show menu

Sebastappeal By Sarah Glade Gurney - December 2019

New Look and Feel for SEB’s Downtown this Holiday Season

Thanks to the advocacy of our Economic Vitality Group, Sebastopol’s Main Street welcomes all shoppers this 2019 holiday season. Shoppers will not need to worry, hurry, and scurry!

PARKING in the downtown district on city streets will be UNLIMITED and FREE. Holiday shoppers can avail themselves of the opportunity, from November 15, 2019, to January 5, 2020, because the City Council has unanimously lifted the one-hour time restriction. Shoppers can linger and enjoy the offerings of our small town.

“This holiday season, come escape the hustle and bustle of malls and big-box stores and enjoy shopping at local Sebastopol businesses. Shop your favorites! Many have been on Main Street for more than 25 years, in addition to the newer retail stores and restaurants!” enthuses Rei Blazer, President of the Sebastopol Downtown Association.

Rei continues, “Over 40 retail stores and 35 cafes and eateries! We invite you to enjoy time shopping with friends, doing a little wine tasking, catching an evening theater performance, all the while creating your joyous holiday memories.”

Businesses are extending their hours to coincide with the unlimited parking.

Silk Moon and Funk and Flash will stay open beyond regular hours (respectively 6 and 7 pm/ 8pm on Friday and Saturday) as long as they have customers. (Hey, keep those doors open!)

Indigo Demin Bar will close later, at 7 pm mid-month, then 8 pm the week before the holiday.

Cultivate Home will open early at 9 am, instead of 10 am, as well as stay open on Christmas Eve until 4 pm.

Milk and Honey will go to 7 pm, then push to 8 pm the last week before the 25th.

Copperfield’s Books will keep the lights on for readers during December from 9 am to 9 pm, and until 5 pm on Christmas Eve for last minute shoppers.

Create It! (next to the award-winning Toyworks) will be open later on weekend days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Please check the businesses’ Facebook pages and websites to confirm. AND remember, if the street parking is full, SEB has free municipal parking lots at the Library/Senior Center just one block west of downtown, at Burnett Street between S. Main and Petaluma in the “heart of downtown,” and at the CVS property, only a block away.

In the Heart of Downtown at The Plaza

On December 5, the Chamber of Commerce will light the official TREE on The Plaza and provide holiday festivities from 5 to 8 pm. There will be carriage rides, children’s crafts, music and dance. SANTA arrives by FIRE TRUCK at 7 pm. “Enjoy hot chocolate, coffee, cider, and popcorn, and kick off your holiday season!” invites Linda Collins, Executive Director.

2019 in Closing

Heartfelt thanks from our community to all of the emergency responders, public works staff, and volunteers who helped us survive the flooding in February and the fire in October. We owe our safety to all of you! With love, respect, and gratitude.

2020 Looking Ahead

The Friendship Dinner for Sebastopol World Friends (SWF) was postponed due to the Kincade fire and will be rescheduled to some time in January 2020. Stay alert for the new date. Please support this long-standing community organization. “Where Sushi Meets Borsch,” the dinner event and silent auction, are intended to benefit our friends in Takeo City who were impacted by the severe flooding that devasted their city last Fall.

SWF is looking for a new date in January 2020, to provide food, entertainment, and the opportunity for world-wide connection, at the Enmanji Buddhist Temple Memorial Hall, 1200 Gravenstein Hwy. South.

We've moved our commenting system to Disqus, a widely used community engagement tool that you may already be using on other websites. If you're a registered Disqus user, your account will work on the Gazette as well. If you'd like to sign up to comment, visit https://disqus.com/profile/signup/.
Show Comment