10/05/2026
Some of you may or may not know, I am running for City Council on November 3rd. As part of my mission, I am trying to literally visit every single small business in our city. I have visited approximately 25 mainly in the downtown area so far, and we'll start spreading South to Santa Rosa, finally looping back North to De Rio. It's been so fun getting to know our fellow business owners, many of whom we know already through our pipe business - A-Town humble pies - and it's interesting seeing all of their challenges in this difficult economic climate.
That said - I'm listening.
With heat at 100 degrees, this afternoon, we decided to continue our weekend visits to local businesses and managed to hit four more.
Friday night, we hit for a w**e tasting, then continued on to for dinner and had some killer Hawaiian food. We ended the evening with a b**r at and stopped by to chat with owner Nathan Doster.
Sunday, we traveled down 41 to meet some friends for lunch at Halfway Station, where owner and good friend Autumn King was serving up a wonderful farmers market salad and our favorite fries. She offers a great selection of LOCAL b**rs and w**es, so we sucked down a Purple Rain c***r from and a IPA - delish!
As, sadly, most of the retail businesses were closed when we returned downtown, we could only find open, so we browsed around and met owner Michael Runners and one of his consignment vendors, May Morris Rowe. This is a truly wonderful shop, with clothing, old record albums, baskets - you name it. It's definitely worth a visit.
Oh, and it was a few weeks back, but we had a great burger at the new place - - and you can never go wrong with a pastry at . Tell Manager Loeschl that you know Ian and Alicia for an extra smile.
We will be pounding the pavement all week long to visit and get the stories from as many businesses as possible as we work toward the "big day," in early November, so stay tuned!
PS - if you have a tip for a place we just have to visit, please leave it in the comments. :-)
