Postcard From Black Rock City
"I just crawled back to Healdsburg last week from my fourth Burning Man; my Prius is still caked in telltale white dust. Everyone has been asking me what it was like out there. I’ll try my best to explain." Our latest Postcard, this one from Simone Wilson...
Mexican hero becomes a family legend
Local drama takes another step forward with the next play at the Raven, "Who Will Dance with Pancho Villa?" But the production, which opens on Jan. 22 for an eight-performance run, is hardly new. Gabriel Fraire and his brother John wrote it over 30 years ago and it had its first off-Broadway performance in New York in 1994.
City Manager’s Update Gets New Look
There are two openings on the city’s Planning Commission, a slurry-seal project to resurface downtown Healdsburg streets is now underway and the City Council unanimously adopted the 6th Cycle Housing Element, as required by state law.
These and other informational items about the work being...
‘Formula Businesses’ Get a Hearing
A formula store is defined in the General Plan as, “A business that is required by contractual or other arrangement to maintain any of the following: standardized services, menu, decor, uniforms, architecture, signs or other similar features and is not part of a locally- or regionally-based group of businesses...”
Yet Another ‘Outstanding Healdsburg Development Opportunity’
The city of Healdsburg is only just beginning to craft a South Entry Area Plan, a process that is expected to cost about $1.5 million. Although the plan is expected to get underway in 2024, City Manager Jeff Kay stressed that it is in its earliest stages.
Setting the Stage for the Holidays
This year’s Merry Healdsburg party is, surprisingly, only the fourth for this still-fresh city celebration, though the tradition of a tree-lighting the first week of December is much older. But it used to be a quieter affair—maybe the Community Band would play a program of holiday music from the gazebo stage or something, but the glamor and the glitz of Merry Healdsburg didn’t start until 2021...
Not Your Grandma’s ‘Cinderella’
Audiences headed for a performance of the Raven Players’ production of Cinderella who are expecting anything along the lines of a Disney musical are in for a bit of a surprise, says drama critic Harry Duke...
Process begins for SMART Station Area Plan
The City of Healdsburg has begun planning for the eventual arrival of SMART, perhaps as soon as the end of 2028. The planning began at Monday’s City Council meeting, when the five-member board heard from Planning Director Scott Duiven about the formation of a Healdsburg Station Area Specific Plan.
Rally for Renee Good draws 200 in Healdsburg
The midday Saturday, Jan. 10 rally was active for 90 minutes, but that was enough time for about 200 people to show up at the corners of Matheson and Healdsburg Avenue, bearing signs they had made for the occasion or left over from the last No Kings march.
Leffew Leads Lady Greys to Tourney Trophy
Senior Ruby Leffew had her best game of the year, scoring 21 points to lead the Healdsburg Greyhounds to their third consecutive NBL-Redwood championship tournament trophy.
Arts & Entertainment
Romance about genetic disease is Ron Nash’s latest
The arts did not beckon when Ron Nash was a young man—far from it. “I was in trouble mentally in high school. I was angry, angry, angry,” he said. He even got kicked out of school, but his athletic ability—he was a hurdlers champion in track—earned him a scholarship to college.
