Top stories of 2011: No. 5—The World Stage

A week after Los Angeles tripped all over itself to accommodate Prince William and new wife Kate Middleton—and slowing thousands of commutes in the process—Rancho Santa Margarita did a little accommodating of its own.

Valdis Dombrovskis, the prime minister of Latvia, came to RSM along with a delegation of 40 comrades. They were in town primarily because Dr. Juris Bunkis, a local plastic surgeon, had just become the new honorary consul for the former Soviet country in Southern California.

July 17 began with at the new consulate housed in Bunkis' business office at 30212 Tomas, where Dombrovskis and Mayor Tony Beall held court and exchanged gifts, and finished at Coto de Caza Country Club where well-wishers mingled and got their photo taken with the prime minister, who then went .

"With the creation of your new honorary consulate here in Rancho Santa Margarita, you may always consider this ... your home in Southern California," Beall said.

—"Special Ceremony Honors Latvian Prime Minster Visiting RSM"

The "Republic of Latvia Day," as proclaimed by Beall, was a day unlke any other for RSM, which played host on a world stage for the first time. Everything went off without a hitch, and nary a commuter was slowed. It was a great day all around.

The message being delivered was that Latvia was here to foster trade with the United States. Bunkis promised to take business leaders to Latvia within the year. With RSM companies such as Applied Medical taking note, the relationship between Bunkis, the city and Latvia could be quite fruitful.

The following day, Dombrovskis and his team participated in a round table at Allergan headquarters in Irvine, where many corporate leaders from throughout Southern California had gathered.

But Rancho Santa Margarita wasn't the only stop for the Latvian contingent. Its trip to the U.S. also included holdovers in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Austin and New York.

If only for a day, clearly, Rancho Santa Margarita was running with the big boys.