• A few local sports stars in Paris right now for the Summer Games

• A growing nature corridor on the Sonoma-Napa county line

• Hundreds of farm and vineyard workers protesting in the Healdsburg plaza today

• An electric night of fundraising for Sonoma County fire agencies

• Pics from two equally lit-looking recent events: the Monte Rio Variety Show and a combination taco fest and lowrider show in Windsor

FIRST: WEATHER & WILDFIRE

We’re finally on the other end of that wild, weekslong heat wave — with high temps now hovering in the much-more-manageable 80s through the middle of this coming week, when they’re expected to rise into the still-pretty-manageable low 90s. 🍹 Then it looks like next weekend should be in the mid 90s. So no more triple-digit predictions in the near future!

During that time, nighttime temps in the upper 40s and low 50s and cool, foggy mornings will also bring some relief. 😅

There are no particular fire-weather warnings in effect for our area right now, but a record-settingly parched landscape this summer means we should stay ready for wildfires. 🔥 All eyes right now are on the historic, 350,000-acre Park Fire over in the Chico area, one of the largest in state history. Entire communities are burning; it’s absolutely heartbreaking.

Over the past couple of weeks, there have also been some smaller fires in the counties that surround us, like the Ridge and Acorn fires in Lake County and the Grange Fire in Mendocino County. Nothing huge in Sonoma or Napa counties — just little stuff, like the 36-acre Flora Fire in the countryside between Windsor and Healdsburg last week. 🌳 (Plus two non-wild fires in Rohnert Park: one at a strip mall and one at a snack stand.)

Still, the standard seasonal advice remains on high: Know your evacuation zone, always be ready to pack up and head out, keep your property clear, don’t do dumb stuff like operate power tools near vegetation or drive your truck down a country road without a tire, etc... 💡

Flora’s plume, as seen from a hilltop wildfire cam nearby. (Image: Cal Fire)

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

The Green Music Center

Presenting UB40 on their ‘Red Red Wine Tour’ with special guest Inner Circle tonight

Don’t miss UB40 at the Green Music Center’s Weill Hall + Lawn at 7pm tonight, July 28! UB40 is one of the most successful and influential British groups of all time, with more than 100 million albums sold and more than 50 charting singles in the UK — including their trademark global #1 hits “Red Red Wine” and “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You,” and U.S. Top 10s “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” and “The Way You Do The Things You Do.” The reggae/pop legends set the stage for their highly anticipated 45th Anniversary celebrations this year. Indoor and outdoor seating available. Tickets on sale now.

Wanna see your business or event in this newsletter? Reach out.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

1) We’ve got some local athletes oversees in Paris for the summer Olympics 

Watch out, y’all — it’s hard not to catch Olympics fever right now. It’s going around faster than FLiRT. Especially after that Beyonce promo video for Team USA dropped during the opening ceremony in Paris on Friday (see video below), as well as an apparent recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” by a troupe of dazzling drag queens that had the Karens of the world clutching their pearls.

I’m also here for the Simone Biles mania, of course. But there’s another subsection of Team USA superstars that we the patriots of wine country have the privilege and responsibility of rallying behind: three hometown kids fighting for gold in Paris this summer.

Team Bey. (Video: NBC Sports via YouTube)

The first and perhaps most famous of three Sonoma County athletes in the Games is 18-year-old Minna Stess, a badass skater chick from Petaluma. Back in 2021, as a young teen, she became the first American to ever medal in the women’s World Skateboarding Championship — and she’s now reportedly ranked No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 13 in the world for park skateboarding.

KQED news radio ran a profile on Minna right before she left for Paris:

From the street, Minna Stess’ Petaluma home fits right in with the other houses on the block. Sitting in her backyard on a sunny Monday afternoon, dressed in a black T-shirt and shorts, purple socks and Vans, the 18-year-old looks like almost any other suburban skate kid.

There’s just one difference: Stess is about to fly to Paris to compete in the 2024 Olympics.

In Paris, Stess will represent the United States in skateboarding, which became an Olympic sport just four years ago. To vie for the gold on the U.S. women’s team on a relatively new Olympic field, and on a global stage no less, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Another funny tidbit, now that she’s abroad: Minna is complaining to NBC News reporters that she and her competitors aren’t allowed to skate in the Olympic Village (aka, that legendary popup neighborhood where all the athletes stay during the games). From NBC:

“You get yelled at if you skate in the Village,” American skateboarder Minna Stess said. Instead, Olympic skateboarders are allowed to practice for their events at the street and park courses. Stess, who’s making her Olympic debut in skateboard park, recounted seeing street skateboarder Paige Heyn getting yelled at for skating while coming back from practice earlier this week.

You can catch Minna on TV two Tuesdays from now, on Aug. 6.

Minna tries to explain how she got so good. (Video: HyperX via YouTube)

Next up: Santa Rosa rugby sevens player Stephen Tomasin, 29, who used to play football for Cardinal Newman. He reportedly made his Olympics debut four years ago, at the last Summer Games in Tokyo. The Press Democrat reports:

It wasn’t the Olympic experience the Santa Rosa native and former Cardinal Newman football standout had envisioned, with the games being heavily impacted by COVID.

Instead of playing in front of tens of thousands of fans, matches were held in an empty 40,000-seat arena.

Luckily for Tomasin, the 2021 Games were not his last. Now 29, he is making his second Olympic appearance at the 2024 Summer Games.

“It’s a huge blessing,” Tomasin said of the Olympic opportunity.

Alas, all the rugby sevens games already happened, and the U.S. team didn’t medal, but we’re proud of them anyway.

Last on the local roster, we’ve got French-born, Glen Ellen-raised freestyle BMX rider Nikita Ducarroz, 27. Nikita’s not actually a member of Team USA; like a true citizen of the world, she competes for Switzerland. Still, she came into her own right here in the Sonoma Valley — so let’s show her some love, too.

Nikita in action. (Video: FISE via YouTube)

It seems like Nikita has a real shot at hauling home some hardware this year. From the PD:

Three years ago, 24-year-old Nikita Ducarroz had just claimed a bronze medal in BMX freestyle cycling for Switzerland at the Tokyo Olympics.

That was followed by a silver medal in the 2021 BMX World Championships in Montpellier, France, a gold medal at the 2021 European Championships in Moscow and her second national title in Switzerland.

Now 27, the Glen Ellen-raised Ducarroz has become a staple throughout the sport as she once again heads to the Olympics, this time in a country closer to her heart.

For Ducarroz — born in Nice, France — the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will be a homecoming of sorts, despite the fact that she moved to the Sonoma Valley when she was just three months old.

Coming in to this year’s Games, Ducarroz is ranked sixth in the world, having finished sixth at both the BMX World Cup in Enoshima, Japan, and the Olympic qualifier series in Budapest. She also finished seventh at the Olympic qualifier series in late May in Shanghai.

You can see her compete this Tuesday, July 30, and Wednesday, July 31.

So, yeah — that’s all of the 2024 Olympics athletes from around here, that I know of. There are many more from the greater Bay Area and other parts of California, though. The Sacramento Bee has a handy map!

2) A key plot of wildlands now connects two major local parks, straddling Sonoma and Napa counties

Sonoma County’s parks department just added 100 acres of land between two of its existing open space preserves: Saddle Mountain and Hood Mountain, along the southern stretch of the Mayacamas range that joins Sonoma and Napa counties.

And as the Press Democrat points out, while this 100-acre chunk of wildland — literally named 100-Acre Ranch — might not be the largest local parkland acquisition we’ve seen in recent decades, its impact may outsize its acreage:

It serves as a bridge between sprawling Hood Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve on the east and the 960-acre Saddle Mountain Open Space Preserve to the west, both now part of a network of conserved lands covering more than 11,000 acres, or 17 square miles.

“It’s putting a lot of puzzle pieces together,” Sonoma County Regional Parks Director Bert Whitaker said Monday.

Nature’s slow takeover. (Image: Sonoma County Regional Parks)

Here are some more details from the county’s announcement:

The property, purchased for $555,000, is adjacent to the recently acquired 888-acre Salt Creek Addition (also known as Weeks Ranch North). This land was transferred from Sonoma Ag + Open Space in December 2023 after being purchased from the same landowners, members of the Rasmason family, who’ve owned and operated working ranches on both Weeks Ranch North and 100-Acre Ranch for generations. 

Regional Parks has invested heavily in wildfire preparedness and vegetation management across its parks. Extending these efforts to the 100-Acre Ranch will enhance the wildfire resilience for both the property and the surrounding community. "Hood Mountain Regional Park played a key role in fighting the wildfires of 2017 and 2020,” said David Rabbitt, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. “By protecting more land, we can better prepare for future wildfires, fight climate change and keep our environment healthy and safe for the future.” 

The 100-Acre Ranch is at a vital intersection of existing public parklands and conserved open spaces, enhancing habitat connectivity for wildlife movement, supporting diverse plant and animal communities and promoting a healthier ecosystem. The surrounding Mayacamas Mountains are an important water source for Sonoma County residents, encompassing tributaries and creeks that feed into the Russian River, Napa River and Sonoma Creek. 

It’ll still be a year or more before this land opens for public use, according to the county. In the meantime, perhaps we can all sleep easier...

3) Farm and vineyard workers are staging a huge protest in the Healdsburg plaza this afternoon

The brutal weather and wildfires so far this summer have made work tougher than ever for the folks who tend farms and vineyards across the wine country, according to local labor group North Bay Jobs With Justice. The org is staging a protest in the Healdsburg plaza as we speak this Sunday afternoon, demanding minimum pay of $25 hour (or $250 per ton of grapes picked) for farm and vineyard workers.

They’re also rallying for disaster pay — aka, “extra pay for work done during dangerous conditions and compensation for lost wages during disasters.”

Organizers said they expected more than 500 protesters to swarm downtown Healdsburg this afternoon. They told the San Francisco Chronicle that this will be the largest protest ever organized by North Bay Jobs With Justice, “with turnout expected to be double the size of past marches.”

One protest leader, Anabel Garcia, explained in a press release: “When it's 100 degrees, you can’t work in those conditions. But when you can’t work, you don’t have enough money to make rent — to pay the bills, to get food on the table. And it’s not fair, because we know how much money the growers are making during the harvest — and they don’t pass that along to the workers. There is a big need here and we deserve it.”

Another organizer, Davida Sotelo Escobedo, told the Chronicle that “farmworkers are on the frontlines for every extreme event.” And they expect these conditions will only “keep getting worse.”

The call to action. (Image: North Bay Jobs With Justice via Instagram)

At the height of the recent heat wave, the North Bay Jobs With Justice group posted on Instagram:

This week, we had record breaking heat waves and red flag warnings. Sonoma County has already seen wildfires & evacuation zones this summer — earlier than ever before! Ahead of this year’s wine grape harvest, farmworkers are rising up to demand Disaster Pay & a dignified wage of $25/hour!! Join the workers on the frontlines of climate change in a march through Healdsburg — the center of luxury “wine country.”

A handful of wineries in Sonoma and Napa counties reportedly offer disaster pay to their workers, but overall it’s “a rarity in the industry,” according to the Press Democrat.

More from the Chronicle:

When temperatures hit 90 degrees in the Sonoma County vineyards where Isidro Rodriquez works, “everything stops,” he said. His employer’s policy is to send vineyard workers home for their safety, but they don’t get paid for lost hours: In the past six weeks, Rodriquez has missed an estimated 15-20 hours of work due to extreme heat, and it’s been difficult to pay his bills.

Rodriquez isn’t alone, said Davida Sotelo Escobedo, an organizer for the advocacy coalition North Bay Jobs with Justice. Escobedo said the organization has recently heard from many local farmworkers who report being sent home early due to high temperatures, causing them to lose wages. Others have risked their health by working in the extreme heat, sometimes without access to nearby shade or sufficient breaks. 

“The tiny impact of one day has huge financial repercussions for people’s families,” said Escobedo.

Here’s what North Bay Jobs With Justice’s last protest in downtown Healdsburg looked like. They held it during the fancy culminating event of the Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience weekend a few months ago — a profound party crash that has now become tradition. (Photo: Healdsburg Tribune)

And this was their protest at the same event one the year before, featuring a large puppet of a woodpecker, the org’s official symbol. (Photo: Christian Kallen/Tribune)

4) Northern Sonoma County’s big, annual fire-agency fundraiser just raised almost a quarter mill

Up in the Alexander Valley north of Healdsburg last weekend, on the front lawn of Trentadue Winery, a live-auction dinner party for the ages drummed up a serious chunk of change for local fire agencies — to the tune of nearly $250,000, as calculated by organizers in real time that evening. That’s around $50,000 more than they said they raised last year.

The crowd of around 200 (by my count) at the “Wine Country to the Rescue” event on Saturday, June 20, included all the major players on the local ag and first-responder scene. Their wallets loosened as the night wore on, coaxed open by bottomless bottles of donated wine and a similarly bottomless barrage of high-strung peer pressure from the liveliest auctioneer in the land: State Sen. Mike McGuire himself.

As you may know, the state senator for much of Sonoma, Marin, Lake and Mendocino counties grew up and launched his political career in Healdsburg, and now lives in Geyserville with his wife and young son.

From left, that’s Mike, his son Connor (whose face says it all) and Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District firefighter and engineer Erik Padilla. (Photo: me)

Ever seen Mike McGuire in showman mode? It’s a whooole thing. His first words into the mic last Saturday night were “HOT DANG!” — a phrase he would repeat dozens more times (by my count), over nearly two hours of old-school auctioneering and working the crowd.

Before night’s end, more than one event cohost and audience member would point out that this hooligan running circles around the Trentadue lawn was the same guy recently entrusted with the role of California governor for a single day — the third of July — while Gov. Newsom was politicking in D.C. and the lieutenant governor was out of town for a wedding and a funeral. Our boy Mike reportedly even signed a bill during that time — wildfire-related, of course.

His antics seemed to get the job done. Bid after bid rolled in, one as high as $20,000, for auction items like a private fine-dining experience at the firehouse in Geyserville and luxury “experiences” at famed local restaurants and hotels.

Other highlights of the event included the well-timed, crazy-low flyover of a firefighting plane, sending enough adrenaline through the crowd to kick up the bids up a notch. We also got multiple rounds of encore “Calpine kicks” from Calpine Corporation staffers — the signature dance move, I learned, of the power company that feeds off the geysers to our northeast, in the Mayacamas. The widely adored chief of the Northern Sonoma County Fire Protection District, Marshall Turbeville, also climbed onstage at one point to bust some moves alongside the senator, by popular demand.

Chief Marshall Turbeville’s daughters on the outskirts. (Photo: me)

Young bussers from 4-H. (Photo: me)

Know what else we got? Fireworks. Which felt pretty surreal, after the City of Healdsburg decided to cancel its Fourth of July fireworks show just a few weeks earlier.

Sparks flew over Trentadue’s vineyards into the night, even as everyone’s phones continued to buzz with wildfire alerts from the Watch Duty app, and as fuzzy comms chattered over the radios of the many uniformed firefighters gathered at the event — mostly pertaining to the Ridge Fire over in Lake County, they told me.

All the fireworks we didn’t get on the Fourth. (Photo: me)

Here’s some more history on the annual “Wine Country to the Rescue” fundraiser, a tradition that’s been running for more than a half-century now, from the event’s website:

In the early 1960’s the Geyserville Volunteer Firefighters were always looking for ways to raise money to keep the lights on. They started a dinner fundraiser at the firehouse. The fundraiser later grew larger than the tiny firehouse could support, the event later moved to the Villa in Healdsburg, Hoot Owl Creek, Geyser Peak Picnic Grounds, Clos du Bois and finally to its current home at Trentadue Winery.

In 2013 “The Dinner Dance” was re-branded as Wine Country to the Rescue. The event now included a silent and live auction.  As the fire departments in Northern Sonoma County began talking of consolidation, it was thought so too should our fundraiser.  While governments take a little longer to get things done, our transition was instantaneous and in 2014 Cloverdale, Geyserville, Healdsburg and Knights Valley fire departments came together to bring you Wine Country to the Rescue. 

Wine Country to the Rescue has been a tremendous success. The event has raised money to support firefighters, training, fuel reduction projects, pre-fire attack maps, public education, burn survivors and more. 

Wine Country to the Rescue now hosted at Trentadue Winery in Geyserville has become the must attend event of the summer. There is something for everyone. Our BBQ chicken and tri-tip is mouthwatering. Our Silent auction ranges from small items to great deals on wine and experiences. The live auction features items not to be missed that you will be kicking yourself for not bidding higher on. We have a live band and dancing till your feet hurt. The night is capped off with a firework show that leaves you scratching your head and thinking.....is this real life?

Someone should really look into Mike McGuire as a renewable energy source for the region. (Photo: me)

PICS OF THE DAY

Healdsburg resident Brigette Mansell took this pic at another beloved Sonoma County event two Thursdays ago, this one an annual tradition in the lower Russian River area for more than a century now: the Monte Rio Variety Show. Here’s a recap from the Press Democrat: “West Sonoma County’s Monte Rio Variety Show was a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll Thursday evening, as emcee country music star Kix Brooks led a star-studded lineup in the 113th iteration of the show. More than 1,900 people packed their lawn chairs into the Monte Rio Amphitheater and enthusiastically watched performers including folk star Livingston Taylor (brother of James Taylor), who sung the national anthem, opera singer Arturo Chacon-Cruz and comedian and musician Gary Mule Deer. The lineup is famously kept secret until performers hit the stage. ‘It was one for the history books,’ said show organizer Michele McDonell, who added that the attendance and money raised from this year’s show, produced by the Bohemian Club, exceeded last year.” (Photo: Brigette Mansell)

And a local photographer who goes by the name of Tenay got these shots at the combination taco festival and lowrider show down in Windsor a few weekends ago. “It was so crazy busy, many food stalls sold out halfway through!” she says. “I love that our state has recognized the culture and community nature of lowrider culture, and repealed the cruising bans. These cars are restored, shown and often passed down within families.” She adds that the Brazilian dancers pictured are a mom and daughter who dance with a group called Esforço San Francisco. And the mom is a member of Sonoma County’s Rollin’ Rosies Car Club, a big promoter of classic car culture. Full circle! (Photos: Tenay Creative)

OK, I’m outty — gotta go hit this protest in the plaza. It’s been a pleasure!

— Simone Wilson

About me: I was born and raised in Healdsburg, CA, and have since worked as a local journalist for publications in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City and the Middle East. I'm now a senior product manager and staff writer for the Weeklys newspaper group, including the Healdsburg Tribune and the North Bay Bohemian.

Have any feedback, questions, suggestions or corrections? Or a tip about something happening around here? Hit me up at swilson@weeklys.com.