The longer I live here, the easier it has become to get sucked into what I like to call, “town talk.” Those virtual, social media, convos-while-sipping-wine-at-a-party discussions that seem innocuous enough, but can spark heated commentary quicker than my 10-year-olds can raid the candy cabinet. Some of the more recent “hot topics” have been all about reading the signs, which in this case, have nothing to do with dating or astrological signs and everything to do with literal signage.
While toting those same candy swiping tweens to school before the holidays, I first spotted new signs on the approach to St. Helena that read: Foodies Welcome, Sip & Stay Awhile, Amazing Awaits Ahead and, my favorite, Retail Therapy Ahead. If I were the copywriter of said signs, my rendition would have read: Very, very, expensive retail therapy awaits!
These signs state the obvious, give me a laugh when I need it, and admittedly did cause me to slow down and take notice, when they initially appeared. The campaign evolved in response to an Urban Land Institute report on downtown revitalization, which led the city to consider ways to plug not only the city’s fruit-forward assets, but its culinary and retail wares. It’s hard to know whether this campaign will succeed in bringing more traffic to an already clogged up St. Helena strip, but what it has done, is get locals talking and in some cases venting about the purpose, necessity and price to execute the campaign.
In other billboard-inspired news, the iconic Napa Valley Welcome sign between Yountville and Oakville also got lips flapping when NBC ran a buzzy story about the sign being relocated due to safety concerns. The piece mentioned that more than 5 million people point and click at that spot every year, and announced that city and county officials, together with the Napa Valley Vintners and the Napa Valley Vine Trail Coalition, were at work to find a more suitable (aka path of least resistance) parcel for the storied sign. The Love This Town St. Helena Facebook page promptly blew up with comments that ranged from staunch opposition to “who cares”—to gripes about potholes and diatribes about tipsy tourists racing across the highway to score a selfie at the scenic spot.
The Vine Trail has been facilitating the discussions, through a series of closed-door meetings in January and February, followed by open community meetings, slated for this month.
The Vine Trail, which is steadfastly at work on the Calistoga-to-St. Helena leg of the highly anticipated bike path, has gotten in on the signage game by placing numerous “pathway closed” notices along paved sections of the trail—which, by my account, have been largely ignored, as people pedal and run by regularly. (This is something that will likely continue until the leg officially opens to the public, which is expected to happen this summer.)
Fair ground
After years of debate on the fate of the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, the Napa County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in January to sell the 70.6-acre property to the City of Calistoga for $2 million. A monumental move that could easily qualify as a deal of the decade because, really, what 70.6-acre Napa Valley parcel could ever be procured for such a price. It’s extra impressive given the same property was sold to Napa County for $40,000 in 1938; and in 2022, the Calistoga City Council approved a purchase-and-sale agreement for that same property for $16 million. The deal died when voters shot down a measure for a special tax that residents would’ve had to pay to subsidize the purchase.
A clause of the newly anointed deal stipulates the county will retain repurchase rights, at the equivalent price, in the event of zoning changes or when the city seeks to sell or lease the property. As a Calistoga resident, the prospect of a resurrected fairgrounds—and all the junk food, fun and racetrack roaring that goes with it—my household crowd is cheering.
Latin grooves
The producers of BottleRock plan to shake up the ground we walk on with the inaugural Latin music festival, La Onda, taking place June 1-2 at Expo Napa Valley, just one week after Pearl Jam, Stevie Nicks and Ed Sheeran hit the stage for BottleRock over Memorial weekend. La Onda will headline with Maná, Fuerza Regida, Alejandro Fernández and Junior H, and feature other major Latin touring artists, DJ sets, local and regional Latin cuisine and specialty drinks. Similar to BottleRock, festivalgoers can enjoy elevated, shaded lounges and viewing options and immersive experiences including a spa, dance club and silent disco. As someone who was raised in a home where the word diversity was never spoken or abided by, I am grateful to live in a place where we are embracing our multi-cultural community and taking steps toward becoming a more inclusive place to wine, dine and connect.
