A parade in Petaluma for Hailey Lynn Ponte

A moving tribute to Hailey Lynn Ponte, an all-family safety fair in Healdsburg and more.|

At about midday Saturday, heads will snap in Petaluma and the minds inside will wonder what is going on.

It will be a funeral procession, a multi-textured mobile tribute to Hailey Lynn Ponte, a dazzling, golden-hearted 19-year-old who lived with a seizure disorder and died ?Sept. 6 in her sleep.

Hailey grew up on her family’s Two Rock Valley ranch and touched legions of lives through her work with 4-H, FFA, the Petaluma Junior Riding Club, Sonoma County Wildife Rescue Center, Giant Steps Therapeutic Equestrian Center, COTS homeless shelter, Victorian Manor Rest Home, Redwood Empire Food Bank and on and on.

The post-service parade from St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church to Petaluma Riding and Driving Club is expected to reflect Hailey’s life and passions.

There will be tractors, fire ?engines, trucks, vintage cars and many heartbroken people.

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WE’RE SAFE RIGHT NOW. But the onslaught of natural disasters should remind us that our lives could be turned upside down in an instant.

When a caring group in Healdsburg began to plan a Family Safety Fair, it was well before the monster hurricanes roared in from the Atlantic and two deadly earthquakes struck Mexico.

Tips for getting serious about disaster preparation will be a big part of the fair that the Healdsburg Kiwanis Club will host from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday at the Healdsburg Community Center.

PG&E and AT&T are sponsoring the free event, to feature also a Fire Safety House, CHP child car seat installations, hands-only CPR training and a virtual reality simulator that demonstrates the danger of distracted driving. There’s more at healdsburgkiwanis.org.

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HAVE AN RV that you no longer use, and that you’d like to see become a refuge for someone who’s now homeless?

Used recreational vehicles are needed at Sebastopol’s former Village Mobile Home Park, serving now as a community shelter.

If you’ve got a camper you’re willing to let go of, you could receive a tax credit for donating it. Also, supporters of the Village Park project have put up $20,000 for the purchase of RVs, so you might be able to sell yours.

Said advocate Bob Higham, “The people who live at Village Park are proud, but very low income ... many working at minimum-wage jobs, some stricken by illness, age, or birth injury.”

If you have an RV that might become a home, drop Bob an email at johnbob@sonic.net.

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THE NAME FIORI’S is back where it’s most at home: on a restaurant sign.

George Fiori, scion of the family that opened Fiori’s Italian Restaurant in Occidental in 1935 and an owner of Santa Rosa’s former Fiori & Grace and Fiori’s Grill, has renamed his burger restaurant in the Larkfield area.

George had no problem with the former name, Big Boys Buns & Burgers. But after 10 years of running the place, he was threatened with a trademark infringement lawsuit by owners of the Michigan-based Big Boy restaurant chain.

“You can’t fight the corporations. I can’t,” George said.

So now his place is Fiori’s Buns & Burgers. George figured that since he had to buy new signs he might as well put out for a new charbroiler, too.

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

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