Okay, the line forms behind us to sign up for 30% growth.

Of course, that’s not available to those who might want to pad that nest egg, or to gamble with the rent money. Instead, that’s how much more was raised over Labor Day at the wildly successful Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, all to benefit local charities.

Thanks to the huge work of the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance and to the incredible generosity of the thousands of people, literally, who attended the weekend events, some $1.57 million was raised, on the heels of the record-breading success in 2007, at $1.2 million. Under the leadership this year of its President Norman Goldstein, the Vintners & Growers Board of Directors comprises Don Chase, Mike Colhoun, Stephanie Dunn, Bruce England, Marjorie MacLeod, Tom Menzies, Mike Muscardini, Susan Reber, Dan Schafer and Jennifer Scott. All are to be congratulated, and thanked. Executive Director Grant Raeside, the consummate professional who runs the organization’s operations, and his staff are to be recognized, as well, for their terrific efforts. And the participation this year of the Sonoma County Vintners organization, under Executive Director Honore Comfort, played no small role in the event’s growth.

Described from several perspectives in today’s Sun, the weekend featured more main events, and more lunches, tours, and dinners, than any one person could have attended. But everywhere, it seemed, there was laughter, among friends both old and new, and everywhere was the sense that the festivities were about being blessed and about giving back. Our valley truly is a special place, yielding each year under careful tending a bounty of quality and variety. And somehow giving back to the community, especially to our youth, feels like a circle being made whole.

Even for those of us not directly involved in agriculture, that feeling pervades these events, and we especially appreciate those from outside the valley (hello, Tulsa!) who come back each year to share that joy and to contribute to its fulfillment.

Service to our community, fueled by generosity of time and resources – here in Sonoma Valley, that’s a strong market.

“P” Pretty Please

Not far from everyone’s mind, in this election season, is the vote in November on the hospital’s bond measure to secure the future for the hospital’s emergency room and the infrastructure support it needs from the hospital itself. The bond’s amount, this time, covers only that crucial need – no land purchase is involved, and no designs for new structures or real estate development.

Readers know that we’ve supported the two bond measures brought forth in the last few years, as we’ve judged the need for local emergency care to be critical to our community. Readers also know that we are always happy, simply on principle, to have the will of the voters heard, and what we’re offered now, as Measure P on the November 4 ballot, reflects those earlier results. Measure P also reflects the core of what every poll, formal and informal, has indicated consistently that the community wants: local emergency care.

As we’ve said before, “We continue to believe that the Sonoma community will support, when the time comes, appropriate tax funding.” In our view, that’s Measure P.