Smith: Diggin' the Sixties at the fair

In keeping with the flowery, peace-and-love theme, some folks at the Sonoma County Fair are play-acting the Sixties.

But not people-mover Linda Garth, who split Wisconsin and hitchhiked to Haight-Ashbury in 1966. She’s just acting naturally.

“I was drawn to the music,” Garth said from the wheel of the decorated, six-wheel golf cart she uses to transport disabled fairgoers and others in need of a lift.

This child of the Sixties lived next door to Janis Joplin for a time. Her first husband was Jack Murray, who palled about and played with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and with Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin.

At 67, Linda is long married to Al Garth, formerly of Loggins & Messina, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Eagles. Ask her if she’s not digging the Sixties theme and music.

“It brings all the feeling of the time,” said the grown-up Flower Child. “It feels like home to me.”

AMONG GREEN THUMBS it’s a very big deal that the Men’s Garden Club of Santa Rosa has done extraordinarily well in the judging at the Sonoma County Fair’s Hall of Flowers over the past decade or so.

Under president Chet Wilson, whom I profiled last week, the now gender-inclusive club has won Best in Show in two of the past three years.

Also impressive: In the amateur gardening competition, exhibited in the courtyard outside the Hall, Pam Hansen and Kellie Cronin have captured Best in Show for three straight years.

Theirs is the flowery creation themed “Yellow Submarine.”

HENRY TRIONE is getting pretty good at the autograph thing.

The Redwood Empire’s leading entrepreneur/philanthropist will sign copies of his memoir, “Footprints of the Baker Boy,” at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Copperfield’s Books in Montgomery Village.

Trione, whose story parallels and intertwines with that of the 20th Century evolution of Sonoma County, will appear with friend and editor Gaye LeBaron and also Dr. John Reed, who wrote the book’s introduction.

The new author, now 94, is donating the book’s sales proceeds to the Memorial Hospital Foundation.

MAGNIFICO, TRULY, was the free and thrilling concert at the Green Music Center on Thursday that blended the Santa Rosa Symphony and the world-renowned Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez.

The 4,000 people inside Weill Hall and picnicking on the lawn - hailed by executive director Alan Silow as the largest audience in the 86-year history of the symphony - were wowed.

And the many Latinos present, surely a large percentage of them there for the first time, reflected the true makeup of the Sonoma County family.

It was a musical triumph and a historic community coming together. The evening cooled a mite more dramatically than some first-timers anticipated, but the sharing of blankets and wraps made for another of the high notes.

DRIVE A MODEL T and it can be tricky to move quickly enough to safely cross Highway 116, between Sebastopol and Cotati, on a summer weekend.

A week ago, a country drive by 20-some mature members of the Santa Rosa Horseless Carriage and Redwood Empire Model T clubs found themselves stymied on Fredricks Road at 116.

Greg’s Tires is right there, and two young men from the shop saw what was happening. Stepping up, they halted the traffic long enough for the little parade of sweet, old cars to cross.

The drivers sent them a grateful ah-oo-ga!

MEAT & GREET: The sharp senses of Lea Barron-Thomas perceived the tasty irony in the two major food events to occur in Santa Rosa on Aug. 16.

Coming to the Finley Center on West College Avenue is “Sonoma County VegFest: A Celebration of Compassion.”

Two miles away, in Railroad Square, will be Ty Jones’ “Sonoma County Wine & Swine,” a festival pairing pork with just about everything else.

Where could there be a better place to live and be free to choose what one chews?

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.