From left, Damon Thomas, Jane Fonda, Curlen Phipps and Tone Boots. Images via Damon Thomas Facebook page

You never know who you are going to run into in Fresno these days.

Jane Fonda was in town this past weekend, and local entrepreneur Damon Thomas of web development firm Quiq Labs managed to grab a photo with her.

As Thomas tells it, it all went down at Bitwise. Fonda was in town visiting an organization she supports. Thomas, along with a group including business partner Curlen Phipps, youth mentor Tyreese Bailey and local screenwriter Tone Boots, had just wrapped up a mentoring session with Learn STEAM, a mentorship program for local minority youth to learn about science and art. Then they spotted Barbarella herself.

 

They started chatting Fonda up about her recent HBO documentary, “Jane Fonda in Five Acts.” And as a way to help promote Learn STEAM, they had one more ask of Fonda, 80.

“She wasn’t leaving without a photo op,” Thomas joked.

She was gracious enough to oblige.

In her six-decade career, Fonda has emerged as a legend of stage and screen, and has also proven a controversial figure at times with her political activism. In addition to the new HBO documentary about her life, she also stars in Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” with Lily Tomlin.

Fonda is only the latest celebrity to find him or herself in our lovely town. Lou Diamond Phillips of “Young Guns” fame was recently at a local cemetery shooting a commercial, and Audra McDonald was here in May for a performance at the Saroyan Theatre and for the dedication of a theater at Roosevelt High School in her honor.

The stars indeed shine bright in Fresno.