It is said that people join Rotary for the connections, but they stay for the programs.
As King City Rotary enters its 100th year, looking back at its 99th year, it’s clear that both more people are joining Rotary and staying in the club for the friendships made, volunteer opportunities provided and incredible speakers program.
Under the leadership of President Mary Bautista, King City has had a mighty Rotary Club with an impressive list of presenters and ways to keep its members consistently coming back for their weekly meetings.
Currently, King City Rotary’s Speakers Calendar is booked through February 2026 and there are places being held on the calendar through May 2026. How is this possible?
Well, “The early bird gets the worm.” Upon hearing of Stephanie Urchick’s selection as Rotary International’s 2024-25 International President, the King City Rotary Programs Chair immediately began reaching out to book this “oh so sought after” speaker. About 10 months later, in February 2025, while at first it almost seemed insulting that the Rotary International President was Zooming into the King City meeting from her kitchen, she then revealed that was the first time she had been home since around Christmas and that she was leaving the next day and wouldn’t be back until around Easter. Wow! This international leader took time to speak to King City Rotary in the midst of her whirlwind schedule and gave a terrific talk to boot.
With the recent redistricting of U.S. congressional districts, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, famous for her role in the Select Committee on the January 6 U.S. Capitol Attack, became King City’s representative to the U.S. House of Representatives. As an elected official, her staff made her available for a talk in October 2024 — the month before the election. While Rep. Lofgren is a professed liberal Democrat, her presentation was balanced and she answered questions deftly. What an incredible success for this small hamlet to book such a historically important figure!
In this celebrity centric society, finding a local television personality could seem like a coup for any Rotary Club. Since broadcasting networks are generally in the pursuit of making money and promoting themselves as well as others, even finding a small town morning anchorman from the morning TV news provides an outstanding demonstration of how information is brought to any community as well as providing that 21st Century need for “star power.” In March, King City Rotary hosted local news anchorman and heartthrob Paul Dudley and turnout to that meeting was off the charts.
Seizing on the fact that John Steinbeck’s mother, Olive Hamilton, was from King City and that the National Steinbeck Center is located just 45 miles north, King City Rotary was able to not only get the archivist of the Steinbeck Collection to make the journey to present to the club, but she also brought the Hamilton family Bible and Steinbeck’s high school yearbook for the body to enjoy.
In a similar vein, King City is only 30 miles from Pinnacles National Park and is the last place one can get gas traveling from the south to the east entrance. Realizing that rangers have a wealth of experience and are trained to present their knowledge to the public, King City Rotary arranged to have three different rangers come to club meetings to present on the history of the trails throughout the park and in the caves, migratory butterflies and invasive plant species. Considering that King City is at the southern end of the Salinas Valley, “The Salad Bowl of the World,” almost all members will be sure to attend Rotary in January 2026 to hear about what can be done to mitigate or eliminate pesky weeds from crops.
Monterey County is possibly best known for its world famous aquarium. In fact, “Jeopardy!” recently dedicated an entire category to it. So, even though the Monterey Bay Aquarium is 65 miles from the City of King, as this first-rate marine museum is all about education and is constantly looking for volunteers, in April, a representative from the Monterey Bay Aquarium highlighted ways for Rotarians to get involved in their efforts as well as illustrating some of the cutting edge work marine biologists are doing there.
At the 2024 Citizen of the Year event in King City, local live entertainer Amy Burkman painted a beautiful horse and a fabulous cow with each canvas upside down until the last few moments — both in less than 15 minutes. The King City Rotary programs chair was so impressed, he approached her afterward only to be greeted with squeals of “Oh my God! Mr. Schmidt! You were my high school history teacher!” Thus, this talented and popular artist put Rotary in contact with her scheduler and about a year later in February 2025, Amy completely “hit it out of the park” with her presentation in The Cork and Plough dining room.
After spending years working at eBay as a technology wizard, Walter Duflock (KCHS ’83) has now taken his proficiency with tech to the world of agriculture. With his new company, Western Growers, drones are used to harvest many of the crops in the Salinas Valley. Walter gave King City Rotarians a front-row view of this major shift in our local economy and the world’s food production back in January.
Also in January, Christian Rivas of Western Harvesting, presented to King City Rotary on the use of silk worms to protect agricultural produce during shipping. Who knew? Fascinating!
Another popular talk was in August 2024 when the Deputy District Attorney of Monterey County, John Hubanks, an expert on fraud, white collar crimes and predatory business practices, presented several local case studies to the club. Each was examined, reviewed and discussed. The entire group enjoyed what one said was like watching “C.S.I. – King City.”
So, congratulations to outgoing King City Rotary President Mary Bautista and the club’s ability to attract top notch presenters to King City!
If you’d like a good example of a successful Rotary Speakers Program, look no further than King City Rotary’s Speakers Calendar and Mary Bautista’s leadership. And then, please consider coming to a King City Rotary meeting to learn about a vast array of subjects after pledging allegiance to the flag, singing a patriotic song, enjoying a delicious lunch, listening to announcements and basking in amazing fellowship.
