By Andre Byik DN Staff Writer Red Bluff Daily News
Step into the Tehama Country Visitor Center on Antelope Boulevard and one is met with flat screen TVs, information about county destinations and interactive exhibits. Tucked near a corner of the approximately 5,000 square-foot center that opened in July is a multiple choice trivia exhibit about agriculture on the Tehama Trail.
Tehama County is home to California's largest single orchard of what? the exhibit asks, giving possible answers of walnuts, pistachios, figs and olives. Press a button beside the question and the correct answer is signaled by an accompanying green light: figs. Who knew? manager Linda Bullock said, adding, We want to make (the center) as interactive for people as best that we can.
We think that will be fun and grow attention to the county. The Tehama Country Visitors Center, while a high-tech information hotspot that highlights what the county and surrounding area has to offer, is owned by North Valley Services, a nonprofit corporation with a concise mission statement: Providing opportunities for persons with disabilities in the environment of their choice.
For some of the about 20 staff members at the center, working there is their first job, Bullock said, and could be a launch pad to other opportunities. North Valley Services provides programs in Tehama, Lassen and Glenn counties. This was another vessel for the disabled clients to learn a vocation, Bullock said. The visitor center at 250 Antelope Blvd. in Red Bluff will hold its grand opening celebration from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday, August 21. Informational exhibits at the center include video tour guides and maps of Lassen Volcanic National Park, a guide through a motorcycle ride on Highway 36 and a glimpse into the Sacred Stones project, which is a reconstruction of a chapter house of the Cistercian monastery in Ovila, Spain and is being rebuilt at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina.
The Sacred Stone exhibit at the center is a partial reconstruction itself complete with featured stone. I know that North Valley Services had been wanting another facility and this just all seemed to fit in with the community and how we can enhance the community and how we can promote Tehama County and Tehama Country and still have that wonderful place for vocational training for our disabled clients, Bullock said. It's just a real win-win for everybody.
Andre Byik can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 111 or at sports@redbluffdailynews.com.