Gary Edwards was recently selected by the City Council and past Alcaldes to be the honorary mayor of Sonoma, the 2026 “Alcalde” (Spanish for mayor). Anna Pier talked with the 66-year-old tireless volunteer about how he got to Sonoma, why he cares so deeply about it, and his understanding of the community.
When did you move to Sonoma? In 1994. I had made a connection with Ig Vella through my cheese marketing work, and he helped me find a home here, right near downtown. I wanted to come back to my roots.
Talk about your roots. Way back, my people first came to New York in 1646. They were Dutch. And there were Norwegians and English and others.They went from NY to Canada, then to Minnesota, and finally to California. I was born in Santa Ana, in fact delivered by the same doctor who delivered my father there. So I’m a second generation native Californian. My father was the director of the Vets Administration in Orange County. When he was growing up there, it was country, but it began to lose the agriculture which my father wanted for us.
So when I was 9, we moved to Sebastopol to live on about ten acres. We had horses, 5,000 chickens, and five acres of apples. I was the middle child. I was in 4H, FFA, showed cows at the County Fair. But in my junior year at Analy High, my family moved to Willits. I didn’t want to go. I had put down roots in Sonoma County.
What happened? I didn’t go. I lived at my grandparents’ place in Sebastopol, though they weren’t there. Since my freshman year, I had been self-sustaining. I’d been working at G&G Market in Santa Rosa, and also worked at Miller’s Dairy, where they would give me drop calves (the males they didn’t want); my brother and I would bottle-feed them, and then sell them at the Auction House. I was always enterprising. In 1977, I graduated from Analy High. I had already been recruited by General Foods for a job as salesman in their Monterey Cheese group.
I was already marketing Vella cheese, and I met and connected with Ig Vella just before I went to Boston for four years. Then I was promoted to Regional Manager in Chicago, when the New Zealand Dairy Board bought my company. I had a knack for retail marketing, I was very entrepreneurial. I wasn’t cutting corners, I was making everything efficient. It’s a part of my brain I can’t turn off. From Chicago, I was sent to Corona del Mar. The company went from $2MM to $15 MM sales, but I wanted to get out of So Cal. So in 1990, I left that corporate world where people didn’t have a soul.
Next? I came back to Sonoma County, first to Sebastopol, then lived in Windsor. That’s when I told Ig Vella, “I need a village,” and he found my home here. I founded my own cheese and specialty foods companies, Sage Marketing and Monterey Cheese Company.
And you’ve found a village here. I was quickly assimilated into the town. I got to know Bob Cannard, and so I had that connection with the whole history of old Sonoma. There are so many things going on all the time for me. Rotary is a huge part of my life. I share that with my best friend Wayne Schake, a former Alcalde. We worked together on the Altimira Garden project last summer, Wayne, seated, directing my pruning.
He and I had gone on five or six Seeds of Learning (SOL) work trips to Nicaragua. A couple of years ago I went with Wayne and took my son Sully to Oaxaca on a SOL trip. Wayne, who is 90, brought his life experience, and Sully brought the gift of youth. We helped build a women’s center there, and the three of us were given a ceremony in it.
How do you see Sonoma? Sonoma still has a soul. I see my role as to carry the history forward. When my daughter Madeleine was born 17 years ago in March, on our way home from the hospital with her, we stopped by Bob Cannard’s house. He told me, “Gary, take care of Sonoma from the ground up.” Not long after, he died. That year, the first Arbor Day tree planted on the Plaza, near Grinstead Amphitheater, was in honor of Bob Cannard. I know when I have a good thing, and that’s Sonoma.
You have done so many things for the community. I served on the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission (SVCAC) and the Planning Commission, and from 2014-2018 I was on the Sonoma City Council. It was a dysfunctional group. You know, the best part about beating your head on the wall is it feels really good when you stop. I was glad to be off the Council. I served two terms on the Board of the Redwood Empire Food Bank. That’s an organization that does so much. And I’m newly on the Board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley.
And the Thanksgiving dinners? This was the 26th year we did Thanksgiving at the Community Center. It’s not me. It’s all the people.
Scott the butcher at Sonoma Market; Paul Wirtz of Paul’s Produce; Joanna Romanini Produce; Rob Larman of Il Fuoco; Daniel Quejada. There were about 600 people this year, from the community and volunteers, all sitting down together.
This past Christmas, Matt Murray, the manager of Whole Foods, called me to figure out what to do with four extra pallets of smoked turkeys – about 400-500 birds – accidentally delivered to them. All the nonprofits were closed for the holiday, so I figured out on my own how to get them distributed, mostly all in the Mexican community.
Does politics have a role here? Irrespective of the political divide, which is about 70-30 in Sonoma, there’s no divide when it comes to community service. You can hold up a sign, or you can hold a shovel. The shovel gets more done.
Talk about being Alcalde. You know, I’d been asked to be Alcalde several times before, but I turned it down. This would have been a perfect year for Sam Morphy to be the Alcalde, but he died. I was honored as the Muse for the Sonoma Community Center in 2019. I’m looking forward to getting to be part of picking next year’s Alcalde and the future ones.
We are enjoying working with your daughter Madeleine as the Sun High School Correspondent. Madeleine has the entrepreneurial spirit. She is in so many activities at the high school, including theater. She will be in the upcoming performance of Radium Girls. Editor of the school news, Dragon’s Tale. So many clubs. And Mock Trial. Her brother Sullivan is a freshman. He also has the entrepreneurial spirit. He is into piano and electric guitar, which he studies with Sean Carscadden. My wife Ruth, who plays accordion, and I enjoy making music as a family.
Is there anything last thing you want to say to the community? I’m still in love with you.
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