March To Plaza + Healdsburg Scarecrow Festival + Who Turned 100?

Good morning, people of Healdsburg! It's me again, Simone, your host of the Healdsburg Daily — back in your inbox this Tuesday morning to tell you everything you need to know about what's happening locally.

Are you a local business owner or marketer in Healdsburg? Our premium local sponsorships will keep you at the top of inboxes around town every morning. Contact us here for the lowdown.

First, today's weather:

Cool and windy like yesterday, but with more sun and no rain. High: 78 Low: 44.

Here are the top 5 stories today in Healdsburg:

1. Approximately 100 "immigrants and their advocates" marched four hours from Santa Rosa to the Healdsburg plaza over the weekend, CBS reports, to demand that local government reps "work harder" to provide undocumented immigrants with legal-resident status. “We are walking 12 miles in the name of the 12 million undocumented," a march organizer said. "We’ve waited long enough. It’s been decades and decades." The march reportedly passed by various local wineries and restaurants that employ immigrant workers. "We work the hardest jobs here. We maintain the wine industry here. We deserve a path to citizenship and safe and healthy workplaces,” the organizer told CBS. (CBS SF Bay Area)
2. Here's the status of a couple different Healdsburg businesses amid this forever pandemic. Healdsburg Lumber Company — founded in 1875, now with 92 employees — has fully rebounded since COVID-19 hit last year, its president says. People rebuilding after wildfires, plus a bunch of new housing, have only heightened demand. However, the issue right now is the companies that supply Healdsburg Lumber with wood and other materials can't keep up. Jill Ziedrich Gaylor, president, explains: "The Shelter in Place decree meant our suppliers were lacking workers onsite to process lumber and products — which drove costs up to historic highs. It will take time for our vendors to get back to normal." Meanwhile, Healdsburg plastic surgeon Dr. Stanley Jacobs says business has never been better. His theory? "What happened was, as people were staying at home and on Zoom, they were looking at that little picture of themselves and realizing, 'I don't like the way I look.'" (North Bay Business Journal & Press Democrat; paywall)
3. The PD also profiles local org Healdsburg Forever this week, with an emphasis on the vital role they played during the pandemic. They reportedly doled out $142,000 in emergency grants in 2020 to help other nonprofits "serving the area’s most vulnerable populations" in Healdsburg, Geyserville, Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley and parts of the Russian River Valley. Recipients included Corazón Healdsburg, Healdsburg Shared Ministries/Food Pantry, Boys and Girls Club, Farm to Pantry, Alliance Medical Center and more. Then again earlier this year, Healdsburg Forever handed out another $300,000. Alliance, for one, used the latest infusion to set up a free vaccine clinic. And Legal Aid of Sonoma County used theirs to provide bilingual lawyers to people facing eviction. (Press Democrat; paywall)
4. Louise Buchignani, the matriarch of "one of Healdsburg's oldest Italian families," just turned 100 last week! As a mom in mid-20th-century Healdsburg, she worked at the Alexander Bakery and the Healdsburg school district, including as a librarian; "was always involved in PTAs" and cub scouts; and "worked hard" on the family's 43-acre ranch out West Dry Creek, "picking the prunes and doing chores," her family tells the Tribune. Click through to read more about this local legend. (SoCoNews Healdsburg)
5. You may have noticed a petition making the rounds online recently to "stop the timeshare takeover of Dry Creek Valley." It's an effort by the Dry Creek Valley Association to get real-estate company Pacaso in trouble for "subdividing vacation homes among multiple owners" on the picturesque outskirts of Healdsburg. Neighbors argue the land they've bought for their timeshare properties is designated in the Sonoma County General Plan for agricultural use and/or single-family homes. "We demand that Sonoma County and Pacaso abide by legal land use requirements," they say. The petition now has 284 signatures and counting. (Change.org)

Today's Healdsburg Daily is brought to you by our friends at Verizon. They're building the fastest 5G network in the country. To learn how 5G is going to change life for you and your community — and to get access to this amazing technology — click here. And thank you Verizon for sponsoring this community resource in Healdsburg!

Today in Healdsburg:

• Healdsburg Tuesday Farmers Market, Feat. John Youngblood (9AM-12:30PM)
• New Art Exhibit at Upstairs Art Gallery: "Vineyards Plus" (Sept. 28-Oct. 31, 11AM-6PM)
• West Side Elementary School District Special Board Meeting (5:30PM)
• Healdsburg Running Company Tuesday Pub Rub at Dot Wine, Bacchus Landing (6PM)
• Read BIPOC Book Club at Sonoma County Library: "The House on Mango Street" (6-7PM)

Healdsburg Patch Notebook

• The Healdsburg High football team won again last Friday! They beat Kennedy High School 13-6 at an away game in Richmond, bringing their season record to 3 wins, 2 losses. “We wanted to take away that losing culture and I think we’re doing that,” says head coach Robert “Bear” Gray, who's new this year. Next the team heads to the North Bay League Redwood Division campaign at Piner on Oct. 15, followed by two final late-October home games to finish out the season. (SoCoNews Healdsburg)
• Healdsburg resident Mark McWilliams, 43, will run in the Boston Marathon next month. Good luck Mark! (Healdsburg Patch)
• The second annual Healdsburg Scarecrow Festival is upon us. Here's how it works: You build a cool scarecrow in your yard. Then festival organizers from Healdsburg High School try to auction if off right before Halloween — and all the money goes to the Healdsburg Center for the Arts. (Facebook)
• Speaking of the Center for the Arts: Their schedule of fall art classes and workshops is now live. Among the offerings are still-life oil painting, landscape painting, quilted collage, graphic novel and cartoon creation, photography, radio building, rocket making and more. (Facebook)
• Mark your calendar! The Healdsburg Library will be hosting a pop-up book sale in its Piper Street parking lot on Sunday, Oct. 24 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Healdsburg Patch)
• And this coming Saturday, the Healdsburg Farmers Market will be adding its annual "holiday craft market," featuring a "wide array of goods, jewelry, pottery, clothes, decorative wreaths, handbags and wallets, art and bath and body goods among other items." It runs through Dec. 18. (SoCoNews Healdsburg)
• The "center turn lane and northernmost eastbound lane" of Dry Creek Road are now closed between Grove Street and Healdsburg Avenue, and will remain closed through Oct. 8. This will "allow for construction on Dry Creek Road as part of the Foss Creek Pathway extension — connecting the skate park to the Community Center," according to Healdsburg city officials. "Access to businesses will remain open at all times." (Facebook)
• A guy in Healdsburg is looking for a new home for his "retired champion 4H show bunny." Bugs is described as "seal colored," with the "softest fur ever." See his gorgeous glamour pics. (Facebook)
• Check out this $3.5 million home for sale on an undisclosed "40-acre estate near Healdsburg" that "unfurls across the forest floor as a series of interconnected pavilions." (The Spaces)
• If you've been getting your COVID tests at either of these Medivolve testing sites in Santa Rosa, it's probably better to go elsewhere from now on, health officials say. (Press Democrat; paywall)
• The winner of the "Crud Cup" at the Foss Creek Clean-Up over the weekend was reportedly the Healdsburg School, "with over 70 volunteers from our school community." Adorably, the cup is filled with a stuffed otter. (Facebook)

Did you know you can feature your local business here in the newsletter for just $79/month? Click here to learn more.

Thanks for following along and staying informed. See you all tomorrow for another update! And if you're loving these newsletters, consider inviting some of your friends and neighbors to read along. You can send them this link to subscribe.

— 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? Email me at simone.wilson@patch.com.