Lifestyle

After pizza was more or less invented in Naples as a sauced-up flatbread, it took the globe by storm when American G.I.’s returned from World War II, bringing a fondness for pizza that led to a Cambrian explosion of different forms we know now. These include traditional Neapolitan styles, thin crust in New York, Detroit squares, sheet pans and deep-dish variants in Chicago, to name a few. You can find them all in California... and then some.

Space for vendors has always been a concern for the Farmers’ Market organization and the vendors themselves. “I’ll confess to not being a fan of it initially,” Janet Ciel said. “I realized it would be challenging to put vendors up there (on the stage area), as they can’t drive a car onto it. Everything will have to go up via stairs or a ramp.” But as she’s become used to the space, she’s recognized its potential.

As Healdsburg’s celebrity has grown, so too has SingleThread’s. Now the destination restaurant has attained a new honor: It’s been named as one of the World’s Best Restaurants, sharing the honor with one other U.S. restaurant, La Bernardin in New York City, and seven more establishments on the global shortlist.

While all the nominated plants are found in the area, Healdsburg Garden Club did limit its list to native plants, though some are widely found outside Healdsburg’s city limits. The proposal included four flowers: the Douglas iris, the yellow mariposa lily, scarlet fritillary and blue-eyed grass, the once ubiquitous California native grape, and the familiar oak trees of the region.

& Food Experience, a four-day workout for the palate that draws upon local produce and product to offer a well-rounded “experience” for its participants....

“Every time I go to Vineyard Plaza in Healdsburg I notice multiple parked vehicles with engines idling. I see people eating lunch, waiting for a pizza order, talking on the phone, listening to the radio while their car pollutes the air and makes noise,” wrote Steve Davy on Nextdoor. Some people have had enough...

This year the Gay Wine Weekend becomes even more closely tied to Healdsburg, with the Lodge at Healdsburg on Grove Street serving as unofficial headquarters. As well as the winery tours and winemaker dinners, the signature events continue this year for the most part at Healdsburg-area locations.

Santa Rosa has its Rose Parade, Healdsburg has its 4H/FFA Parade, but Geyserville lays claim to the world’s biggest Lighted Tractor Parade, now in its 14th year (or is it the 15th?). On Saturday, Nov. 25, the small town where Alexander Valley meets Highway...

Though the price of admission may prove daunting to some, it’s the only way to attend the Welcome Celebration at Mayacamas Golf Course on Thursday, May 16, and Friday’s Platinum Lunch at MacMurray Estate and a Platinum Dinner at Chalk Hill Estate, each with celebrated chefs and winemakers or sommeliers - or both....

The first major event that comes our way in 2025 is the annual Lake Sonoma Steelhead Festival, on Saturday, Feb. 8. This one-day science fair of all things steelhead (and their allies, anadromous and otherwise), draws about 10,000 people on its single day of exhibitions and activities to the Milt Brandt Visitors Center, Lake Sonoma.