Grassroots Graton by Heather Granahan - May 2017
Just down the way we have a local treasure of a working museum, The
Great for geezers and wee ones both, one can watch live blacksmiths shaping white hot steel, see the sawyer “ride” the huge circular blade through the enormous logs. Stroll the historic garden and museum of artifacts, go under the mill to see the workings, and check out the old toolhouses and the paycheck office. Fresh, reasonably priced lunch is available near the large picnic area, and sometimes you’ll catch a draft horse demo while you eat. Admission is free (donations welcome). Being a popular destination for car clubs and motorcycle rides often makes the parking lot part of the show. Just be sure and spare your dog the startling loud steam whistles and leave it home – really. No Fidos allowed.
The Mill is only open 4 weekends a year plus a few school tour only days.May 6-7th is the opener, followed byJune 17-18th, Sept. 16-17th and Oct. 14-15th. INFO:www.sturgeonsmill.com
TOTS and Tourists
Spring is finally allowing us to take breaths between rains and enjoy our blindingly green hills, and run errands without wondering if we will have to brave flooded roads or come home to the power out — again. It also heralds the start of tourist season. The downtown street of Graton is wall-to-wall cars on weekends and our bouquet of great eateries is buzzing with hungry visitors. Instead of floods, we contend with slow, curious drivers (who have hopefully been spitting tastes as they tour the wineries).
It is easy to lose patience as we barrel down the local roads, threading the unending potholes and patches with jaded practice. We mutter about the new BMW in front of us, creeping to avoid the kidney-rattling goat paths the County of Sonoma has neglected to fix for years and the storms of 2017 have finished off with relish.
Stress can be a killer, so let me add a few years to your life by pointing out the good these well-wheeled folks do for us. They spend almost $400 a day, about half on lodging. With only 9 incorporated cites, most of the county is unincorporated ; much of the greenbacks floating from those chariots of leisure are landing in our smaller communities. At around $14M and rising for unincorporated areas alone, (Transient Occupancy Tax) TOT ain’t peanuts. It’s great that the biggest spends of these funds goes to maintenance of our Regional Parks, promoting more tourism and into the General Fund. Some of it really should go to a Locals Vehicular Repair fund; we are paying a stiff unrecognized “tax” for living in the rural parts of the county. Our battered suspensions and the visitors will both be grateful for that redirection of cash.
Unincorporated Arts
One of the legions of former film students, I was intrigued to hear about the new West County Film Society. They’re about to hold their second filmmaker’s meet-up and screening at the OCA, Occidental Center for the Arts and it looks like a good moment for some of us old film buffs and splicers to come out of the hills. The film ‘NOW’ will be screened, followed by networking and a discussion about how it was to make a micro-budget feature film with no crew in ten days - on a twenty-two foot sailboat in the middle of the Hudson River.
‘NOW’ is the narrative debut of Malachi Roth who also made “Limon: A Life Beyond Words” about the dancer Jose Limon. He will be on hand to answer questions and discuss the difficulty of making Now. Venture west a few miles and meet me Friday, May 19th 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
