February may be a short month, but there is still time to celebrate Presidents’ Day, the Lunar New Year (it’s the Year of the Rooster – Gung Hay Fat Choy), Mardi Gras (with beignets at Parish?) and more. Send your news on festivities to IDlewood 3…” at id*******@hb*****.com. Idlewood was the original telephone exchange for Healdsburg. Now, “Hedda Healdsburg” wants to know all!
The Healdsburg Fire Associates hosted their Sweetheart Pancake Breakfast the weekend before Valentine’s Day. There was a break in the recent deluge and hungry attendees filled the station; the aroma of bacon and pancakes set mouths watering. A fire truck with tall ladder and flag atop greeted the steady stream of folks going in; the Fire Explorers were on traffic patrol and served up the hotcakes. Pink and red balloons, colorful tabletops and music set a festive tone. Selling raffle tickets for the 14 items on display were two young gentlemen: Jackson Boaz (son of the fire chief) and Alex Fitzpatrick. Both are sixth-graders at St. John’s. “It’s been going really well,” advised Alex. Jackson agreed, adding that there were “lots of people” who attended. It was a packed house early on, as participants from the Healdsburg Running Club ended their “Live Like Drew Love Run” there. “The first runner came in around 8:20,” said Jackson. Fire Inspector Ruben Mandujano said they had more people in attendance than last year, possibly due to reducing the price by half. Mimosas were still served to adults, but as an extra treat.
Attention gourmands – and writers. Healdsburg Center for the Arts is presenting a two-month long show, the Art of Gastronomy II, celebrating a passion for all things food and drink, from March 18 through May 14. They also have a call out for artists for this juried exhibition; all mediums, original work. This includes writers, who are invited to pen words of poetry, short prose or song around the topic “Art of Gastronomy.” The deadline is March 1. See their website for application info: www.healdsburgcenterforthearts.org.
The weather was almost balmy for the ninth annual Steelhead Festival at Lake Sonoma. The free event offered demonstrations, music, information booths and plenty of coho, steelhead and salmon – real and artistically rendered. The silent auction in the visitors’ center included amazing piscine artwork, along with the usual items. There were both fish and fowl represented outdoors. On the green, Bird Rescue Center volunteers were on site with a turkey vulture and barn owl. Nearby, the water was brown, muddy and gushing over the spillway; it sounded like crashing ocean waves. It was certainly deeper than in recent years. Arts and craft tables set up for kids were all based on nature, as was a “fishing hole.” Informational displays represented the spectrum of outdoor-related nonprofits, all lined up against the backdrop of the rushing water: Fish and Wildlife, the Farm Bureau, Redwood Empire Trout Unlimited, Clean River Alliance, Conservation Corps, Russian River Keeper, Sonoma County Parks – the row went on and on. There was a “stream talk and walk” to the fish ladder, and a hatchery sorting demonstration which drew a crowd. Current volunteer and retired park ranger Linda Clapp estimated that the day’s attendance was around 6,000 people.
A bonny time was had by all at the Robert Burns celebration dinner at Camellia Inn. Where else would you find kilts, haggis, bagpipes and the poetry of Scottish bard Bobbie Burns? “The banquet table was covered in tartan and kilts were flying,” said inn owner Lucy Lewand. “There were small pipes, large pipes, a harpist and fiddler. It was great fun.” Traditional Scottish foods included a cock-leekie soup, smoked salmon salad, and mashed tatties and neeps. Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” and the ghostly “Tam O’ Shanter” were just some of classic poems read.
Celebrity sightings: spotted recently having coffee in town were actor-playwright Sam Shepard and singer-poet Patti Smith.
Marie Butler is a freelance writer and a full-time Healdsburg resident for over 29 years. Growing up, she spent delightful summers at her family’s Del Rio Woods home and had an Idlewood telephone number. She is the author of the children’s book “Herbie – A Toy’s Adventures in Healdsburg,” recent articles in Sonoma Discoveries magazine and other stories.
