Columns

Long, long ago in 1897 a little girl named Virginia wrote to her local newspaper asking if Santa Claus was real. The editor replied: “(you) have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age” as he defended the spirit of love, generosity and childlike faith. “How dreary would the world be if there were no Santa Claus,” he wrote.

There is an effort to direct interest away from 3 North St. (the Cerri Building) and the offer to fund the community pavilion/farmers market home. The disinformation being distributed in town abuses the SDAT report to abandon years of planning and support for the repurposing of the Cerri building. This attempt to derail the Foley Family Foundation‘s pledge of $7 million to build the long-planned project is misguided. Healdsburg 2040, as the custodians of the SDAT process, want to correct the record. We feel supported by over 1,000 residents, who in one week only signed a petition to the city council to accept the gift, And the signatures are still coming …

August is both an exciting and difficult month for me, balancing the market with producing a big festival: the Bodega Seafood, Art & Wine Festival. I’m not writing about the festival in this column: if you’re curious check out our website. It’s a wonderful event happening the last weekend of this month. I’m mentioning it only because this column is going to be quite short … I’m too busy!

As I write this I’m getting ready for the July 3 market; on the cusp of our country’s anniversary. This year’s celebration has some of us waving flags vigorously, while others have theirs hidden in the closet. But one realm where we could likely all agree is that we live in an area of remarkable abundance.

We’re going to the park today. Let’s go to the zoo! Spring break, we’ll take a drive to Disneyland. How about Sunday at Golden Gate Park?