Valley fire meal makes spirits bright in Middletown

MIDDLETOWN - Three months after the Valley fire ripped through southern Lake County, residents came together for lunch, a raffle and an evening of shopping - and so that their kids could see Santa. But for many, Saturday’s “Christmas in Middletown” kickoff was a chance to get out of the house, mingle with neighbors and process all they’d been through.

“These are the only people who really understand,” said Mary Brandeau, 61, of Hidden Valley Lake. She sat among neighbors, many of whom she had met at the evacuation center in Calistoga, where they wondered and worried as crews battled a fire that burned more than 76,000 acres and destroyed 1,300 homes.

“All of a sudden, my whole world shrank down to me and my car,” Brandeau said.

On Saturday, a larger community pitched in to provide more than 300 residents of south Lake County with a pasta lunch, plus gift certificates to local businesses. Christmas in Middletown, an annual event, was put on by the Middletown Area Merchants Association, Redwood Credit Union, The Press Democrat and state Sen. Mike McGuire.

A relief fund established by the credit union and newspaper that has raised more than $2.2 million from more than 30,000 donors helped pay for the event, which aims to bolster the fire-ravaged town’s businesses.

Sitting next to Brandeau, Diane Boss, 63, also of Hidden Valley Lake, talked about the anxious days that followed the fire’s eruption on Sept. 12 near Cobb.

“Numb,” she said. “I felt numb.”

Boss was driving home from Santa Rosa that day when she came upon a detour. Authorities wouldn’t let her go home. Instead, they told her to head to the evacuation center at the fairgrounds in Calistoga.

She spent four days there without taking seizure medication prescribed to her after she had a brain tumor removed. The medication was in her home, and she couldn’t get an emergency prescription, she said.

“I did end up having a seizure,” Boss said.

She said the worst part was not knowing whether her five cats were OK. When she was finally allowed back into her home, she discovered her two kittens, Batman and Robin, had gotten into a bag of cat food.

Redwood Credit Union President and CEO Brett Martinez; Sen. McGuire, D-Healdsburg; and Sonoma Media Investments CEO Steve Falk were among those who addressed the residents and told them of fundraising efforts to date. The fund presented a check for $800,000 that will be donated to people who lost their homes in the fire.

Falk, who also is publisher of The Press Democrat, said his company is working with local merchant groups to support the businesses that employ many residents who were affected by the disaster.

Following the lunch was the more traditional part of Christmas in Middletown, an annual night out to encourage people to shop at small businesses during the holidays.

This year, though, businesses in Middletown and on Cobb Mountain might need shoppers more than ever, said Beth Rudiger, 51, vice president of the Middletown Area Merchants Association.

The holidays are usually the best time, said Rudiger, who owns a Jazzercise studio in town. But there’s a general sense of unease among merchants, she said.

“A lot are on the fence about whether they’ll stay,” she said. Many business owners lost their homes, or had employees who relocated because their homes were burned.

Organic Home Lifestyle, a Main Street retailer owned by Tara Somers and her mother, Martha Sekander, opened in April and sells natural home decor and gifts. The idea of the business, explained Somers, 38, was to cater to out-of-towners who were coming up north to their vacation cabins. Before the fire, that was 70 percent of her customer base, she said.

Things haven’t been the same since the Valley fire and the Rocky fire, which burned nearly 70,000 acres east of Clear Lake in August, she said. Fewer tourists have made that weekend trip to Lake County.

“We aren’t making our numbers,” she said.

Like many other merchants in town, Somers and her mother lost the home they shared in the fire. Since then, they’ve been circulating among the houses of friends and family. She also has slept in her car.

Across the street at the Bunk House, another home goods store, owner Peggy Clevenger, 64, was busy gift-wrapping a customer’s purchase. Her grandson worked the register. Her daughter was helping in the back, too.

The business has been around for about 30 years, she said. About 10 years ago, she bought it from her friend. Since then, business has been good and steady, she said. Since the fire, though, she’s maintaining, Clevenger said.

“The community has been really good, really supportive of local businesses,” she said, adding that it’s been helpful.

She also was a recipient of a monetary grant from the Lake Area Rotary Club Association, one of a handful awarded to local businesses after an application process.

“That was amazing,” Clevenger said. “That really helped me get through.”

She, like Somers across the street, is facing the problem of having lost her home in the fire, and having to juggle that on top of the business has been rough, she said. Christmas, though, should be good. She said the holidays are the busiest time of the year.

“What I’m concerned about is what happens after Christmas,” Clevenger said.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @SeaWarren.