Sebastopol Town Party planned for June 18 at Ives Park
Come celebrate the 120th anniversary of the town of Sebastopol
The city of Sebastopol is throwing itself a party! The Sebastopol Town Party is on June 18 from 4 to 7 pm in Ives Park. There will be music, dancing, food trucks, and fun. This is a free event in honor of the 120th anniversary of Sebastopol becoming an official town, which happened way back in June of 1902.
Look for music from the marvelous Stella Heath with Bandjango, a wild-around-the-edges band melding French Gypsy Jazz and Chanson, New Orleans Jazz, and more. Opening for Bandjango will be hometown fiddler-extraordinaire Gabriel Wheaton and the locally grown band Bohemian Groove. The music is being organized by Sebastopol’s own Mr. Music, Jim Corbett.
There will be food from Jam's Joy Bungalow, Smokehouse BBQ, and more, and of course, participants are welcome to bring their own picnics as well to this family-oriented event. Wine and beer will be available for purchase.
In addition, the Western Sonoma County Historical Society will have a historical display about the town’s history, and Sebastopol World Friends will be doing an origami crane folding event in support of Ukraine. Several other Sebastopol nonprofits willl be on hand for the event as well. You can also see the winners of the recent Picturing Sebastopol Contest.
“Everyone is invited to come out and celebrate Sebastopol’s 120th birthday,” says Sebastopol Mayor Patrick Slayter. “A good time will be had by all.”
The party is part of a larger city initiative
The Sebastopol Town Party is part of a larger town-funded initiative called Relaunch Sebastopol, which was created to help the town recover from the economic and social ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Relaunch campaign is being spearheaded by Laura Hagar Rush (the former editor of Sonoma West Times & News, founder of the Townsy Sebastopol web app, and, yes, the author of this article), and Colleen Martell of Martell Communications, a 30-year PR veteran from Silicon Valley, who relocated to Sebastopol at the beginning of the pandemic.
Relaunch Sebastopol has three goals: 1) to create marketing campaigns to increase tourism, support local business and attract new businesses to town; 2) Improve the look and allure of Sebastopol’s shopping districts; and 3) increase community engagement through events, like the Town Party, and better communication.
On May 15, Relaunch Sebastopol launched a new tourism website for Sebastopol, visitsebastopolnow.com, and visitor-oriented Facebook, Instagram and Twitter channels (which can all be found at @visitsebastopol) to help the town compete with its larger wine country neighbors as a tourist destination.
You can find out more about the Town Party and other Relaunch activities at the Relaunch Sebastopol website, https://www.relaunchsebastopol.com/town-party.