Elk Grove, CA

Elk Grove, until fairly recently a semi-rural suburban town in the Sacramento valley, has undergone a population explosion since 1990. Fourteen miles from Sacramento, Elk Grove has transformed into a bustling bedroom community with its own employment base. The city was incorporated in the year 2000, and grew by 59.3 percent between 2000 and 2006. The city now has a population of more than 136,000. Such rapid growth has brought increasing concern about traffic problems and urban sprawl.

NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRICTS

Elk Grove's current boundaries straddle California State Highway 99, a road connecting Sacramento to Stockton and the rest of the Central Valley. The town center moved slightly from its original site after the Union Pacific railroad was built. Most of the city's recent expansion has taken place west of Highway 99, up to the new Central Valley freeway, Interstate 5.

• Elk Grove Proper uses a three-mile stretch of Highway 99 as its western boundary. Within this perimeter lies the historic Old Town Elk Grove, on and near the intersection of Elk Grove Boulevard and Walnut Avenue. The city has improved Old Town's streetscape while maintaining its historic character, and a bevy of shops and restaurants now bedeck the quaint town center, which is surrounded by single-family residences that add to the small-town feeling.
• Laguna Creek, a newer section of town, has filled in the area west of Highway 99 to the railroad tracks. Residences are laid out in a more suburban pattern, with many stucco ranch houses. The Laguna Creek Parkway, a system of loosely connected streamside trails, winds through the neighborhood, up to North Laguna Creek Park. Some of the subdivisions built in the last few years have displaced active farms.
• Laguna West is a spillover area between the west side of the railroad tracks and I-5, bounded on the north by Laguna Boulevard and on the south by Elk Grove Boulevard. Two lakes named West Lake and East Lake converge at Bartholomew and Town Hall Parks.

Elk Grove's rapid expansion has already spread into parts of Sheldon and Franklin Townships, as well as the community of Florin to the north, which has been absorbed into South Sacramento.

ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

Agriculture remains a significant sector of the productive economy in and around Elk Grove, although the area's dairy farms, vineyards, and vegetable farms are threatened by the encroaching sprawl.

Health care is a leading employment sector. Sutter Health operates several facilities in the Sacramento Sierra region, and a Kaiser Permanente office is located on Laguna Creek.

Apple Computer operated a manufacturing facility in Elk Grove until 2004. The company still has a technical support center here and is among the city's largest employers.

Other top Elk Grove employers include AAA, Methodist Hospital, and Cosumnes River College.

BEST BETS

The Elk Grove Historical Society has restored several historic buildings. Three of them are open to the public, including the Elk Grove Hotel and Stage Stop Museum on Elk Grove Boulevard in Old Town, a replica of the original stagecoach inn from the California gold rush era.

The city of Elk Grove has purposefully set aside park land to ensure that natural spaces are not entirely displaced by growing suburban sprawl. Among these areas are:

• Laguna Creek Parkway, part of a broader system of trails in the watershed connecting Laguna Creek to the Sacramento River levee trails and the American River Parkway.
• Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, west of Elk Grove
• Cosumnes River Preserve, at the southern edge of town

EVENTS

The city plays host to several annual opportunities for family fun:

• The Elk Grove Western Festival takes place on the first weekend of May.
• Salute to Red, White, and Blue is the area's Independence Day celebration, complete with a fireworks display.
• The Strauss Festival, held in Elk Grove Regional Park every July, brings a throng of dancers in Old World costumes to dance to the Blue Danube Waltz and other orchestral favorites by Johann Strauss.
• Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin and Harvest Festival, held the first weekend in October, includes a competitive statewide pumpkin weigh-in.
• Dickens Faire, a holiday craft fair held in Old Town every December.

SPORTS TEAMS

Fans of professional sports root for professional teams in Sacramento, including:

• Sacramento Kings (NBA)
• Sacramento Monarchs (WNBA)
• Sacramento River Cats (Triple-A baseball)

EDUCATION

• Cosumnes River College, a community college in Elk Grove
• California State University-Sacramento (Sacramento)
• University of California-Davis (Davis)

LOCAL MEDIA

A local newspaper, the Elk Grove Citizen, publishes two issues a week. The area is also served by the daily Sacramento Bee, which publishes a special section of Elk Grove news twice weekly.

The lineup of broadcast television stations includes:

• KCRA Channel 3 (NBC)
• KVIE Channel 6 (PBS)
• KXTV Channel 10 (ABC)
• KOVR Channel 13 (CBS)
• KUVS Channel 19 (Univision)
• KSPX Channel 29 (ION)
• KMAX Channel 31 (CW)
• KTXL Channel 40 (FOX)
• KQCA Channel 58 (MNTV)