Mary Munat is having one terrific summer, except for her fretting that the tens of thousands of dollars she says the organizers of Napa's BottleRock festival owe her will send her renowned recycle/compost firm down the tubes.
Munat, Sonoma County's "Green Mary," says the people behind the huge May concert stiffed her more than $29,000. A good many others who worked or somehow contributed to BottleRock say they're awaiting payment, too.
"My company isn't big enough to absorb this kind of loss, nor should it have to," Munat said.
Being shorted so much money has her worrying about the future of her company. But she insists a greater shame was that an enormous amount of discarded material generated by BottleRock, material she and her crew could have diverted, was instead dumped.
For her, BottleRock was a bummer in the midst of her company's busiest summer yet. Before season's end, she and her staff will have greatly reduced the amount of dump-bound trash generated by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at Golden Gate Park, Winesong on the Mendocino Coast, San Francisco Opera in the Park, the Nike Women's Marathon and the International Dragon Boat Festival.
Another upcoming event has Munat feeling especially eager, and grateful.
Friends and fans will host a Green Mary Gala at the Sebastopol Community Center on the evening of Sept. 13 to help her keep her company out of the Dumpster of history.
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A $500 GIFT CARD for her school was Santa Rosa High student Casie Herron's prize for winning a trivia contest on KZST.
What to do with the dough?
A discussion at SRHS settled on a plan to take three homeless students to Santa Rosa Plaza to shop for shoes and clothes.
Well done, Casie.
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NICK MEETS NICK: Analy grad and new Cal student Nick Rose was moving into his dorm when an entourage rolled up and a scholarly, moustached fellow asked if he might check out the freshman's guitar.
Cameras and cellphones clicked as Nick registered a good first impression of his fellow strummer, new Cal Chancellor Nicholas Dirks.
Soon, a photo popped up on Cal's Facebook page of the chancellor test-driving Nick's strings with the Sebastopol kid's dad, Bleys Rose, in the background.
The encounter was memorable also for Nick's mom, Cal alum Miriam Silver. The chancellor's wife, Janaki Bakhle, spoke with her and presented her a button that officially designates her a "Berkeley Mom."
Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.
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