Sweet little reminders of Reagan and importance of voting

By: NICOLE SACK - Staff Writer
Thousands of jelly beans to be dispersed this week | Monday, February 4, 2008 10:46 PM PST ∞

TEMECULA -- President Ronald Reagan once said that "you can tell a lot about a fellow's character by the way he eats jelly beans."

The same might ring true about a community group that aims to share more than 3,360 packets of Jelly Belly jelly beans with residents of Temecula to both honor the late president and encourage residents to cast their first vote toward selecting a new one.

The Jelly Belly project is presented by Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park, a nonprofit group that seeks to highlight the connection between local community volunteers and the former president.

"This is the first year we've done something like this," said Perry Peters, president of the Friends of Ronald Reagan Sports Park board of directors.

"Elections are important to the freedom of our people, and Ronald Reagan was very protective of that freedom. We hope that we can get people to get out and vote -- in a nonpartisan way."

Today is Super Tuesday, as voters in 22 states will go to the polls to select the nominee from each political party to be on the ballot for the November election, and Wednesday would have marked Reagan's 97th birthday. The former president died in 2004.

To celebrate the anniversary of his birth, the group has designated this week as "Jelly Belly Week," during which a team of young people, armed with baskets of jelly beans, will blanket Old Town Temecula giving away sample packets of the candy that was Reagan's favorite. Peters said the Jelly Belly company, based in Fairfield, donated 10 boxes of the candy.

Reagan and Jelly Belly jelly beans have a unique and quirky history. Three-and-a-half tons of Jelly Belly beans were shipped to the White House for the 1981 inauguration festivities. Blueberry, currently one of the most popular flavors, was invented especially in honor of Reagan's inauguration so he could have red, white and blue jelly beans at the festivities, according to the company.

Jelly Belly beans were sent on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 as a presidential surprise for the astronauts -- making them the first jelly beans in outer space.

Attached to the jelly beans being distributed throughout Old Town and various other locations in Temecula will be a short history of how Ronald Reagan Sports Park got its name.

The construction of the Rancho California Sports Park was completed in 1982 after community members used their own funds and muscle to build the facility on Margarita Road and Rancho Vista Way. The effort caught the attention of President Reagan, who commended the residents of Temecula for their "can-do" spirit. In remembrance of that recognition, the park was renamed the Ronald Reagan Sports Park in March 2005.

"The residents of Temecula have always seemed to share his values and a sense of initiative. In a way, Temecula has always been 'Reaganesque' and I think that is why we showed up on his radar screen," said Temecula Mayor Mike Naggar.

Peters said the group is still working toward its goal of creating a permanent monument dedicated to those volunteers who banded together to create the park. He said the group has raised $75,000 of the needed $300,000 for the monument.

In an effort to bolster those funds, a fundraiser is scheduled March 27 at the Humphrey's Estate in Temecula and will feature Ed Meese, the attorney general under Reagan, as the keynote speaker.

"Mr. Meese is not charging us a fee for the event," Peters said. "He has the same loyalty to President Reagan now as he did when he served for him."

The tourism office in Old Town also will offer the candy packets to visitors, as will the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce office, Temecula City Hall, Community Recreation Center at Ronald Reagan Sports Park, the two library branches in Temecula, the Temecula Valley Museum, Mary Phillips Senior Center and Murrieta Senior Center.

Also, in memory of the effort that launched the park, the Friends group holds an annual "Can-Do Day," during which volunteers come together to work on park improvements. The third annual celebration is scheduled to take place at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park's Community Recreation Center on March 22.

-- Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.

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