Hikers explore the natural beauty of Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen.

Students from sixth through eighth grades can explore the grounds of Jack London State Historic Park as well as their creative writing skills during a summer camp at the author-adventurer’s Beauty Ranch in Glen Ellen.

Jack’s Camp will include eco-friendly arts and crafts activities and games, with themed hikes exploring the 20 miles of trails within the scenic 1,400-acre park.

The camp runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily from June 10 to 14 at the park, 2400 London Ranch Road. Whole Foods Market in Sonoma provides a nutritious lunch each day for the campers.

Students also will visit the park’s historic buildings and gather for creative writing instruction.

The fee is $100, with enrollment limited to 20 students.

For information or reservations, visit jacklondonpark.com or  call 938-5216.

Suzanna Bon, number 100 at left front, competing in Poland in September. (Photo by Maurizio Crispi – Ultramaratone Maratone e Dintorni)

By DIANNE REBER HART / Sonoma Valley Correspondent

Ultrarunner Suzanna Bon doesn’t have a personal trainer, a coach or a sponsor – just the discipline and drive of a champion athlete.

Last weekend the 48-year-old mother of three ran to her most impressive finish yet, clocking 146.7 miles in the World 24-Hour Championships in the Netherlands.

It was a personal best for Bon, who earned an individual bronze medal and a team gold in the women’s division. She finished 22^nd overall from the field of 261 international runners.

The International Association of Ultrarunners, which organized the run, posted on its website that Bon was “running perhaps the steadiest race of any competitor in the field.”

Americans dominated the race, which keeps runners on track for 24 hours in an overnight competition through the picturesque town of Steenbergen.

Despite rain showers, thunderstorms and hail during much of the night, both the U.S. men’s and women’s three-member teams earned first-place finishes.

Bon exceeded her record 143.5 miles from last year’s 24-hour championships in Poland and moved up from her fifth-place women’s finish. She first competed in the international race in 2010, running 125 miles for a fourth-place team finish. (The race was cancelled in 2011.)

Bon runs for the pure joy of the sport, which offers little more than personal fulfillment for winning. There are no Olympic Games, Wheaties boxes, endorsement deals or other payoffs for ultrarunners.

Suzanna Bon in the last hour of the World 24-Hour Championships last weekend in the Netherlands. (Photo by Maurizio Crispi – Ultramaratone Maratone e Dintorni)

“It’s not a great spectator sport,” says Bon. “It’s kind of a little niche genre of running.”

Bon has “just always kind of ran” but never joined her high school or college track teams. She didn’t become a competitive runner until her mid-30s.

“Then it took on a different meaning,” Bon says. “It took on another outlet.”

A former elementary schoolteacher and Peace Corps volunteer to Honduras, Bon ran her first marathon after the birth of her third child, Eleanor, now 13.

Eleanor and her siblings, Ian, 15, and Grace, 18, have made it a habit to send little trinkets as good luck charms for their mom’s races. Bon has competed in more than 50 runs, including some that offer prestige just in qualifying.

Ultrarunning magazine ranks Bon among the top 10 American ultrarunning women in the country.

Marathons are a mere 26.2 miles compared to the longer 24-hour, 50km, 100km, 50-mile and 100-mile runs Bon favors. She repeatedly is a top finisher, pushing her petite 5-foot, 1-inch, 100-pound frame to its maximum potential.

“I love it. I feel like I’m the luckiest person when I’m out there,” Bon says.

She competes in races with level tracks and those with grueling terrain and challenging elevation gains like the 50-mile Tahoe Rim Trail and the Western States 100-mile endurance run in Squaw Valley.

Bon wears Drymax socks that repel moisture and prevent blisters and races in $160 Hoka running shoes, which she replaces each year. She can afford them, she jokes, “Because I don’t buy Jimmy Choos (designer shoes).”

Sometimes she takes her iPod along for 24-hour runs, listening to a mix of ’70s rock and easy-listening tunes. Bonnie Raitt’s “I Will Not be Broken” is a favorite.

Bon pays her own expenses, sometimes getting a few hundred dollars in travel grants from racing organizations.

Among her many championship finishes was the 100-mile H.U.R.T. endurance race in Hawaii in 2008. The course was set through a semi-tropical rain forest over narrow trails with roots, rocks, puddles, mud wallows, exposed ridges and 20 stream crossings.

She took fifth-place overall and was the top women’s finisher in the H.U.R.T. competition rated “very difficult” for “adventurous and well-prepared” athletes.

Closer to home, Bon won her first 24-hour run at the San Francisco One Day in 2009 with a 134.7-mile victory. Only one male runner clocked more miles than Bon.

Team USA member Suzanna Bon during the awards ceremony sponsored by the International Association of Ultrarunners. She took a team gold and a personal bronze for her 146.7-mile finish in the Netherlands. (Photo by Maurizio Crispi – Ultramaratone Maratone e Dintorni)

Bon travels from her Boyes Springs home with her greatest cheerleader and “main crew person,” her husband, Sam Bon. He monitors her progress and mileage pacing, counts calories, watches her sweat rate and hydration and offers support and encouragement.

The runner says there’s mental preparation right along with the physical training.

“The day before a race I really get into a mental zone,” Bon says. “I get my head in a place of focus and quiet. It’s not easy.”

Bon is grateful she’s in top physical condition but admits hard work, discipline and rigorous training keep her ahead of the crowd.

She avoids bread and sweets, eats plenty of protein and “mountains of vegetables,” consuming “a lot of calories at the end of the day but they’re fuel calories, not junk calories.”

On occasion, she’ll allow herself the indulgence of a beer.

When she isn’t training for a race, Bon runs about 60 miles a week. During peak training periods, she doubles her distance, often running for four or five hours after her children head to school.

Although she enjoys training with fellow ultrarunners on occasion, she insists she doesn’t get bored running by herself.

“It’s a little bit of therapy. I love being outside, I love being outdoors,” Bon says. “I never go into a dark place. It feeds my soul. It’s really something I’ve embraced and I never dread.”

The title of Bruce Springsteen’s signature song, “Born to Run,” could apply to Bon.

“I chalk it up to great genetics. My parents have all their original parts,” she quips.

She combats racing pains and fatigue by having an astute awareness of her body.

“You have to mentally be willing to deal with the pain and discomfort,” Bon says.

When she’s on a competitive track or trail, Bon pushes through. She knows when to stop for quick energy breaks to replenish.

“Over the years I’ve tried different approaches,” she says. “My approach is to keep running as much as possible.”

There are aid stations along the way if needed, and she knows her husband is there to guide and support her. Her mother, Elizabeth Kemp, traveled from Sonoma to both Poland and the Netherlands to cheer for her daughter.

Bon says her family and friends provide a crucial support system.

“They afford me the freedom of flexibility,” she says. “This is my passion.”

Girl Scouts conduct a flag ceremony during the opening program at the Court of Awards. (Photos courtesy of Sonoma Girl Scouts)

Sonoma Girl Scouts held its annual Court of Awards Monday to recognize girls, leaders and business and community partners for another outstanding year of Girl Scouting in Sonoma Valley.

Volunteers honored Jessa Rank for her tireless and inspiring leadership as director of Service Unit 103, which oversees the Girl Scout program throughout the valley. More than 200 girls are enrolled in the program from kindergarten through high school.

Those recognized were:

Five years of membership: Shauna Aubin, Annabel Crews, Linn Howard, Renea Magnani, Marti Murray

Five years of volunteer service: Annabel Crews, Julanne Lorimor, Renea Magnani, Darcy McNairy Lisa Ziganti

Rookie of the Year: Angie Bartholmeau

Green Angel: Nona Gamble and Courteney Morgan

Family of the Year: The Aubin Family

Volunteer of Excellence: Linn Howard and Marti Murray

Father of the Year: Phil Barmore and Shannon Howard

Perfect Attendance at Scout Shouts: Sophie Lindner, Ruby-Sue Badgley, Brylee Aubin, Morgan Badgley, Sydney Gamble, Campbell Rolston, Keira O’Connell, Marina Trotta and Samantha Murray

A Brownie checks out the many patches she earned during the Girl Scout year.

Service Unit Leadership Team:

Jessa Rank, Service Unit Director

Jen Rochlin, Treasurer

Annabel Crews, Registrar

Darcy McNairy, Recruitment Coordinator/Day Camp Director

Carol Short, Adult Development/Learning Facilitator

Annabel Crews, Fall Products and Cookie Director

Shauna Aubin, Nut Cupboard

Linn Howard, Cookie Cupboard

Lani Gullotta, Historian

Dianne Hart, World Thinking Day

Tali Mallory, Advisor

DeDe Rank, Community Development Director

Girl Scout Leaders:

Troop 10102: Annabel Crews and Marin Brown

Troop 10124: Kesa Koida and Bree Curotto

Troop 10130: Charo Prater-White and Lani Gullotta

Troop 10882: Tina Cox and Mary Jane Broderick

Troop 10095: Tina Grippi, Cookie Jones and Tita Carr

Troop 10112: Nona Gamble, Shauna Aubin and Sharon Johnston

Troop 10087: Beth Carter, Paula Vega and Angie Kruljac

Troop 10117: Courteney Morgan and Leslie Nicholson

Troop 10122: Angie Bartholomeau

Troop 10107: Monica Badgley and Keri Halasz

Troop 10240: Marti Murray and Margie Barmore

Troop 10223: Lisa Ziganti, Lizz Earnest and Teresa Campbell

Troop 10141: Darcy McNairy and Julanne Lorimor

Troop 10878: Joelynn McIntosh

Troop 10032: Dianne Hart

Troop 10063: Jill Valavanis and Cindy Kenton

Troop 10406: Jessa Rank, Kim Sevialla, Bethany Rank and Dianne Rank

Community and Business Partners:

Sonoma Valley Unified School District, Sassarini Elementary, Altimira Middle School, Dunbar Elementary, El Verano Elementary, Prestwood Elementary, Sonoma Charter School, Woodland Star Charter School, Broadway Market, Chase Bank, Church of the Nazarene, City of Sonoma, CVS, Empire Waste Management, Finnish American Home Association, Flag Emporium, Friedman’s Home Improvement, Glen Ellen Village Market, Glen Ellen Village Fair, Hanna Boys Center, Lucky, Mary’s Pizza Shack, The Press Democrat, Safeway, Sebastiani Winery, Sonoma Chevrolet, Sonoma Garbage, Sonoma Index-Tribune, Sonoma Market, Sonoma Materials, Inc., Sonoma United Methodist Church, Sonoma Valley Fire & Rescue Authority, Sonoma Valley Sun, St Francis of Solano, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Staples, Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival, Wells Fargo, Westamerica Bank, Whole Foods, Wine Country Sanitary, North Bay Corp.; Santa Rosa Recycling & Collection, Vintage Kennel, Napa High Dance Team, Sonoma Ecology Center, Sonoma County Water Agency, Beanstalk Energy, Art Escape, Sonoma Police Dept., The Asram, Basque Boulangerie and Brocco’s Old Barn.

For more information about the Girl Scout program in Sonoma Valley, visit SonomaGirlScouts.com or call 205-1233.

Bargain hunters and bookworms become one at the Friends of Sonoma Valley Library book sale. Browsers can find a wide range of topics and titles, with students from preschool through high school invited to select one free book. The sale runs from 3:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday (May 15), 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday (May 16 and 17) and 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday (May 18). The library is located at 755 W. Napa St. Information: 996-5217.

Friends and co-workers of Richard Piskulic present a pasta dinner and concert to help raise funds for his attorney fees stemming from an unfiled case. The benefit is Friday (May 17) at the Sonoma Moose Lodge, 20580 Broadway. Tim Curley and the Corkpullers open at 4 p.m., followed by singer Bob Gossett. Sue Albano and Friends perform at 6 p.m., with reggae band Midnight Sun Massive on stage from 8-11 p.m. Emcee and musician Curtis Duff also will perform. Katie White is the event chef. Tickets: $20 at the door or from brownpapertickets.com.

Students from Germany, Indonesia and Thailand will present “My AFS Story” from 6:30-9 p.m. Friday (May 17) at Vintage House, 364 First St. E. They’ll discuss their experiences as exchange students in the Bay Area. Several students from Sonoma who will be going to Lapland and Peru also will participate. AFS currently is seeking a host family for a student from Karachi, Pakistan who is on a full-ride scholarship from the State Department of Education. Information and event reservations: jeanmcquady@gmail.com or 292-1128. Pizza, soft drinks and wine will be served.

Gabe Jackson of The Beverage People shares beer-making tips in a new, two-day class at the Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St. Beginning Home Brewing meets from 1-4 p.m. Saturday (May 18) and May 25. Students will learn by demonstration with a five-gallon batch of partial-mash beer and home brewing equipment. Fee: $75 includes extensive handouts and Byron Burch’s book, “Brewing Quality Beers.” Students must be 21 or older. Registration: sonomacommunitycenter.org or 938-4626, ext. 1.

Enjoy Asian-inspired cuisine, sip cocktails, listen to jazz and tour the grounds of Quarryhill Botanical Garden blooming with dogwoods, irises and rhododendrons, and all for a good cause. The garden presents its Wild Collections, Expeditions for Education fundraiser from 5:30-8 p.m. Saturday (May 18) at Quarryhill, 12841 Hwy. 12, Glen Ellen. Proceeds benefit the garden’s on-site science education program for Sonoma County grade-school students. Guest speaker Dr. Peter Raven, a world-renowned botanist, will discuss the importance of educating children about nature. Tickets: $145 at 996-3166 or quarryhillbg.org.

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry will sign autographs and pose for photos during the Sonoma Little League Carnival on Sunday (May 19) at Hughes and Teeter fields on the 100 block of First Street East. The fun begins at 11 a.m. with jump structures, a dunk tank, a rock wall, a cake walk, face painting with Popo the clown, raffles and numerous games and sports challenges. Barbecued food, cotton candy and snacks will be sold. Proceeds go toward new scoreboards and equipment. Tickets, sold at the gate, are $1 each or 25 for $20. Wristbands are $20. Information: sonomalittleleague.com.

Ed Pedroncelli stands at the old Kenwood Depot. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)

By DIANNE REBER HART  / Sonoma Valley Correspondent

Eighty-year-old Kenwood native Ed Pedroncelli was just a toddler when trains rolled through his hometown but he vividly recalls the final days of the railroad, which speculators hoped would turn the quiet village into a boom town.

Kenwood never became the bustling train town developers envisioned but the railway left locals with colorful memories of an era before Highway 12 wove through the landscape of the rural community.

While Kenwood certainly grew when the Santa Rosa & Carquinez Railroad made regular stops at the Kenwood Depot from 1888 to 1934, fewer people bought lots and acreage than expected. Today the bucolic wine country destination has a population of about 1,500 residents.

“It would have brought in more money but I don’t know how the people would like that now,” says Pedroncelli, whose family owned a 280-acre ranch and vineyard at the time and several businesses near the train station, including the Kenwood Hotel that hosted tourists and investors from faraway San Francisco.

But which came first, the town or the depot? It’s the classic chicken-and-egg question with a twist.

After extensive research, Kenwood historian Dee Sand found the answer, which she shares in her book, “Kenwood Yesterday and Today,” published more than 40 years ago.

“The town more or less developed around the railroad and depot,” says Sand, 81, who got first-hand accounts of the era by interviewing Kenwood’s “old-timers” back in 1969 and ’70.

She spoke to many who were born and raised in the tiny town, some with streets named for their families and one with a wine legacy dating to 1904, Arthur “Big Boy” Kunde, whose family is now in its fifth generation of winemaking in Kenwood.

Sand outlines a vibrant past in an area long known for its therapeutic springs, with natural beauty extending to two mountains, Bennett to the west of town, Sugarloaf Ridge to the northeast.

Originally called Los Guilicos and then South Los Guilicos for the Mexican land grant of its earlier days, the town name changed to Kenwood in the late 1800s when townspeople – some who arrived with the trains – complained that the name was too hard to say and spell.

Doug Offenbacher, a Kenwood Community Club board member who currently is researching the history of the Kenwood Depot, credits the railroad with the town’s development.

“If it weren’t for the railroad, Kenwood wouldn’t exist,” he says.

Offenbacher, 68, found that railroad barons like Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker of the “Big Four” were behind the rail line, the depot and the town development, using a far more popular citizen as their “front man,” Mark McDonald.

McDonald was a prominent civic leader of early Santa Rosa whose holdings included orchards and fruit packing plants in Sonoma County. He wanted an efficient way to ship his perishable goods to the East Coast, so approached his wealthy friends for assistance.

The well-respected and highly trusted McDonald was able to secure rights-of-way for the project.

“The father of Kenwood in my opinion is Mark McDonald,” Offenbacher says.

In 1887, a year before the railroad service was scheduled, the Sonoma Land & Improvement Co. laid out lots for potential buyers. A local pioneer, N.W. Griswold, was president of the land company, someone Offenbacher suspects was Crocker’s “puppet” to make the project prosper.

“Crocker was behind everything. He made everything look like it was spontaneous but it was all laid out in advance,” Offenbacher says. “He was a brilliant man but he was a jerk.”

The Kenwood Depot, with its Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, was built of locally quarried basalt for $11,500 – a showcase among the modest wooden train stations of the time. Today it is an historic landmark.

“It was created to be the centerpiece for the town,” Offenbacher says. “It symbolized what the developers wanted Kenwood to be at that time.”

Near its completion, the railroad was acquired by Southern Pacific as the Sonoma Valley Line. The depot became central Sonoma Valley’s primary railroad station, with four daily trains coming to town during its heyday.

Town lots sold for $50 to $150 each. Valley land was offered between $100 and $200 per acre. Nearby businesses flourished: a general store, blacksmith shop, ice cream parlor, candy shop, saloon, butcher shop, hotels and resorts.

“The whole town would gather at the depot or the store when the evening train was due to find out what was going on in town and the outside world,” Sand wrote of the era.

Ultimately, though, the invention of the automobile drove train service right out of town. With improved roadways and motorists now abandoning the railroads, the line was discontinued in 1934.

Kenwood never evolved the way developers hoped.

“It did sell, it just didn’t sell anywhere near the way they expected. It wasn’t the boom town they wanted it to be,” Offenbacher says.

By 1942 the tracks were torn up and the once bustling depot was vacant.

Pedroncelli remembers prying up wooden railroad ties with his father, loading them in the family’s 1929 Model A flatbed dump truck and using them for fencing at their Nelligan Road ranch. They paid 10 cents per tie, a bargain back then.

Meanwhile, the depot sat empty for six years until Agnes Morton, a member of the Kenwood Improvement Club, convinced the railroad company to sell the abandoned building for the good of the community – reportedly for $10.

“It was just a token thing,” Sand says. “She convinced the businessmen it would be very good for public relations.”

It worked.

“Everything went on there,” Pedroncelli recalls.

He remembers gathering at the depot in the mid 1940s for his Dunbar School graduation celebration. His three-mile walk to school had included a precarious daily shortcut along the railroad trestle over Calabazas Creek.

Today only memories remain of the railroad line but the Kenwood Depot continues as a gathering spot for the community, just as Morton promised. The Kenwood Community Club manages and maintains the historic building, now used for community events and rented for private gatherings.

At 125 years old, it’s a well-preserved pillar of Kenwood history.

Read about key stops along those early day Sonoma County roads in the special May 12 issue of Towns:

Santa Rosa’s Cloverleaf Ranch

Windsor’s roadhouse with a reputation and Mark West market

Cotati’s Inn of the Beginning

Cloverdale’s barnside medical advertisement

Geyserville’s Pastori Winery

Petaluma’s Poehlmann Hatchery and Cinnabar Theater

Penngrove’s ‘Electric Hatchery’

Guerneville’s former Murphy’s Guest Ranch

Stewarts Point to Point Reyes Station: The winding legacy of Highway 1

Owen Tuttle out on a biking excursion.

The award was announced in time for the 19th annual Bay Area-wide Bike to Work Day on May 9th. Bike commuter awards were given to one person in each of the Bay Area’s nine counties through a program of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

See photos from this year’s Bike to Work Day here

“Commuting to work by bike has given me a wonderful sense of well being, both physical and mental,” says Tuttle, who rides three miles to work from his rural east Sonoma home.

His route includes country roads, the bike path and city streets. He typically stops by Homegrown Baking for coffee. Tuttle leaves home early enough that he arrives at the high school on Broadway around 6 a.m.

“I often see deer or owls and once in a while I’ll see a fox, often right in town,” the bicyclist said. “I’m very awake and my body is warmed up, with blood flowing and ready to go.”

Tuttle has been commuting to work by bike for the last nine years. He pedals through heat and rain, wearing protective gear for inclement weather.

What started as a pursuit of fitness soon turned into a full-blown appreciation for everything that bike commuting has to offer.

“The physical fitness part is still there,” says Tuttle, “but the ‘right brain’ response to an early bike ride is intense.”

Tuttle commutes on a  “very hip” hybrid Trek 7.7 FX.

His afternoon ride home gives the teacher down time to reflect on the day’s lessons.

Tuttle plans to assemble a plein air set to take along with him on this summer’s rides so he can draw and paint Sonoma Valley.

Bike Commuter of the Year recipients are recognized for their dedication to riding their bike for everyday transportation. Bicycling groups in each county chose the winners from submitted nominations.

Each honoree receives a set of Revolights for their commute.

Several events celebrating Bike to Work Day are planned today throughout Sonoma County.

The Epicurean Connection at 122 W. Napa St. will offer free cheese, apple cider and music from 3 to 5 p.m.

Cyclists are invited to meet at 5:15 p.m. at Sonoma Valley Cyclery, 20091 Broadway, for a bicycle tour of the Sonoma Plaza. A party follows until 7:30 p.m. with food and beverages, massages, jazz music and more.

For maps and information, visit bikesonoma.org.

Jason Sutter, the new principal, has a background in both education and volunteerism. He is a 16-year resident of Sonoma Valley.

Sutter has served as principal of McNear Elementary School in Petaluma since the fall of 2009. He began his career in education as a classroom teacher at Bel Aire School in Napa.

Sutter also spent eight years as the technology coordinator for the California Technology Assistance Project, serving seven counties throughout the Bay Area.

He has coached Little League and Babe Ruth baseball, soccer and softball. He and his wife, Stefanie, have four school-age children.

“Jason Sutter is well-versed in 21st century classroom practices,” stated Sonoma Valley Unified School District Superintendent Louann Carlomagno in her letter to school families announcing Sutter’s selection as principal.

“He exhibits great depth and enthusiasm for effective teaching and learning. We are thrilled to welcome him to Prestwood.”

Sutter earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in educational leadership at Sonoma State University. He possesses an administrative services credential and a multiple subject teaching credential.

Sutter and his family will attend the district’s June 11 school board meeting for his formal approval and welcome.

Sutter succeeds Principal Beth Wolk, who resigned after eight years at the campus.

Prestwood School is a kindergarten to fifth-grade campus with some 460 students. It is located in east Sonoma.

Mark Stornetta and Elaina O’Malley, shown during a rehearsal, were the winners of Dancing with our Stars. (Photo by Melania Mahoney)

A Sonoma Valley Realtor and his professional dance partner took the Dancing with our Stars title last week, helping bring in some 3,000 votes for the Sonoma Community Center fundraiser.

Parent organizers from back left: Lenny Sanchez, Nona Gamble, Kate Molesworth and Julie Calhoun. From front left: Lucie Szakallas, kindergartner Lucas Szakallas, Kathy Pine and 4-year-old Aubrey Pine.

 (Photos by Paul Bunting)

There were so many winners at Sunday’s inaugural Cinco de Mayo Festival and Tamale Cookoff that organizers already are looking forward to making the event an annual fundraiser.

Chef Eric Magnani and his fiancé, Jennefer Keller.

More than 1,000 people attended the benefit for Sonoma Valley schools, including participants from every public school and three private schools in the community.

“It was awesome,” said parent Courteney Duffy Morgan. “This is going to be an event people seek out year after year.”

The event at Cornerstone Sonoma featured live music, entertainment and kids’ activities, with local celebrities as judges for the tamale-making competition.

Winners in the amateur division of the tamale cookoff were:

First place – Regina Baker

Second place (tie) – Marbella Mondragon; Sam Rivera and Bob Aguirre

Additional contestants were Elsa Dine, Lucy and Jesus Gomez, and Lisa Sanchez.

Winners in the professional division were

People’s Choice – Picazo Cafe & Deli

Most creative tamale – Chef Eric Magnani of Global Gourmet Catering

Best traditional tamale – The Big 3 at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn

Also competing in the professional category were Park 121, Gran Taco, Whole Foods Market, El Brinquito and Taqueria La Hacienda.

Costumed dancers shared their Mexican heritage.

Proceeds will be split between participating schools. Parent volunteers organized the fundraiser as a community-wide celebration assisting schools across the valley.

Sonoma Charter School parent Lenny Sanchez came up with the idea for the fundraiser and worked with  fellow Sonoma Charter School volunteers to develop the event into a valley-wide celebration.

The parents approached schools throughout the valley, offering a way to share proceeds from a single fiesta as a community-wide event. The parents created an all-inclusive model benefitting all students in Sonoma Valley.

A variety of vendors supported the idea, from those selling food and beverages to Sonoma Girl Scouts offering arts and crafts projects for kids.

Kathy Pine, one of the coordinators, said the positive feedback has been enormous.

– Dianne Reber Hart