🌱 Big B-Ball Tourney + Raven Xmas Plays + More On Anti-Vax Rally

Happy chilly Thursday, everybody! Here's everything you need to know about what's going on in town today.


First, today's weather:

Clouds in the morning, then sunny and crisp, with some wind. Patchy frost at night. High: 55 Low: 34.


Air over Healdsburg:

This is what the air over Healdsburg looked like earlier this morning. (Photo courtesy of Holly Wilson)
This is what the air over Healdsburg looked like earlier this morning. (Photo courtesy of Holly Wilson)

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Here are the top 5 stories today in Healdsburg:

  1. Healdsburg's famous wintertime REIBT event, aka the "longest running high school basketball tournament in Northern California," is underway at the high school again this year after sitting last year out for COVID. It will last through Saturday night. The Healdsburg High varsity girls team won their first game last night against Clear Lake. And the boys, who got the gold in another tournament in St. Helena last weekend, play their first REIBT game against Middletown tonight. The Press Democrat predicts both Healdsburg teams will be tough to beat — but that for the girls at least, "there shouldn’t be many easy wins for anyone in this tournament." For the first time ever, every single REIBT game will be played on the HHS campus, thanks to the "newly built auxiliary East gym," the Tribune reports. Attendees are encouraged to buy tickets ahead of time on GoFan. (GoFan & Facebook & Facebook & SoCoNews Healdsburg & Press Democrat; paywall)

  2. The big anti-vax demonstration outside Healdsburg City Hall on Monday night has caught the attention of San Francisco media. "A Healdsburg city council meeting turned into a mini-January 6 insurrection Monday, as anti-vaccine zealots stormed City Hall and forced a council meeting onto Zoom," the SFist news blog writes, adding that "proudly unvaccinated" city councilmember Skylaer Palacios has become "a cause célèbre among the covidiot death cult known as the 'medical freedom movement.'" And the KTVU news station reports that “many longtime residents resent how Palacios has become a high-profile hero for vaccine resisters." There are also a couple of long, contentious threads about the whole thing, of course, in the "What's Happening Healdsburg" Facebook group, if you care to dive in. (SFist & KTVU & CBS San Francisco & Facebook & Facebook)

  3. Tony Hawk, world's most famous skateboarder, spent a much-publicized Sunday in Healdsburg last weekend. First, he hit the "empty, wet" Healdsburg skate park for a "morning stretch," where he posted an Instagram video of himself wheeling around. Then he reportedly stopped at MacRostie Winery & Vineyards for a wine tasting and "visited The Harris Gallery Art & Wine Collection with 16 members of his production and office team," where he learned to saber a bottle of bubbly and managed to "kickflip his cork." While he was at the gallery, according to the owners, a "local skater crew" cruised by chanting “The Hawk is in town!” and "descended into a mayhem of kickflips and tricks to show him their skills." Graciously, Tony took some pics with them and signed their skateboards. Then he had dinner at SingleThread. The end. (Instagram & Press Democrat; paywall)

  4. Annemarie Bucher, matriarch and co-founder of the historic Bucher Farms operation out Westside Road, "passed away peacefully at her home in Healdsburg" last weekend at age 88. She was an immigrant from Switzerland who, along with her husband Joe, "realized their dream of starting a dairy farm" in the late 1950s on a few hundred acres at the edge of Healdsburg. It has since grown into a thriving farm for Clover with 700 milk cows — most of them "descendants of the original 50 cows" — as well as a vineyard and winery. Their son John runs it now. "While serving in many roles including head bookkeeper for the farm for many decades, Annemarie also sewed beautiful clothing for numerous customers," her obituary says. The funeral will be held Dec. 16 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. R.I.P. (Legacy.com & Bucher)

  5. There are two old-fashioned "Christmas classics" opening this weekend at the Raven Theater downtown. They're both very meta! The first, "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play," starting tonight, is described as "a holiday tradition presented as a 1946 live radio broadcast with five actors playing more than 40 roles, live sound effects and even a few catchy commercial jingles." And the second, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," opens tomorrow night. The gist: "A couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids — probably the most inventively awful kids in history." (Inbox & Pacific Sun)


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Healdsburg pic of the day:

Healdsburg resident Krista Catelani took this sunset pic in Dry Creek Valley, at her "family’s old vine zin vineyard," on the day after Thanksgiving. (Photo courtesy of Krista Catelani)
Healdsburg resident Krista Catelani took this sunset pic in Dry Creek Valley, at her "family’s old vine zin vineyard," on the day after Thanksgiving. (Photo courtesy of Krista Catelani)

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Today in Healdsburg:

  • Corazón Healdsburg Savings & Budgeting Workshop, Feat. $100 Gift From Redwood Credit Union (Call for time)

  • Mommy & Me Culinary Class at Healdsburg Community Center (9:30-10:30AM)

  • Exchange Bank Business Insight Webinar on Retirement Solutions (10-11AM)

  • West Side Elementary School Winter Market at Felta School House (1-4PM)

  • "Silent Days in Advent" Quiet Retreat at Bishop's Ranch (Dec. 9-12, 4PM)

  • "Christmas at Nightfall" at Trattore Farms & Dry Creek Olive Company, Feat. Wine, Food & Holiday Shopping (6-8:30PM)

  • Opening Night of "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play" at the Raven Theater (7:30PM)

  • REIBT: Healdsburg High School Boys Basketball Game Vs. Middletown at HHS Robinson Gym (8PM)


From my notebook:

  • If you see start to see flocks of fake flamingos begin to appear in Healdsburg yards, that's likely the annual fundraising efforts of local nonprofit "Active 20-30 Club of Healdsburg #205." If you donate at least $50 toward their 2021 Kids Christmas Carnival, they'll "cover the yard of your choice with holiday flamingos as a fun surprise." (Facebook)

  • The latest crusade of Healdsburg's state senator, Mike McGuire? Ease taxes on local cannabis growers. (North Bay Business Journal)

  • The Healdsburg Beer Company just won a bronze medal in the stout/porter category at the Brussels Beer Challenge, for their "Robust Porter." In a celebratory post on Facebook, the company writes: "The little nanobrewery that could is now world-wide. Belgium! We medled in freaking Belgium!" (Facebook & American Craft Beer)

  • The Press Democrat is creating a crowdsourced map of local houses decked out in holiday lights this season. Here's how to add yours to the map. (Press Democrat; paywall)

  • There's a great thread going in the "You Know You're from Healdsburg, CA if..." Facebook group about the good old days when "it didn't matter where you drove up to the river, you could access it." One neighbor laments: "Now every old way in is fenced off and private property." (Facebook)


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Now you're in the loop. See you all tomorrow for another update!

Simone Wilson

About me: I was born and raised in Healdsburg, CA, where I was the editor of the Healdsburg High School Hound's Bark. I have since worked as a local journalist for publications in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York City and the Middle East. I'm currently a senior product manager for Patch.

This article originally appeared on the Healdsburg Patch