Is this Sebastopol Walks’ last ramble?
After 17 years, the group’s organizers are retiring. Who will volunteer to take their place?
Dear patient readers: We realize this is your third email from us today, and we apologize for that. We were going to send this on Saturday morning, but thought that wouldn’t give you enough time to participate in this final Sebastopol Walk if you were so inclined. So we are sending this now, and we will not be posting anything tomorrow.
For 17 years—with a break for COVID—a small group of volunteers has put on more than 170 free public walks in and around Sebastopol. The Sebastopol Walk on Saturday, Nov. 22, marks the group’s final walk. Like all their walks (or most of them), it will start in the downtown plaza at 9 am.
Sebastopol Walks got its start with a book of the same name by Richard Nichols, who started the walking program with former city councilperson Sarah Gurney.
“In 2008, with the first edition of his ‘booklet’ Sebastopol Walks, Richard Nichols invited the City Council to take a walking tour of the town with him,” Gurney remembers. “That walk was so much fun that I suggested to Richard we lead walks every month—never contemplating that we’d go on for so long.”
“The main thing—the whole idea of it—was to get people out of their cars and learn about the town,” Nichols said.
He said the walks were much longer when the group first started out.
“We would walk to Forestville and take the bus back, or I’d take them on walks around town, like six or seven or eight miles,” Nichols said. “But things started to evolve, and it got to be more thematic, so there was less walking—like two or three miles—and more stops along the way.”
“We developed a stable of leaders who kept creating new routes, emphasizing trees, photography, art, development controversies and opportunities, music, sculpture, architecture, Little Free Libraries, and more,” Gurney said. “Neysa Hinton pulled together “Iwalk2eat,” a popular morning restaurant crawl.”
Simon Lowings, who has been in charge of finding walk leaders for various themes, provided this list of memorable walks:
laguna walks, including history and native plant restoration
walks to front yard vegetable gardens
history walks around town
public art walks
walks to controversial buildings around town
a spiritual walk involving a witch and a backyard Buddhist temple
walks to the various peace poles around town
acorns and oak trees in Ragle Ranch
“One of my favorite walks was the music walk where we met Mr. Music and did some drumming and singing in the plaza before visiting various bands around town,” Lowings said.
Nichols said that over the years, the group has developed an email list of about 700 people. The walks are well-attended, drawing between 15 to 45 people, sometimes more.
“Despite our efforts to keep it casual and low tech, we kept expanding, once drawing 90-plus people for a Garden Walk,” Gurney said. “The City offered some publicity, with banners on the [downtown] gazebo (the traditional starting point) and coverage in the city newsletter. Thankfully, the City also sponsored each year, providing insurance coverage.”
The Sebastopol Walks team split up the tasks involved in coordinating the walks. Lowings found the walk leaders; first Kathy Oetinger and then Gary Morgret did graphics and flier production; Nichols managed the email list and flier distribution; and Gurney, who was on the Sebastopol City Council for 18 years, was the group’s City liaison.
All of these volunteers are hanging up their spurs after tomorrow’s walk, which the official flyer describes this way: “For the final walk, we will be exploring some of the many locations we’ve visited in the past. We’ll stop at Libby Park for a picnic. Bring your own brown bag lunch and maybe some goodies (chocolate, cookies) to share. There will be grateful thanks to the many leaders who have organized such fun, insightful, and educational walks—and to all the walkers who turned out to celebrate Sebastopol.”
The flyer also noted, “Unless some folks step up to coordinate the walks and provide the newsletters, November will be the last walk. If you would like to see the walks continue and are interested in volunteering, please contact Simon at simonlowings@gmail.com. We will be happy to help you get oriented.”
When I spoke with Nichols on Wednesday, he said several people had reached out to them already, including Mayor Stephen Zollman, so fingers crossed, a new Sebastopol Walks team may be in the works.
The November Sebastopol Walk happens on Saturday Nov. 22. Meet the group at 9 am at the downtown plaza. Walk to Libby Park and enjoy your lunch (BYO). Walk or bus back to the downtown plaza.
There have been so many wonderful walks over the 10+ years I’ve have been doing them. Was so sad when I heard they were ending. But hopefully somehow they will be back. I’ve got my fingers crossed. Am planning to walk tomorrow!