2026-02-25 City Meeting: Presentations from Historical Society, Gardens, Equestrian Center, and Open Space Foundation
City Meeting Summary – February 25, 2026
Four nonprofit partners presented updates on their programs, facilities, and community impact. Presentations were made by the Walnut Creek Historical Society, the Gardens at Heather Farm, the Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek, and the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation. Commissioners and members of the public asked questions and offered comments.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Gail Jackson (Equestrian Center president) highlighted the Adventure Day Camp, which serves 600–700 children each summer, providing horse experiences at the equestrian center.
- Sue Howell (Equestrian Center) shared how the camp built character in her grandchildren and expressed gratitude for the facility.
- Valerie Sterling (Clayton Canyon Pony Club leader) invited commissioners to an upcoming meeting at the equestrian center and noted that the U.S. Pony Club now includes adults in its programs.
- A public commenter asked about trail use, noting conflicts with mountain bikers and e-bikes on equestrian trails, and inquired about the equestrian center’s experience with trail riding. The presenter acknowledged safety concerns and emphasized the need for yielding protocols.
- Another commenter praised the mini therapy horses and asked about plant sales at the Gardens at Heather Farm.
Discussion Items
- Walnut Creek Historical Society (presenter name not provided in transcript): Presented the history of Shadelands House (built 1920s), the discovery of Frank Lloyd Wright sketches sold at auction for $244,000 in 1988, the mission of preserving local history, and educational programs for third graders (over 30 classes) and adults. The society operates the museum (open Sundays and Wednesdays, 1–4 p.m.), hosts events (car show with 250+ cars, holiday teas serving 1,200+ people, summer market, and private events for up to 225 people). They maintain an archive (Past Perfect) and collaborate with the city and Civic Pride Foundation grants. A commissioner asked about 501(c)(3) status (yes) and collaboration with Borges Ranch (none).
- Gardens at Heather Farm (Joan LeCasey, Executive Director): Described the 54-year partnership with the city, founded in 1970/1971 by local garden clubs. Fundraising raised $1.1 million by 1980 to build the garden. Opened in 1983, the gardens feature 32 demonstration gardens (including a rose garden with 1,000+ bushes, children’s garden, sensory garden). Maintained by 50 weekly volunteers and 20 staff (including 11 credentialed teachers). Education programs reach 20,000 students annually via field trips and classroom presentations. Revenue comes from weddings (60–75 per year), other events, and partnerships with CCWD, Central San, and others. A commissioner asked about staffing and funding sources.
- Equestrian Center of Walnut Creek (presenter name not provided, likely a board member): Presented the center’s mission and history (tracing back to thoroughbred training in 1921 and filming of Clark Gable’s “Sporting Blood” in 1931). Facilities host equine-assisted therapy, youth camps, and competitions (e.g., CSHA Jim Canna events). The center is a 50-year legacy member of the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce and relies on event fees. No horses are boarded on site; horses come for events only. Recent improvements include a mural by 333 Arts and new footing for competitions. Commissioners asked about trail use (horses are taken on local trails but primarily used within arenas).
- Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation (Kime Smith, President): Described the foundation’s role in supporting the city’s 2,700 acres of open space (larger than Central Park and Vatican City). The foundation coordinates volunteers, conducts education and outreach, and provides stewardship support without owning land or setting policy. Operations are funded by donations and membership (no fundraisers). The city has been a pioneer in having its own ranger. Commissioners took no formal action following the presentations.
Key Outcomes
- No votes, resolutions, or directives were adopted. The presentations were informational, intended to update the commission on each organization’s activities and community benefits.
- A commissioner expressed interest in visiting the historical society and the gardens.
- The Equestrian Center discussed ongoing challenges with trail sharing and facility maintenance.
- The Open Space Foundation noted the high community interest in volunteer stewardship.
Meeting Transcript
Anything so they created this home essentially to be her home. Um, and then see in 1921. Sorry, I gotta go back it up here. So Harem died, and then his wife died, Mary died, and finally, it was actually Bessie who ended up with the house. And Bessie was born and raised at Shadowlands, and she was fortunate enough to go to uh Stanford and then Cornell, where she met her husband. She met her husband, Albert Johnson, and they came back here to manage the the uh the house. They managed the house um up until the 1940s, where they ended up they hired Edmund Moyer to help manage the ranch, a role he held until the ranch ceased operations in 1945. Um at that time, Bessie passed away, and Albert established the Gospel Foundation of California. He established a foundation to keep the the farm working and to keep uh the ranch running. And uh that foundation eventually took over, and they had to start selling off portions of the property in order to maintain the farm and the land. They sold off almost everything except for 1.5 acres, which eventually they sold to the city of Walnut Creek in 1970. So they sold the foundation sold the house and the acreage to the city of Walnut Creek. The city agreed to assume responsibility for the exterior of the house and the surrounding grounds, while the interior, along with the artifacts, furnishings, and everything else would be managed by the Walnut Creek Women's Club, which eventually became the Walnut Creek Historical Society. So when the Women's Club was running, the the uh they started the restoration of the house. They called themselves fondly the shady ladies. So this is a picture of the shady ladies, and they were responsible for going through the whole entire house, going through the attic, the basement, the closets, everything, putting organizing everything, making the displays in our museum, and in the midst of that, they came across these um sketches by Frank Lloyd Wright, and this is the sketch right here. So Albert Johnson early on decided he wanted Frank Lloyd Wright to build him this beautiful building in Chicago, but after the depression hit, he never came up with the money to finish it. So these the plans were stored in Shadelands, which they were discovered, and in 1988, we sold them an auction at Christie's in New York City for 244,000 dollars, which is a lot back then, and some of those funds were used to restore the house to the way it is today. Um interesting enough, too, is the reason that they know how to restore the house is that there was over 1500 letters found in the house that written between the sisters and the mother mothers, you know, going over all the details of what was going to be done down to like the color of the paint in the in the dining room, the blue paint, which is the color that we have today, the original colors. So that's how we know how to put everything back together. And this is how our house looks today. So most of the things in it are the Pennement artifacts. Um we do take donations of different things from Walnut Creek. We have a lot of Walnut Creek like maps and information and things like that. If there's someone's looking for something, we have an archive called Past Perfect. So if there's people come to our house all the time and they say, Hey, can you find the house I grew up in, or something like that, and we can go through our archives and find things like that. So this is this is our house right now. This is how it looks today. The exterior that is they found the original paint color that that maroon paint color there, and of course, this is our gazebo. Um, quickly, the mission of our society, the mission of the Walnut Creek Historical Society is to preserve and interpret the history of Walnut Creek and our local environments to enable our community and future generations with a better understanding of the Walnut Creek's past, present, and future, and to promote and develop community involvement and community spirit. Our museum is open, it's open Sundays and Wednesdays from one to four. Um, this is one of our our Ted Dobbs. He's on our board, he is the house dozen extraordinaire. So if you're lucky enough to have him, he's amazing. And we also do um you can do private group tours by reservation by calling the office. I'm speaking with Jackie. Um, and once again, I will tell you that uh if you're not familiar with our house, it's at 2660 Ignacia Valley Road, which is like on the corner of Via Monte, close to like Oak Grove Road. It's a big turn of the century house. You really can't miss it. Part of our agreement with the city is um we are required to offer educational programs. So these are pictures from our third grade history, or sorry, we call it the third grade living history program, where over we have over 30 different classes from the Walmart Creek and Mount Double School uh school districts. Um, it's entirely volunteer run. Each field trip requires about 12 volunteers, and you can see, the kids really enjoy pretending they live they're living like in the early 1900s. They actually have a lot of fun washing clothes, making ice cream, they're beating rugs and they crack walnuts and all kinds of activities like that. And so they enjoy that. They also we also provide the downtown history tours. So these classes, the the kids will come if they come in the fall to do the Living History Days, they'll come in the spring. We'll take them downtown and do our history tours. So we also partner with the Wolna Creek Libraries, each both um Ignatia Valley and our downtown library. We have cases there where we do displays.
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