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November 6, 2025

Love in the time of coronavirus

April Karr and Dack Thompson got married on Saturday, March 21, on the backyard deck of her parent’s home in Sebastopol with a host of friends and family in attendance via the magic of the meeting technology known as Zoom. It was Sebastopol’s first Zoom wedding, though probably, in the time of coronavirus, not its last.

Signs of the Times

LOVE IS GREATER THAN FEAR — You might have noticed encouraging signs popping up around Sebastopol: “Love is also contagious” and “6 feet between us is no match for the love among us.” You can see the signs outside of Papas y Pollos, in the town square, at Highway 12 and Morris Street, across the street from Screamin’ Mimi’s ice cream (above) and decorating the home of sign maker Margaret Howe. Other sign makers include Maya Pace, Ann Hamilton, Bryan Huggins and Kenna Lee. “We wanted to make a loving connection with our community and emit soothing energy amidst the fear,” said Howe. “Also to help people smile.”

Governments close parks and beaches

In an effort to encourage people to stay at home, the Sonoma County Department of Health Services announced on Monday, March 23, that it would be closing all parks in the county effective March 24. The order stating the closure of local parks comes on the heels of a weekend where parks across Sonoma County were full to the brim with people enjoying the outdoors — some of whom weren’t abiding by the county’s social distancing protocol.

Helping local businesses survive the crisis

Check out our directory of open businesses

Sebastopol senior center checks in

Local senior centers are stepping up and rolling out several different programs to help ensure that seniors are getting access to fresh food, prescriptions and other necessities during the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated statewide shelter-in-place mandate.

Learning from afar

Sonoma County schools tackle the challenge of online education

Corazón giving out ‘groceries to go’ Tuesday morning

Corazón Healdsburg will be hosting a drive-thru grocery event on Tuesday morning, March 24, at 11 a.m. The drive-thru is a partnership between Corazón, Redwood Empire Food Bank, the city of Healdsburg and local nonprofits Sonoma Family Meal and Farm to Fight Hunger.

Important notice to our local news readers

During this public health crisis, Sonoma West Publishers has made access to our online news free to all. But with businesses closing and events canceling, our advertising revenues have plummeted, and we are struggling to keep our reporters and editors paid. We will be open for business as long as possible. Please consider placing a paid advertisement in our paper, subscribe here, and/or click here donate to support our news gathering efforts during this difficult time.

Let our readers know you are open for business

Dear Local Business Owner,

Healdsburg students crowned co-champ of local spelling bee

Two Healdsburg students co-championed the North Sonoma County Regional Spelling Competition in Santa Rosa earlier this month. Fitch Mountain Elementary School fifth grader Lily Villano and St. John the Baptist Catholic School sixth grader Gavin Curran, demonstrated their spelling skills at the competition, held March 5. 
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