MARIN COUNTY CELEBRATED its 175th anniversary on Monday with a winter Holiday Light Spectacular community event featuring remarks from local civic leaders, art projects, games and a complimentary churro with a cup of hot chocolate.
Local leaders and elected officials gathered and shared remarks at the Marin Center Showcase Theater at the fairgrounds. Members of the Board of Supervisors, Assemblymember Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, and County Executive Derek Johnson discussed the importance of diversity, the area’s deep agrarian roots, and even the invention of modern mountain biking as a way to go down Mount Tamalpais. Connolly said they hope to build on these foundations to see Marin go another 175 years.
Holiday arts and crafts, games and puzzles were set up in the Friends of Marin Conference Room for the community and county staffers also handed out vouchers for a complimentary churro with filling and a hot chocolate for everyone to enjoy as they walked through the light installation outside. Thousands of holiday lights set pathways around the fairgrounds aglow.
As one of the original 27 counties formed in California, Marin was founded on Feb. 18, 1850, seven months before the state of California was admitted into the Union.
In 1850, the population in Marin County was reported to be 323 — a humble beginning to a county that is now home to 262,231 community members per the 2020 U.S. Census data.
There is a long history of agriculture in the county, starting from the very beginning. As District 4 Supervisor Dennis Rodoni mentioned during his remarks, agrarian roots are strong in the North Bay. He shared his own slice of life, reflecting on his family’s personal history that dates back to the early 1860s when his great-grandfather immigrated to West Marin from the Italian Alps. Rodoni reminded the room that everyone comes from somewhere, and some arrive in Olema to become dairy farmers.
In November, supervisors issued a resolution marking the 175th Anniversary and recognizing the Coast Miwok people who lived in the area for centuries before the arrival of Europeans, Mexican ranchers and American homesteaders.