by John Hunneman
She’s the woman behind the grapes, and the balloons, chili, banjo pickin’, hot summer nights, snow falling in Old Town and even Santa Claus. Her diminutive stature notwithstanding, Melody Brunsting looms large in both the growth of the Temecula Valley as a tourist destination and contributions to the quality of life so many residents enjoy.
In March, Brunsting was the recipient of the Ambassador Award given by Visit Temecula – formerly the Temecula Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau – for her numerous contributions to the $650 million spent annually by visitors to the region. Brunsting and her husband Cal – they’ve been married 41 years – moved from Ontario to Wildomar in 1983 when she took a job selling advertising for weekly Temecula newspaper. “We moved around a lot when I was younger,” she said. “I was hoping we could find a place to stay for at least 10 years.” Thirty-three years later they’re still there.
In 1989, she founded Melody’s Ad Works, Inc., a company that specializes in producing integrated marketing and public relations campaigns. In fact, her media relations and publicity campaigns have one the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival several international awards.
In the mid-1990s, with Old Town still recovering from a devastating flood in January 1993, a report commissioned by the young city of Temecula called for restaurants, nightclubs, entertainment venues and events to boost the economy of the historic district. “I brought a proposal to the city to produce several different events,” Brunsting said. “The purpose was to turn Old Town into a tourist destination.” In 1999, Brunsting was contracted by the city to produce events for Old Town, “We incorporated and enhanced some events that were successful, like Western Days,” she said. “We also added some new ones.”
Among the new events now woven into Old Town’s fabric are the annual Street Painting Festival, Bluegrass Festival, Quilt Show and New Year’s Eve celebration with its quirky “grape drop” at both 9 p.m. and midnight. For the past seven years, a giant cluster of grapes has been lowered from the Civic Center to ring in the New Year in what has become a family tradition. Brunsting made the first set of “grapes” in her Wildomar garage. The current cluster Brunsting created three years ago, and is 12-foot by seven-foot illuminated bunch of grapes with illuminated three-foot leaves. Most of the components Brunsting and her volunteers hand painted.
She has produced and promoted the popular Hot Summer Nights that fills the streets of Old Town with music and entertainment on Friday’s throughout July and August and coordinated many of the events of the city’s “Winterfest” each December, including the arrival of Santa Claus. “I love doing the events because I like seeing people having fun,” she said.
Each spring much of her time is spent on another event she has helped grow, the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival. This is her 15th year as the marketing director for the non-profit organization that produces the weekend festival that annually draws 40,000 people to Southwest Riverside County.
While much of her time is spent on events in Temecula, Brunsting also consults with other business districts and cities. She is also Event Marketing and Public Relations at California State University San Marcos.
There are many people responsible for Old Town Temecula’s success in recent years as both a tourist destination and a favorite spot for locals. Among them the diminutive Brunsting is an often overlooked giant whose hard work and creativity have done much to revive and remake Old Town into the success story it is now.
