Olivia Boles, age 9
Writing contest winner (ages 7-10)
Olivia Boles is a third-grader at St. Francis Solano School. Her inspiration for writing the story was the many wonderful places to go in Sonoma. Olivia is an avid reader and says her favorite thing to do is curl up in her beanbag chair with a good book. When out and about in Sonoma, she enjoys going to Saddles Restaurant with her mom, dad and younger brother, Ben. She also likes going to see her dentist.
Fun Old Sonoma
By Olivia Boles
Have you ever imagined a wonderful city or town with lovely houses and people, so beautiful it seems as if the perfect fairy has just sprinkled all her magic over it!? If you want to see that place, find directions to Sonoma! I guaranty you that you’ll love it.
Sonoma is a fun place where they have many festivities including Farmers Market, Lighting of the Snowmen, an Easter egg hunt, a visit from Santa, an auction fundraiser is done by every elementary school, the Sonoma Market raffle, and many more.
Mmm, the taste of Sonoma’s food. Italian from Mary’s Pizza Shack, Papa Murphy’s, and the Red Grape, Chinese from Happy Garden and Amy’s. There are so many wonderful places where you can wander.
Maeve Rose O’Reilly, age 11
Writing contest winner (ages 11-14)
Maeve O’Reilly is a fifth-grader at Woodland Star Charter School where her favorite subject is history. She likes learning about the past and is especially fascinated by ancient Greek, Egyptian and medieval cultures. Maeve is the youngest in her family with two older brothers and one sister. She enjoys participating in the Sebastiani Theatre’s performing arts camp each summer, which perhaps was the inspiration for her ghostly tale.
The Ghost Hunter
By Maeve Rose O’Reilly
Charlotte Lucas wasn’t your average eleven-year-old Sonoma girl. Charlotte didn’t want to be a successful actor like her brother, or a successful musician like her other brother, or even a clip artist like her sister (just kidding). Because from the day she was born, Charlotte Lucas knew she was meant for something else. Charlotte knew she was meant to be a ghost hunter.
Charlotte had two best friends, Lizzy and Jane. The three girls ran their own ghost hunting business. Charlotte was, of course, the lead detective. Lizzy was her assistant, and Jane was the receptionist. But, because they were only eleven years old, and because most people don’t want to believe in ghosts, no one yet, had ever called them to help solve any ghostly mysteries.
One evening, all three girls were at the Tuesday night Sonoma Farmer’s Market. They were waiting for darkness hoping to catch a glimpse of the ghost of General Vallejo and his family. They waited patiently, but neither General Vallejo nor any other ghosts appeared that night. Restlessly, the three girls started to stroll onto the crowded sidewalk of First Street East, when they noticed Roger Rhoten, manager of the Sebastiani Theatre, standing at the door of the theatre and frantically waving for them to come over. As the girls approached Roger, he gasped, “I hear you three are ghost hunters. I have a job for you. You’re the only ones who can help me because you’re the only ghost hunters in Sonoma.”
The three girls nodded. “What’s the problem?” asked Charlotte. “Well,” said Roger, “you know the old story of the little girl ghost in the yellow jumper who haunts the theatre? About twenty or fifty years ago it was said that a little girl wearing a yellow jumper, fell from the balcony of our theatre. Ever since she’s haunted the balcony. For the first few decades, it was okay. But, lately whenever a guest sneaks up to the Forbidden Balcony, the ghost steals their popcorn and scares my customers away.”
“Okay,” said Charlotte, “we’ll go check it out.” But, when the three girls entered the theatre, they weren’t alone. A tall man with a long brown ponytail, spectacles, and dark facial hair stood alone eating butterless popcorn. His bag said “BUTTERLESS” in large letters. They recognized him as Sonoma Valley’s very own “Big Kahuna.”
“Are you here to frighten the ghost?” asked Lizzy. “No,” he answered, as they all watched popcorn falling impossibly from the ceiling. “I’m just here, in the here and now, eating 80/20 and contemplating the cosmic cosmos. And waiting to get my picture taken by the newspaper. Again. As usual. This time showing me eating butterless popcorn.”
Jane took a taste of a piece of popcorn stuck in her hair. It definitely tasted of butter and salt. Big Kahuna exonerated. The wise and great man looked nervously around the semi-haunted theatre, and turned to the three ghost hunters and said, “Thank you for your commitment to our community. I’ll see that each of you are awarded a Sonoma medal of honor.” Then, like a ghost, he vanished.
The girls made their way up to the Forbidden Balcony, following the trail of scattered popcorn. Still, popcorn continued to be invisibly tossed at them, so they followed the trail up higher to the projection room. In the projection room they found a blurred outline of a little girl, wearing a yellow jumper. It was a little frightening. “Hello,” said the ghostly little girl, “are you here to watch the show? If so, I’ll steal your popcorn!” “No,” Charlotte answered, “we’re ghost hunters and we’re here to make a deal with you. We agree that every afternoon Roger Rhoten will leave a big bag of popcorn for you here in the projection room. And you agree not to ever scare anyone else in the audience.” “Butter and salt?” countered the little ghost. “Deal!” cried all three girls.
From that day on the girls changed their job titles from ‘ghost hunters’ to ‘ghost mediators.’ Roger Rhoten, and all the other Sonoma citizens of haunted buildings, were eternally grateful to Charlotte, Lizzy, and Jane. Except for when the girls tried to persuade the local ghosts to for a Union. But, that’s another story.
Upcoming contests
During the summer, The Sun and Sun FM 91.3 will run contests in both writing and art with the following themes:
May/June Fiction Writing Theme – A Big Mystery, deadline June 30
July/August, Art Theme – My Favorite Place in Sonoma, deadline August 31
So writers, sharpen your pencils; artists, get out your art supplies. And everyone stir up some creative juices to create fictional mystery stories or beautiful artwork depicting a favorite place in our Valley. Good luck.
