"Right over here in the curb we have one of the original rings where they used to tie the horses to the curb and a few years ago, in 2004, one of our clubs honored it and there's a few of these around town."
Amy Shuklian is the mayor of Visalia, and the city's biggest booster. And she knows her history, she was born here.
"Actually Visalia is the oldest city in the central valley, in the San Joaquin Valley, the oldest between Stockton and Los Angeles. We were founded in 1852. We had some settlers come out, actually his name was Nathaniel Vise."
"…the Kentuckian, Nathaniel Vise, called a happy go lucky generous character whose name lives on as Visalia on the map of Tulare County."
Years ago Bob Long told the history of Visalia's founding. But Amy Shulkian's emphasis is on yesterday and today. "We take very seriously our history and try to preserve as much of it as we can."
But it's not just old stuff, Visalians love to dress up today's downtown.
"And numerous artists around town put in drawings and they picked some drawings to be on the different fire hydrants, so all the way from Giddings all the way down Main Street you'll see fire hydrants that are painted."
"It's kind of a San Francisco feel where you live in your neighborhood, can walk down to the market, and store, and talk about walkable communities, here we've had it for years and years here in Visalia because of our downtown."
"With Earl Bradley behind the camera, I'm Bob Long."
Bud Elliott, on the map in Visalia for KSEE24 News.
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