🌱 Help House Fire Victims + July 4 Plans + Healdsburg Ave Makeover?

Hello, my neighbors! Welcome to your sizzling summer-solstice edition of the Healdsburg Daily. Hope you all had a great long weekend. Let's dive back in, now, on everything you need to know about what's happening locally...

First, your daily weather:

• Tuesday: Sunny and hot as heck. High: 102 Low: 61.
• Wednesday: A tiny bit cooler, but still super sunny and hot. High: 91 Low: 56.

Heads up: There's a "heat advisory" and a "spare the air" alert in effect until tonight. "Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities," weather officials say. (NWS & Nextdoor)

Here's to the great local businesses who sponsor this newsletter. Check out what they can do for you:

• Considering a fire-safe metal roof or siding for your home? Metal Roof Company has specialized in metal roofing and wall panels in the North Bay area for nearly 30 years. They work with homeowners, architects and general contractors on everything from single-family homes to commercial installations — and take pride in getting the job done right. To see a gallery of projects or to learn more, visit Metal Roof Company today or email metalroofcompany.com@gmail.com.

• Looking to rent in the Healdsburg area? Stacey Bernd at Healdsburg & Artisan Sotheby's International has lived in Sonoma Co. for 48 years and been in real estate for 30. She knows the market the way only a local can. Thinking of listing a property for rent? She can help with that too. Contact Stacey and work with Healdsburg's best.

• Have you stopped by Amy's Wicked Slush near Memorial Bridge lately? Amy's has Slush in glorious flavors like root beer, mango, and orange cream and soft serve in flavors like Cupcake, Blueberry and Brown Sugar Cinnamon. Can’t decide? Get the Split — half-slush, half-soft serve layered up like a parfait! Do yourself a favor and stop by ASAP.

Want to see your business featured in this spot? Click here to get started.

Air over Healdsburg:

Here are the top 5 stories in Healdsburg today:

1. Who caught the big Juneteenth concert in the plaza over the weekend? It doubled as the city's weekly "Sundays in the Plaza" show and the final act of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. More than 250 people showed up, the Press Democrat reports, to hear sets from a poet, a brass band and a jazz drummer and "celebrate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the U.S." In the words of Healdsburg Jazz Fest artistic director Marcus Shelby: "When we celebrate Juneteenth, we’re celebrating Black art.” The Healdsburg Museum also shared some local Juneteenth-related history online yesterday about the Tombs family, a "Black and Mulatto" family who remained enslaved in Healdsburg long after June 19, 1865. (Healdsburg Museum via Facebook & Press Democrat; paywall)
2. More details are emerging about this year's Fourth of July festivities in Healdsburg, which sound like they're gonna be pretty off the hook. First, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be the annual "Duck Dash" kids' costume parade and plaza fair, featuring a bunch of different races. According to last week's Tribune, this year's races will include ones where people make race cars out of vegetables, LEGOs, recycled junk and wood; one where people ride whatever wheels they can get their hands on (such as a "scooter, wagon, scoot bike, or even skates"); and, of course, the main duck race. Then, around 9 p.m., the city will start setting off fireworks. "This year’s show is larger than in years past," city officials say, so "there will be no spectator seating on the High School ball field and soccer field." They continue: "In order to ensure spectator safety with the larger show, we need to restrict access to the shooting area that encompasses the high school sports field complex. Spectator viewing will be available at Fitch Mountain Elementary just across University Avenue, as well as other vantage points throughout the City." Healdsburg resident Carol Finwall adds in the "What's Happening Healdsburg" Facebook group that "the vacant lot at Healdsburg Community Church, across the street from the fireworks, will be available for people to set up their own lawn chairs and park in the church parking lot for a donation." And "along with your donation, you can get a piece of apple pie and ice cream!" (City of Healdsburg & Healdsburg Tribune & Facebook Groups)
3. We could be looking at a huge, $11.8 million street improvement project ahead for Healdsburg Avenue, if a grant request just submitted by city officials to a state transportation fund is approved. According to the city: "The planned project will transform 1½ miles of Healdsburg Avenue between Powell Avenue and Passalacqua Road, to provide traffic calming, separated bikeways, sidewalks, landscaping, transit stops, and many bicycle and pedestrian safety enhancements. The ATP grant application process has two components: a statewide and regional (Bay Area) competition. For the last program cycle two years ago, 454 applications were received of which only about 12 percent received funding. Healdsburg’s project narrowly missed an award from the regional competition by a single point. The City hopes the second time’s the charm!" Click through for a rendering of what all this would look like. (City of Healdsburg)
4. After a tragic house fire on Prince Street killed 26-year-old Chase McCann earlier this month, his family is asking for support. "Hey everyone, I’m sure most of you have seen or heard by now that we unfortunately lost my little brother, Chase and many pets along with our longtime family home," Chenae McCann wrote on Facebook over the weekend, along with a link to a GoFundMe page. "Losing my brother Chase has been the hardest thing to wrap our mind around. We are just absolutely devastated and beyond crushed. I keep thinking this is a nightmare that I can’t wake up from. We are really looking for any help and if you can’t, just sharing this post would mean more than you know." And according to the GoFundMe campaign: "The McCann family is grieving the loss of their beloved son Chase who had Down Syndrome. He will be greatly missed by his family and the entire community. The house was destroyed in the fire and now they have no place to live. This fundraiser on behalf of the McCann family is to help them with burial expenses for their son Chase and provide temporary shelter, food, and clothing for the rest of the family. One hundred percent of the proceeds donated are going to the family directly." (GoFundMe & Facebook Groups)
5. Lifelong Healdsburg resident Sharon Ann Soracco has passed away at the age of 89. "Sharon grew up in Alexander Valley with her sister, Noel, where their parents were prune ranchers," her obituary says. "Her mother's family, the Warner's, came to Healdsburg in 1874 and her father's family, the Smith's, settled in Geyserville in 1875. Sharon was a fifth generation Healdsburg resident. She worked at Bank of America until her son, Jim, was born. She was a member of the Healdsburg Elementary PTA, an American Heart Association pledge captain and a founding leader of the Warm Springs 4-H Club." Her visitation and funeral will be held this Thursday and Friday at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. (Legacy.com)

Help us make this newsletter better!

We’ve been getting so much positive feedback about the Healdsburg Daily that we’re starting to get a big head. Want to bring us back down to earth with some constructive feedback? If so, take our simple — and quick! — reader survey. Your feedback will help us make sure we’re covering the kind of local news, events and scuttlebutt you really care about. And it will help us toward our goal of being an indispensable local resource and the last email you’d ever unsubscribe from.

We’d be so appreciative of your feedback that, if you take the survey, we’ll enter your email address in a drawing for a small mountain of Patch swag. You know you want that tote bag — so click the link and give it to us straight. Thank you!

Take the Survey 👉

Today and tomorrow in Healdsburg:

Tuesday, June 21

• Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Annual Budget Hearings (June 21-24, 8:30AM)
• Healdsburg Tuesday Farmers Market (9AM-12:30PM)
• Big Kid Stories & Art / Cuentos y Arte Para Niños Grandes at the Healdsburg Library (11AM)
• Tuesdays in the Plaza, Featuring "Spaghetti Western Spring" Band The Carolyn Sills Combo (6PM)
• Healdsburg City Council Meeting (6PM)
• Healdsburg Prune Packers Baseball Game Vs. Sonoma Stompers at Rec Park (6PM)
• Zumba With Chuy at TCElite Gym (6PM)
• Healdsburg Running Company Shiloh Run, Ending With Potluck (6PM)
• Open-Court Pickup Basketball at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Gym on Powell (7PM)
• The Lowest Pair Live at the Elephant in the Room (7-10PM)

Wednesday, June 22

• New Photo Exhibit at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts: Paris Street Photography by Tania Amochaev (June 22-July 4, 11AM-5PM)
• Healdsburg Community Blood Drive (1:30-5:30PM)
• Universal Yums for Teens at the Healdsburg Library (3-4PM)
• Healdsburg Unified School District Board Meeting (6PM)
• Healdsburg Prune Packers Game Vs. Novato Knicks at Rec Park (6PM)
• Let’s Play Lotería! / ¡Juguemos Lotería! at the Healdsburg Library (6-7PM)
• Trivia Night at Coyote Sonoma (7-9PM)
• Carla Morrison Live at the Luther Burbank Center (8PM)

From my notebook:

• Healdsburg police reportedly headed down to Santa Rosa in the wee hours Sunday to help out local law enforcement with a chaotic scene involving "hundreds of cars and spectators" who "showed up at multiple sites, reportedly with weapons and fireworks, to put on sideshows in and around the city." (NBC Bay Area)
• The 3-acre fire that broke out in Windsor last Friday afternoon, sending up a plume of smoke to our south, was allegedly caused by a goat who tried to get past an electric fence. From the PD: "The goat appeared to have pulled a piece of brush into the fence, bringing the fence into contact with its electrified wire at a point where there was a worn out insulator, [Cyndi Foreman of the Sonoma County Fire District] said. That caused the short that sparked the fire, she said." (Press Democrat; paywall)
• Healdsburg nonprofit Russian Riverkeeper just released these adorable baby steelhead into Dry Creek "as part of Dry Creek habitat restoration project." (Russian Riverkeeper via Facebook)

More from our sponsors — thanks for supporting local news!

For sale:

• New Pool with Swim Current for Sale (Details)
• Add your item

Alrighty, you're all caught up for today. See you tomorrow for more!

Also, before I go, a quick reminder: Patch is looking for a savvy Napa Valley local to write a similar style of newsletter for that area. If you're interested, or know someone who might be a good fit, here's some more info and a link to the job listing.

— Simone Wilson

About me: I was born and raised in Healdsburg, CA, where I was the editor of the Healdsburg High School Hound's Bark. I have since worked as a local journalist for publications in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City and the Middle East. I'm currently a senior product manager for Patch.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Healdsburg Daily? Contact me at simone.wilson@patch.com