By Jondi Gumz
She started the children’s Halloween costume parade in Capitola Village in 1989, and it’s become a tradition.
The next year, she started the Easter egg hunt on Capitola Beach — an eggstravaganza with 5,000 eggs for children to find.
Then she started something original: Persuading woodie surfwagon owner Rowland Baker to be Surfin’ Santa, paddling his outrigger canoe to Capitola Beach to listen to children share their Christmas lists. Surfer Frosty Hesson does it now, and the event has gotten coverage on NBC.
And she built up the nascent Capitola Art & Wine Festival from a couple of wineries and a couple of artists and food vendors into the chamber’s biggest fundraiser, with 160 artists, 22 wineries, 20 food vendors and 15 entertainment groups — admission free — attracting large crowds to the Esplanade overlooking Monterey Bay.
Now, after 32 years, on March 1 Toni Castro will be stepping down as executive director of the Capitola-Soquel Chamber of Commerce and retiring at age 67.
Today, job-hopping is common, but Castro was never tempted to move on.
“It’s fun. I’m putting on fun activities for people,” she said. “I never got tired of it.”
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Running the chamber was Castro’s second career.
The Santa Cruz native worked in banking first, joining County Bank as a teller and working her way up over 15 years to vice president in charge of marketing.
When County Bank was acquired by Pacific Western Bank, she was tapped for multiple task forces to integrate the two operations — an experience that led to burnout.
At the time, she had been president of the chamber for two years and from her volunteer work, was familiar with the organization.
The chamber had a part-time executive director who went on maternity leave with no plans to return.
“I applied to make it a full-time position,” Castro said. “The board hired me.”
3×5 cards
The year was 1988. Her office consisted of a corner inside the Capitola Historical Museum, with a desk, a phone, a filing cabinet and the names of members written on 3×5 cards.
Castro said one volunteer took the cards with her when she moved to Oregon so she had to track down the members herself.
When she wanted to invest in modern office technology, like a fax machine, she got pushback at first but she gradually got better equipment, including a computer, and a second staffer for the office, which then moved to the garage by Jones & Bones.
In 1997, CHECK. The chamber moved in 1997 to the Plum Garden complex, where there’s room for the staff of three and to store equipment for special events.
In 1996, Castro launched the Women on Waves surf contest with the West Wind Surf Club and ran it for eight years until Sally Smith and then Anna Macken took over. Local surfer Aylana Zanville hopes to bring it back later this year.
Castro helped birth multiple other events, the Kite Classic, the Vintage Motorcycle Show, and the Classic Car Show.
The kite contest and motorcycle show lasted 10 years while the car show is now run by the Capitola Public Safety Foundation.
In 2011, when a water pipe broke in Capitola Village, flooding a mobilehome park filled with elderly people, the city relocated them to the Capitola Inn – and Castro teamed up with Gayle Ortiz to coordinate with a church to provide dinners for a month.
“We’re a community — we dig in,” said Castro.
She recalled shoveling out mud left in village businesses and arranging for tents from Alexis Party Rental to be erected at the Mercantile as temporary quarters for stores.
Of course, because the chamber is about promoting local business, Castro set up scores of mixers, grand openings and networking lunches.
Even though the chamber has grown to 440 members, Castro’s philosophy is to provide personal service.
“If someone calls, we answer the phone,” she said.
Ortiz, co-owner of Gayle’s Bakery and Rosticceria in Capitola and a former mayor, described Castro as “completely selfless in her devotion to making Capitola great in all seasons. It just wouldn’t be the vital place it is today without her.”
Ortiz added, “ I am glad she is finally getting the time at this point in her life to pursue her own dreams. Lord knows she helped all of us pursue ours.”
Castro, widowed 10 years ago, never had children. She said she wants to lunch with friends and spend time with her brother’s children. And she is looking forward to going to the art and wine festival “and not having to work at it.”
Carrie Arnone, who’s worked with Castro at the chamber for 22 years, has been selected as her successor.
“She’s the perfect person,” said Castro. “She’s 10 years younger. She has lot of energy and new ideas…I feel really good about leaving it in her hands.”