BAY AREA INTERNET CONNECTION, a Benicia-based multimedia and information technology solutions company that streams the commercial-free New Hits Radio on its affiliates page, will broadcast Vallejo Admirals baseball games, C.J. Spurlock, senior information technology specialist, said.

The company, in Suite C of 941 Grant St., is a sponsor of the baseball team and its official technological company.

New Hits Radio is one of several “work-friendly” stations owned by Kid Red Entertainment, Spurlock said, and Bay Area Internet Connection may begin streaming some of its other stations, as well.

“We are all huge fans of the Vallejo Admirals,” Spurlock said. “We have set up their new office, and we have remote support set up on their laptops (and) workstations.”

In addition, he said, his company is promoting the team to Benicia merchants.

“There has been an ongoing problem in this town since I was a kid of ‘not having anything fun to do,’” Spurlock said. “Now that we have a professional baseball team, everyone has something to do.”

He said the games will be broadcast on his company’s website, http://baicmultimedia.com/who-we-are/affiliates/.

“We want to see Benicia people sporting Admirals hats, jackets and other apparel around town,” he said.

The team is away playing the San Rafael Pacifics Tuesday through Thursday, then plays San Rafael at home Friday through Sunday.

The Admirals welcome the Sonoma Stompers June 24-26, then visit the Pittsburg Mettle June 27-29.

Their home games are played at Wilson Park, 199 Stewart St., Vallejo. Games times are 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 5 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. Sundays.

Admirals game admission for those 5 and older is $5 for general admission and $8 for grandstand reserve. Those younger than 5 are admitted free of charge. Tickets are available through the Vallejo Admirals website, www.vallejoadmirals.com, as well as at the park.

Benicia mother debuts Fairyella Ice Pops

A woman who last year published her mother’s poem stories about the tooth fairy and a dragonfly also has been inspired by her mother’s illness to pursue healthy eating.

The result is Fairyella Ice Pops, named for the identity Kimberli Haris’s mother gave to the tooth fairy.

“At the beginning of the year, I offered to go into business with my godfather and help him market his amazing pesto spread, Uncle Rudi’s Old Time Pepper Pesto,” Haris said.

“As the months went by, I started wanting to market my idea, and my godfather loved my idea and was willing to help me get my idea off the ground first.”

Haris developed her ice pops after her mother contracted cancer more than seven years ago. That illness inspired Haris to provide improved nutrition to her family, and she began making her own juices, serving them both in glasses and frozen on a stick.

“I wanted something different,” she said, and a friend suggested she put her frozen juices in pouches and use sustainable produce with no stabilizers or additives.

Mothers of her children’s friends suggested she start selling them, so she bought and decorated an ice cream car and named the ice pops for her mother’s poetry character.

In the future, Haris said, she also hopes to sell in stores.

Meanwhile, she will sell Fairyella Ice Pops in front of Bombshell Hair and Ink, 120 East G St., July 3 during Benicia’s parade, and in front of the Veterans Memorial Building, 1150 First St., July 4 at the city’s Independence Day celebration at City Park.

Haris also will be at Benicia Farmers Market pn Thursdays July 10-31, at Petaluma Farmers Market July 19 and 26, and in front of Bombshell Hair and Ink during the Peddlers Fair on Aug. 9.

Her website is www.fairyellaicepops.com.

Arts Benicia ‘Fire Sale’ next month

Art aficionados will be able to find the works of 15 different artists at prices below $99 during the Arts Benicia Fire Sale 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 4 and 5 at the studio, 991 Tyler St., Suite 114.

Arts Benicia members will be allowed to browse and shop at 10 a.m. each day.

Memberships begin at $35 a year.

Those interested may visit the studio’s website, www.artsbenicia.org, or email info@artsbenicia .org.

USS Iowa named San Pedro’s business of the year

Pacific Battleship Center, the nonprofit that has made a museum out of the USS Iowa, which once was moored off the Benicia coast after its historic service in the U.S. Navy, is the San Pedro business of the year, said Elise Swanson, president and chief executive officer of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce.

Swanson cited the museum’s successful launch as “a major tourist attraction” and its contribution to the Los Angeles Waterfront.

The ship was moved to the Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay in April 2001, and remained there until it was awarded to the Pacific Battleship Center, whose Vallejo-based rival, the Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square, tried unsuccessfully to secure the ship as a museum and anchor attraction for a Mare Island commercial development.

The famous former World War II-era battleship has been at the Los Angeles Waterfront for two years now, said Jonathan Williams, president and chief executive officer of Pacific Battleship Center.

“We have paid more than $10 million in local wages and payments to small businesses,” Williams said. “Hundreds of thousands of visitors have boarded Iowa.” Many of the visitors were seeing the waterfront for the first time, he added.

Swanson also cited Williams’s marketing plan for the ship museum.

The museum also has been listed as No. 13 on TripAdvisor’s list of most popular things to do in Los Angeles, said Patrick Salazar, vice president of development and communications for the Pacific Battleship Center. That earned the battleship a certificate of excellence.

The Benicia Herald’s weekly Benicia Business Beat column is an opportunity for local businesses and companies to tell our readers about such news as moves, grand openings, awards, promotion of employees, staff changes and changes in goods and services.

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