burg savvy

A river of talent
blossoms coming down
a petal storm anoints us
polka dot carpet
In Galway in the early 90’s the Irish were quick to tell me, once they found out where I was from, that their fair city was the San Francisco of Ireland, some said of all Europe. I loved the feel of it, and the sight of the River Corrib plunging into Galway Bay.
Having heard that the west of Ireland was the heartland of Irish Music, I stayed long enough to get familiar with the workers in some of the shops in town. I met a girl selling lace one day, and the next day she was running into the bakery, and slipping something to the young man behind the counter making my ham sandwich. It was a demo tape. She was stealing a few moments from her job around the corner, and her excitement when she handed it off, was palpable, her voice breathless.
Later in a fish and chips shop, I saw a fiddle case standing in the corner, and the guy who was frying cod filets was bobbing his head to a tune in his head. The next night at a pub a block away, I saw the bakery boy playing the bodran (bow-rawn), an Irish drum, the fish-frying fiddle player in the middle of a feverish riff, and the lace shop girl singing a keening ballad. It turns out that the whole town was swaying with this undertow of musical ambition and talent.
I think of Healdsburg in this way, brimming with artistic talent roiling just below the surface. Healdsburg is a nexus of multi-dimensional people who work in necessary jobs to support their craft, their passion.
When a traveler enters a tasting room, they may be meeting someone who is personable and knowledgeable, pouring their wine, with no hint that the person before them is a jazz singer when the sun goes down.
This town is awash in shape shifters. Those of us that live here know that our waiter might be writing a cookbook. The clerk at your favorite grocery store just finished a science fiction novel, your realtor could be a poet, the woman at the fabric store is an accomplished painter, your carpenter is a sculptor too, the bartender is an herbalist, the chef is a silversmith, and your gardener comes from a long line of shamans.
This subterranean current of talent contributes to the ineffable quality of our town, and partners with the beauty of our landscape and the mystique of our wines to give Healdsburg that special something, that je ne sais quoi.
Bottom line, our lives are enriched by them. If you know someone who fits this description, acknowledge them. Let them know that you honor their choice to do something for the love of it.
These folks are one segment of our community who are deeply impacted by the high cost of housing. If you have the capacity, build a bungalow in your back yard to house an artist. Suppress the urge, if you are a landlord, to get a few hundred dollars more for that place where they are living.
One by one, I am seeing an exodus of our creative neighbors for other communities where they can afford to live. At this rate, we may look back one day, and remember the halcyon days of our little burg, and wonder where they have gone.
Artists, like farmworkers, are the heart and soul of this place. We should do all we can to keep them here.
Penelope La Montagne is a former Literary Laureate of Healdsburg, and is a Realtor at a local real estate brokerage. She can be reached at

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