Dearest gentle readers! It took a hot minute, but I’m finally here with your roundup of all the most notable stuff that’s transpired in Healdsburg since I departed for India a few weeks ago. Thanks for your patience as I’ve waded through a vast info/data swamp of accumulated local headlines, social threads, email tips and so forth. Good news: I seem to have survived the deep dive! And in today’s newsletter, I’ll share all the standout stories I found there, buried in the sludge. Here’s some of what you’ll learn tonight:

Apologies if this PSA is getting old, but here goes again: I’d love if you could share this newsletter with anyone you know who you think might enjoy it. You can send them this link to subscribe — or just forward them a copy of the newsletter, and they can click the link themselves. Otherwise known as the (good old fashioned) word-of-mouth system. Still the best we’ve got! 📣

The Villa’s still got it. Our historic community event space, built along Fitch Mountain’s northwestern slope in 1910 as a country resort for French elite from the city, was recently named best local wedding venue in the Healdsburg Tribune’s annual “Best of Healdsburg” reader poll. This, after the Villa Chanticleer underwent hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations over the past couple of years, as part of a unique partnership between the City of Healdsburg and the Milestone Events Group. (Every last nook and cranny of the 17-acre, indoor-outdoor Villa grounds have gotten a total glow-up; see pics here.) When the “Best of” award was announced, the venue’s managers wrote in a message to the community: “The Villa has been a place of love, celebration, and connection for generations, and thanks to you, that legacy lives on. We can’t wait to welcome you back and create the next chapter of cherished memories!”

Indeed, the public has been taking notice. Weekends in 2026 are getting booked up fast, according to venue managers, with “only a handful of peak-season Saturdays” still available for 2026 — so if you’re eying the Villa as your dream venue, make sure to grab a date before they’re gone. This is the perfect spot to host a big party that still feels cozy and intimate — not just weddings, but also reunions, birthdays, anniversaries, meetings, memorials and other gatherings. And even now that it looks like a million bucks, the Villa is still one of the most affordable options around; you can check out pricing here. Also, keep in mind that Healdsburg residents get an extra 20% off! Learn more and book your next event on the Villa Chanticleer website. 🥂

If life is a movie, then the past week has been a perfect Hollywood montage of classic winter weather moments. Since last weekend, we’ve gotten a few inches of rain, a thunderstorm or two, raging winds, biting cold… even some hail and nearby snowcaps, thanks to a magical meet-cute between atmospheric precipitation and freezing temps last Tuesday and Thursday (see pics below). And today, after a 48-hour dry stretch, another round of rain returned to drench the land once more. We’ll see more of the same over the coming week — although it should be much warmer than the last, with some days possibly even pushing into the 70s. Here’s the full National Weather Service forecast for Healdsburg: