Sister City Gives Cherry Trees to Sacramento

Sacramento, California, August 16, 2001 - A 150+ member delegation from Matsuyama, Japan, has arrived in the City of Sacramento to mark the 20th anniversary sisterhood between the City of Matsuyama and the City of Sacramento. Members of the delegation, which include the Mayor of Matsuyama, Tokihiro Nakamura and all the members of the Matsuyama City Council, will come together with Mayor Heather Fargo and the Sacramento City Council for a news conference tomorrow morning to announce the beginning of this anniversary celebration. The news media from Japan will bring this story to the people of Japan.

"This is a historic occasion as our two cities, separated by thousands of miles of ocean, maintain a deep kinship," said Mayor Heather Fargo. The Matsuyama-Sacramento Sister City Corporation was organized in 1980 and was incorporated in 1981. Since this time the relationship has branched off to include Boy Scouts of Sacramento High School/Nitta High School, UCD Medical Center/Ehime University Teaching Hospital, US Postal/Matsuyama Post Office, Rotary, Soroptimist Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

Among the many gifts the two sister cities will exchange include more than 100 cherry trees that the City of Matsuyama will bestow upon the City of Sacramento. The two mayors will hold a news conference on August 17, 2001, 11 a.m., at Cesar Chavez Plaza Park. Immediately following the news conference the city councils' will plant the first three of these cherry trees at Cesar Chavez Plaza Park.