existing FB followers, don't worry you can still participate. Just leave us a wall post about what you think is "One of a kind IE.")

One of a kind IE

I recently read the Fast Company article titled "2011 City of the Year." The winner was Houston and it was described as "'one of the world's next great cities.'" Some of the reasons they chose it was because it has a vibrant business community, supports cultural diversity and embodies a sense of opportunity. The article also discussed how Houston was trying to fight its "redneck" stereotype. All this reminded me of our beloved IE.

We might not be exactly where Houston is but we're taking the steps to get there. Here is a little of what I have in mind:
- We currently have a population of over 4 million people and it's the 14th largest metropolitan area in the US. In 2015 we will have almost 5 million.
- We have three international airports: Ontario, Palm Springs and San Bernardino.
- The IE has the potential to become the trade gateway of Southern California.
- There are 27 colleges and universities.
These are just a few things but there are a lot more where that came from!
(Sources: IE Wiki page, Inland Empire Outlook)

Despite the fact that we are currently going through an economic struggle the bullet points above inspired me to create a new column for the blog and a new features list for the site that's currently in the works (launch is looking like this summer, folks...eek!): "One of a kind IE." It's an opportunity to point out unique IE spots or events. Something that's entirely our own like Kickback Jack's with two locations only in the IE serving delicious breakfast for over 50 years (no paid endorsement here, just a die-hard fan).

The creative juices are flowing and I'm going to start this list! I've reached out to a few friends for suggestions and going through my own memory bank. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

Till next time...