Arcadia Mayor Gary Kovacic (right) next to Fire Chief of Radomerje, Slovenia, and his family.
While vacationing earlier this month to the home country of his parents and ancestors in Slovenia, Arcadia Mayor Gary Kovacic was once again treated like something of a returning celebrity by the volunteer fire department in Radomerje, a small village near Ljutomer.
Son Casey Kovacic (center) joins father Mayor Kovacic and Fire Chief Novak
Kovacic’s grandfather helped fund the building of the fire station in the early 1900s. Mayor Kovacic’s father also lived in a farm house in the area in the 1920s, so he was welcomed warmly by the village on his last trip with wife Barb. And this time he met for a photo with the Mayor of Ljutomer and the local Fire Chief Bronko Novak presented Arcadia’s Mayor with a Captain’s hat and posed for a photo with Novak’s family and Kovacic’s son Casey.
Back home Mayor Kovacic in Slovenia fire cap with Arcadia Fire Chief Kurt Norwod on classic LaFrance fire truck.
Novak also gave Kovacic framed photos of their fire truck, a patch, a book about the history of the fire department, and a medal to present to the Arcadia fire department, which he did Tuesday at the Arcadia Fire Station headquarters on Santa Anita Avenue.
— By Scott Hettrick
Mayors of Arcadia and Ljutomer, Slovenia
Mayor Kovacic presents gifts from Slovenia Fire Department to Arcadia Fire Department.