Forty-eight of the banners will be installed on alternating light posts along Big Basin Way, with two banners held in reserve.

"It makes the Village look vital," Marilyn Marchetti said. Marchetti designed the banners and displayed a sample banner at the Feb. 15 meeting. "Everything on the banner is significant," she explained.

The colorful banners are each 2 feet wide and 3 feet long. They display an oak tree by a creek with a sun setting behind mountains. "Historic Saratoga Village" is written on both sides. Marchetti said the hills on the banners are blue to signify the Blue Hills behind the city, the oak tree is Saratoga's official tree, the creek symbolizes the Saratoga creek and the sun symbolizes Saratoga's sunny California weather.

The banners could be installed in early April after the city prunes the trees in the Village, which is tentatively scheduled for March.

Marchetti's business, AFM Productions, a promotional advertising company, is located in the Village. "The Village is the cultural and social heart of Saratoga," she said. "We wanted to get the banners up for the 50th anniversary of the city. We really want to promote the fact that we are a historic town."

The money to pay for the banners was raised through donations and by the SVDC fashion show held at the Foothill Club last November. Planning Commissioner Jill Hunter, who is also an SVDC member, said the idea for placing new banners in the Village came after complaints about old Christmas banners that had been hanging from light posts along Big Basin Way for about a year. "The whole purpose of the fashion show was to raise money to buy new banners. They're going to make the Village look a lot livelier. They are going to announce the historic nature of the Village and add some color downtown." Hunter said seasonal banners would be interspersed with the banners throughout the year, but to do that more money would have to be raised.

The SVDC has been around for about 10 years. It had been known as the Saratoga Business Development Council, but was renamed last year because the group had become Village-centric. About 80 people are on the SVDC listserve, according to SVDC member Brian Berg. The group holds a monthly meeting at the Blue Rock Shoot the last Tuesday of every month.

"We have a list of things we would like to see done," Marchetti said. She said that in addition to the banners, the SVDC has been pushing the city to prune the trees downtown and to install new lighting for the trees. She said the SVDC-affiliated Village Gardeners have been planting and tending to the flowers along Big Basin Way. Marchetti would like to see more outdoor seating at downtown restaurants and coffee shops. "I'd like for more people to go downtown and socialize," she said.

The SVDC is planning to have at least one event a month in the Village. In February, downtown businesses handed out roses to shoppers on Valentine's Day. A St. Patrick's Day event is in the works for March, and in April the SVDC is planning an Easter event.