Local Business

The new proposal was to expand the formula-free zone one block further into the Downtown Commercial district. McDowell showed a map where a red line marked the border of the proposed formula-free zone; it surrounds most of seven city blocks adjacent to the Plaza, marking a significant expansion of the prohibition zone.

SPONSORED - Osmosis offered it’s first cedar enzyme bath in Sonoma County in May of 1985 in a handcrafted structure made from recycled wood in a friend’s back yard. Founder Michael Stusser had his life changed when he experienced the enzyme bath for the first time while living in Japan. “As the healing warmth of the bath enveloped my being, the whole picture of a healing sanctuary with a magical fermentation bath at the core surrounded by meditative Japanese style gardens, architecture and gracious hospitality flashed before my minds eye. From this remarkable moment I knew it was my calling to come back to Sonoma County and recreate the Japanese enzyme bath in West,” Stusser says.

As Q1 2025 data reveals, Healdsburg’s real estate market is defying conventional wisdom with a 150% surge in luxury home sales while Sonoma County’s high-end market continues to decline. These counterintuitive trends are reshaping our understanding of the local market in ways that might surprise even longtime residents.

The coronavirus pandemic is taking a devastating economic toll on Sonoma County’s economy: tourism, once a mainstay, is non-existent; 16,000 local workers have filed for unemployment; more than a thousand small businesses have applied for the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) Payroll Protection Plan (PPP). Meanwhile local governments continue to provide essential public health and welfare services, while their normal revenue sources trickle to near-zero.

Since its opening two years ago, in July 2021, Bacchus Landing has become recognized as a prime place to hold larger events in Healdsburg, from the monthly “Music on the Piazza” affair on first Saturdays, to several sold-out concerts for June’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival. On...

This article was contributed by Kary Hess. When it comes to the bountiful Sonoma County harvest, the abundance can be too much to eat all at once. People end up throwing out even their home-grown garden produce. But there is a way to keep all that...

A county study on the impacts of congestion, noise, safety and related issues linked to winery and rural tasting room and other special events, has taken so long that the original conditions and concerns that prompted the study in 2016 may now all be changing thanks to the potential post-pandemic business changes anticipated in the local wine industry.

Not too many works of art have changed the course of wine appreciation, but Sideways is on the short list. The 2004 movie, with its scenes extolling the virtues of pinot noir and the dismissive line, “I am not drinking f—g merlot!” changed not only...

PAID ADVERTORIAL — 10 Days of Meal Deals in Northern California’s Wine Country

Little Saint, a plant-based restaurant and cafe, wine shop and arts gathering space, is set to open later this summer in the former 10,000 square foot SHED property on West North Street.