Healdsburg vineyard owner set to host Jill Biden has been working on visit for months

The Healdsburg vineyard owner who will host first lady Jill Biden this week has been working on the visit since last spring and calls it “un-effin believable.”

The first lady will arrive in Sonoma County on Thursday for a fundraiser for the reelection campaign of her husband President Joe Biden.

After Biden’s afternoon arrival at the Charles Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa about 2:15 p.m., she’ll head to the home of Barbara Grasseschi and Tony Crabb, owners of Puma Springs Vineyards in Healdsburg.

Grasseschi said she expects Biden to spend about an hour in Healdsburg, where she’ll attend a reception with up to 100 people, deliver remarks and shake hands before departing.

“Getting on the first lady’s schedule — I’ve been working on this since last spring,” she said.

Grasseschi has helped organize local fundraisers for presidential candidates in the past. She also runs a Wine Country chapter of Electing Women Bay Area.

In 2019, Grasseschi arranged visits to Sonoma County by then-presidential hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, Kamala Harris, D-California, and Julian Castro, D-Texas.

At the time, she said, “There was no one organizing people up here. If (residents) ever wanted to see them to ask a question, they'd have to drive to San Francisco. Now there's a chance to do that here.”

This first lady’s is part of a four-day trip that will take her to stops in Utah, California and Ohio.