Roundup: Veteran's Day in Peacetown
Roundup: Veteran's Day in Peacetown
Senior Center's familiar new leader, Carolers wanted, and our first non-partisan Main Street Exit Poll
Veteran’s Day was an official public holiday on Friday but many celebrated it on its usual date of November 11. VFW Gold Ridge Post 3919 invited veterans and the public to a breakfast on November 11th, calling it “a low-key event” for ”recognizing and remembering US veterans and their service.”
“I really don’t think (Veteran’s Day) gets the recognition it deserves,” said Herb Hillaker, a past commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Gold Ridge Post 3919 in Sebastopol.
“We’d like to put ourselves out of business,” he said. “The only way you can keep our organization in business is if you keep having wars.”
- from Barry Dugan’s November 9th, 2003 column in Sonona West Times & News.
Katie Davis returns to lead Senior Center
Katie Davis has returned as Executive Director of the Sebastopol Area Senior Center. Davis began working at the Senior Center in 2017 and became its Executive Director in 2020 before stepping away just over a year ago. Joan Churchill was hired to replace her but now Davis is back as Executive Director.
Board President Gary Bachelor explained the transition:
Katie Davis was the Center’s previous ED and had to leave due to some personal reasons. Katie also lived in Jenner and the drive to the center was challenging. She was respected and loved by the staff and Board. Joan Churchill was hired to fill the vacancy. A little over a year after Katie left, she had moved to Sebastopol, her personal issues had been resolved and she was available for rehire. At the time of hiring Joan, we had no idea Katie would later be available but when we learned she was, we decided to bring her back as ED. There were no performances issues with Joan.
Good luck to Katie and best wishes to Joan.
Some new singers needed for Old World Carolers
The Old World Carolers is in its 38th season this year. Described as a “quirky and independent” nondenominational a cappella choir led by Rebecca Dwan, The Old World Carolers specializes “in traditional European holiday music from medieval times through the nineteenth century.” They are recruiting new singers for the fall. “Our group is thin on singers,” Dwan said.
Dwan said that “the many beneficiaries over the years have included The Living Room, Habitat for Humanity, Sebastopol Center for the Arts (when it started), homeless shelters, animal shelters, Stewards of Slavianka, individual families in need, and most recently humanitarian aid in Ukraine.”
The Old World Carolers and other groups are part of Traditional Fun, which seeks to preserve vital traditional activities in the local community.
Here’s a video from a December 16, 2014 performance.
If you are interested, email the group at info@traditionalfun.org. They have a performance scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, 3 p.m. at Sebastopol United Methodist Church,
Silk Moon luring customers in, oh-no
Did you notice Silk Moon’s window display? It has an awesome “Little Shop of Horrors” arrangement. Owner Andrea Caren made the ceramic figure of Audrey II, the carnivorous plant.
Main Street Exit Poll
Here’s a list of stores and restaurants on Main Street that have closed or left town recently.
Contest Winner
Congrats to Anita Smith, a new paid subscriber in October. She won a gift basket as part of our Halloween subscription drive. (Thanks to Laura for organizing and delivering the basket.) Anita is one of our 598 paid subscribers.
Week of November 4th - 11th
Here are the stories we published this week in the Sebastopol Times. The “breakout story” of the week was how a wolfdog named Shadow made headlines everywhere. The other dogs must have been jealous that Shadow and his mesmerizing eyes garnered so much attention. A wolfdog on the loose surely takes one’s mind off the city’s dire financial deficit.
The El Mo in the Room
Thank you to all of our readers.