25 years of local news with the Pleasanton Weekly
We’re celebrating a big anniversary in 2025 – an honor and a privilege that we don’t take for granted
We’ve been there with you through thick, thin and everything in between – an honor and a privilege that we don’t take for granted. And with your continued support of our local journalism, the Pleasanton Weekly will be here for the next 25 years and beyond.
Thank you to our
Legacy Donors!
Jim & Deborah McKeehan
Steve & Gina Wilcox
Help us survive and thrive for the next 25 years by becoming a Legacy Donor!
We’re looking for 25 who will give $2,500.
Legacy Donors who contribute $2,500 or more during our anniversary year, which ends Jan. 25, 2026, will be acknowledged as soon as they donate and through the next several years online, in print, at events, with special Legacy Donor events with the Pleasanton Weekly Publisher Gina Channell Wilcox and other staff members and other perks.
Want more information? Contact Gina.
Alan and Chris Robinette and Karla and Craig Garcia sail under the Golden Gate Bridge on their way to Alaska on a cruise in 2022. (Contributed photo) 
Sabine Meyer of Bremen, Germany and Barbara McCarrick of Pleasanton visit the Swiss Alps in September 2024. (Contributed photo) 
Susan and Ron Wacek at Lucky Bay Beach in Australia in 2024. (Contributed photo) 
Dustin and Robin Boyce get ready to watch son Nathan play football for Division III Pacific Lutheran University in October 2024. (Contributed photo) 
In the House of Waterford Crystal are Candice Canty, Amanda Galassi, John Herrera and Linda Waterman. (Contributed photo) 
Eva and Tom Deagen visit where they got married in May 1990. (Contributed photo) 
The Wheelchair Foundation’s “From The Heart” school program distributes wheelchairs in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in July 2024. (Contributed photo) 
Sanjit Mandal visits the Chojun Miyagi Monument honoring two karate masters in Okinawa, Japan. (Contributed photo) 
Dave and Debbie Clausen celebrate their 52nd anniversary with a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia. (Contributed photo) 
Skip and Trisha Marell in Flume Gorge during their trip to Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. (Contributed photo) 
Ron Sutton reads the Weekly at the 2023 Kona Coffee Cultural Festival in Hawaii. (Contributed photo) 
Angelo and Marion Madrigal celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary with a trip to Canada. (Contributed photo) 
Kathy and Carol Boster brought the Weekly to the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland last year. (Contributed photo) 
Dolores Fox Ciardelli visited her grandchildren in Berlin for this Take Us Along in 2021. (Contributed photo) 
From left: Ananda Laberge, Ed Arron, Bill Trankle and Jeannette Bitz at the Ruins of Scala Dei Carthusian in Spain. (Contributed photo) 
Michelle and Michael Miller celebrated their 30th anniversary this year in Vancouver. (Contributed photo) 
Tanya and Derek Perez take in the sights of Shanghai, including here at Yu Garden, during a trip for Derek’s birthday. (Contributed photo) 
Noel Catura visits Minnehaha Falls in Minnesota in 2024. (Contributed photo) 
News hound Maggie McGrath catches up on a little light reading with the Weekly at home in Pleasanton. (Contributed photo) 
Julie Frey submitted this Take Us Along from the Fushimi Inari Taisha Sembon Torii Shinto Shrine. (Contributed photo) 
Alexis and Kyle Thompson visited the Colosseum in Rome as part of their family’s Italian vacation. (Contributed photo) 
Bob Leuten with the Weekly in Puerto Vallarta on New Year’s Day 2025. (Photo by Sally Leuten) 
Pleasanton’s Linda Kelly and grand-dog Harvey in Minnesota during Christmas 2024. (Contributed photo) 
Jeremy Walsh poses with the Pleasanton Weekly for a Take Us Along at the Tokyo Dome, where his Oakland A’s were opening the 2019 regular season against the Seattle Mariners. (Photo courtesy Jeremy Walsh) 
The Markel family spent a week in Morocco, including riding camels in the Sahara Desert. (Contributed photo) 
The Cambruzzi family sailed the Caribbean to help Tony and Kathy mark their 45th wedding anniversary. (Contributed photo) 
Lucy Weaver with the Pleasanton Weekly and Flip, the mascot for USA Gymnastics, at the 2024 USA Gymnastics Acrobatic National Championships. (Contributed photo) 
Emily, Lance and Julia Smith in South Korea during the Buddha’s birthday celebration. (Contributed photo) 
Pleasanton resident Jerry Tusan sent this Take Us Along from The Mirage in Las Vegas in June 2024. (Contributed photo) 
Ten members of the SideTrack Bar + Grill team were among the families and friends at St. Peter’s Square earlier this year. (Contributed photo) 
Joining Pleasanton’s Greg Hickey for the Take Us Along at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial were grandson Ryan Pavlakis (left) and Bob Cilk, a fellow Pleasanton resident and Honor Flight volunteer. 
Bob and Marianne Eisberg snapped this Take Us Along in Croatia in 2024. (Contributed photo) 
Pleasanton Weekly business associate Lisa Oefelein poses with the paper near Big Ben in London in summer 2024. (Contributed photo) 
From left: Sandra Wing, Gracie Santos, Tina Onderbeke and Clint Onderbeke at Mount Fuji in Japan. (Contributed photo) 
Steve and Gigi Culy (back row) and former Pleasanton residents Allison and Randy Parks (front row) watch the total solar eclipse in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, Texas. (Contributed photo) 
From left: Jenny Mack, Kanoa Markel, Ellen Markel and Patrick Markel at the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon in Iceland for their Take Us Along. (Contributed photo) 
2024 Ladies’ Day at the Races at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton. (Photo by Chuck Deckert) 
These Pleasanton residents and avid Weekly readers enjoyed a stay at Chiesa Del Carmine Villa in Perugia, Italy. (Contributed photo) 
Tony Dennis sent in this Take Us Along from his learning/cultural exchange trip to Guatemala in 2023. (Contributed photo) 
Embarcadero Media Foundation East Bay editorial director Jeremy Walsh submitted this Take Us Along from a recent family trip to Disney’s California Adventure. (Photo by Elise Walsh) 
Audrey Purnell submitted this Take Us Along from her trip to Disneyland with Miriam Bettencourt. (Contributed photo) 
Audrey Purnell submitted this Take Us Along from her trip to Disneyland with Miriam Bettencourt. (Contributed photo) 
Bjorn Jensen sent this Take Us Along from the couple’s visit to Pleasanton, Texas. (Contributed photo) 
Three Pleasanton families took the Weekly along on their trip to southeast Asia, including their stop here at Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia. (Photo courtesy Chris Seams) 
Laurie Kelly sent in this Take Us Along photo from Liberty Station in San Diego. (Contributed photo) 
Marianne Ottaway sent in this photo of her visit with her daughter Alisa at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. (Contributed photo) 
Marty Daniels submitted this Take Us Along from The Ice Domes in Norway. (Contributed photo) 
Hania Tempest and Vic Mosca sent this Take Us Along from their home country after a visit with friends in Pleasanton. (Contributed photo) 
These guys brought the Pleasanton Weekly to the summit of Mount Whitney. (Contributed photo) 
Kay Huff sent this Take Us Along from a family vacation to Hawaii during the winter holidays. (Contributed photo) 
The Gupta family shared their Take Us Along from the Everglades in Florida. (Contributed photo) 
Tri-Valley Foodist Deborah Grossman reads the Pleasanton Weekly online in Italy. (Contributed photo) 
Gina Channell Wilcox, publisher of the Pleasanton Weekly, brought her newspaper to Europe in 2023. (Photo by Steve Wilcox) 
Take Us Along submission from Marcos and Susan Contreras from their recent trip to Croatia. (Contributed photo) 
Gail James sent this Take Us Along from her group trip to Kenya. (Photo courtesy Gail James) 
Take Us Along: Whitbred family of Pleasanton cheering on their beloved SF Giants at Dodger Stadium. Credit: Contributed photo 
Take Us Along: While celebrating their wedding, Cody Walker and Julia Cilk reminisced about the time the were featured separately in a Weekly Cover Story photo essay in 2004 (left) while also enjoying a paper from the week of their ceremony in August 2023 (right). (Photo courtesy Deb Cilk) 
Take Us Along: Pleasanton resident Nichelle Baviera (right) and pen pal Diana Harris meet up in Sedona, Ariz. in 2023 — holding the 2018 Pleasanton Weekly featuring their story on the cover. (Contributed photo) 
Take Us Along: Francis Walsh is a fan of newspapers from a young age, getting a look at the Pleasanton Weekly at 1-month-old. (File photo) 
Take Us Along: Pleasanton Weekly editorial director Jeremy Walsh poses after finishing a round of golf at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland in summer 2018, one year before the club hosted the Open Championship. (File photo) 
Take Us Along: Pleasanton resident Nichelle Baviera (right) and pen pal Diana Harris meet up in Sedona, Ariz. in 2023 — holding the 2018 Pleasanton Weekly featuring their story on the cover. (Contributed photo) 
Pleasanton Weekly Take Us Along photo courtesy Lynn Crawford. 
Foothill Knolls resident T.J. McGrath, holding the 2006 Pleasanton Weekly in which appeared on the cover, poses with longtime friend Wayne Myers for a “Take Us Along” at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh last month. (Photo courtesy T.J. McGrath) 
Pleasanton’s T.J. McGrath (left) and longtime friend Wayne Myers pose for a Take Us Along in front of McGrath’s “favorite plane”, the Old Crow P-51 that is tied into the 100-year-old, triple ace fighter pilot who is still alive, at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh last month. (Photo courtesy T.J. McGrath) 
Thorne sent the Weekly this Take Us Along photo with his new Corvette at his new home in Arizona late last year. (File photo) 
Take Us Along: Starting him early — Pleasanton Weekly editor Jeremy Walsh and wife Elise welcomed their first child, Francis Terrence Walsh, on Dec. 23, 2021. Here, little Francis is already spending time catching up on headlines from his birth month. 
Editor Jeremy Walsh poses with the Pleasanton Weekly for a Take Us Along outside Welty’s General Store in Dubois, Wy. (Photo by Elise Walsh)
Where in the world have readers taken the Pleasanton Weekly? Look back at some of our favorite entries from our popular “Take Us Along” feature over the years — and share your next one with us by sending photo and caption info to editor@pleasantonweekly.com.
We want to hear from our readers!
What are your favorite stories from the past 25 years? Which ones made you smile? Made you cry? Made you angry?
Do you remember a particular story that made an impact on you, your family or the community?
We have put together a list of some of our favorites that you can vote on or add your own.
There are thousands of news stories, features, blogs and columns to choose from!
Holiday happiness
Jeb and Gina in the Hometown Holidays Parade in 2014. Some of my favorite memories of being part of the Pleasanton Weekly staff come from being part of Pleasanton’s Hometown Holidays parade. We would put the top down on my convertible, decorate the car with lights, ribbons, bells and garland…
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Cherished connections
Nancy Lewis (third from left) has been the Pleasanton Weekly’s Streetwise columnist since 2013. Her daughters Kate (left) and Jenny (right) built relationships and lasting memories with readers and the Weekly’s founding managing editor Dolores Fox Ciardelli. I love it when people I’ve interviewed for the Streetwise column, come up…
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Recipes and memories
Sales Account Executive Carol Cano (2007-present) sharing a photo of her stuffed potatoes, which was the recipe she shared. Fun sharing staff recipes and holiday memories in From our staff to your kitchen: Pleasanton Weekly shares favorite holiday recipes! – Karen Klein, Sales Account Executive, 2007-present
Keep readingDo you have memories of the Pleasanton Weekly or our staff that you would like to share? Email us and let us know.