NEW: Special Limited Edition Positively Petaluma Shirts – Only $5.00 With $1.00 Going to COTS

Positively Petaluma Shirt

You asked for it – you got it!  Many of our followers have asked for Positively Petaluma t-shirts.  Well, here you go.

These limited-edition Positively Petaluma shirts portray our history with landmarks of our great city. It can be yours for as little as $5.00. A dollar from each sale will be donated to COTS. We would like to thank Scott Dennison owner of Zephyr Pacific Sportswear for sharing our passion to spread good news about our community and making them available to you at his cost.

  • Perfect gift for the holidays?
  • Stocking stuffer for your favorite Petaluma friend?
  • Take it to the gym and do a few reps in one?
  • Sport one while drinking a gnarly grog at your favorite bar?
  • Wear it to one of your favorite Petaluma parades or events?
  • Sleep shirt so you can count chickens and have sweet Petaluma dreams?

Purchase as many as you like. This may be the best way to help spread positive news about Petaluma while giving a little back to our community. Get one soon because there is a limited supply and we are only offering them through January 31, 2015.

How to get one?  While you are out running errands, stop by Zephyr Sportswear at 210 F Street in Petaluma (on the Boulevard next to Pinky’s Pizza) and pick them up.  Other colors may be available. Their phone number is (707) 769-1000 or cell number is (707) 484-1785.

Zephyr Pacific Sportswear
Zephyr Pacific Sportswear

Take a selfie or photo of yourself (appropriate for all audiences) wearing this shirt at a Petaluma event or in front of your favorite Petaluma spot and we will post them in our social media feeds.  Just email your photo to [email protected].

 

10-Year Old Penngrove Boy Saves His Mother’s Life in #Petaluma

Pictured: Captain Dan Farren, Joe Kelly, and Firefighter/Paramedic Shay Burke

This story reminded me of one that we recently reported about Lewis from Forestville who save his father’s life called ‘Saves Lives Sonoma helps 13-Year Old Lewis Save the Life of His Father with CPR.’ Joe is a 10-year old from Penngrove and 5th grader at St. Vincent Elementary School.  In the video at the end of this article you will hear the 911 call and learn about the events on how Joe would help save his mother’s life in the parking lot of the Petaluma’s Plaza North Shopping Center.

A little after 7PM On December 15, 2014 Gabe Kearney, Vice Major, called the Petaluma Council meeting to order.  He announced the first agenda item was Petaluma Fire Department to present a Citizen-In-Action Award.   Captain Dan Farren and Firefighter/Paramedic Shay Burke approached the podium and started to play the 911 call.

Petaluma Fire with Joe Kelly and family
Joe Kelly and family, REDCOM Dispatch & Petaluma Fire

Captain Dan Farren indicated that on evening of September 25th 2014 at Trader Joes in Petaluma Joe noticed something was not right with his mother.  We interviewed the family and they told us that they were in Trader Joes when things were not going right. Joe assisted his mother to their car – and no matter how much Joe tried to help her nothing was working. She was nearly unconscious when he took her cell phone and called his father Dennis, a San Francisco Firefighter who was on duty at the time.  Dennis immediately called Rancho Adobe Fire in Penngrove.  The on duty captain called Redwood Empire Dispatch Communications Authority (REDCOM), which is the fire and medical dispatch for entire Sonoma County, and gave them what little information they had.  Normally when REDCOM receives a call from a cell phone they can triangulate the position from the cell towers – a ping from the cell phone – to determine the location.

CLICK PAGE 2 BELOW TO CONTINUE TO READ AND WATCH THE VIDEO

Photos & Videos of Petaluma Storm

We are aware that the flooding caused a lot of damage to homes and business and that is definitely not a positive thing. However some made the best of it. In times that things get tough, amazing people from Petaluma rise up and show their best. Like in the article VIDEO: 80-Year-Old Heroes Saves Senior Mobile Home Park From Devastating NorCal Storm. It’s also positive to see volunteers, our city workers, police and fire coming out to help.  In these videos you will also see our firefighters working to help save 10 people that were stranded. It was a ‘snow day’ for our students, and some put on their rain boots and jumped in puddles. It even brought out thrill seekers and water sports enthusiast who took advantage of the raging creeks and flooded streets. Couldn’t get into Lagunitas, no problem, one young lady found her place afloat in front of Lagunitas drinking a cold one.  You can see that photo in our post “Need I Say More” which was shared on Facebook over 177 times in just a few days.

It’s also positive news for Petaluma to get the much needed water after our severe drought. Petaluman’s even rose up in light of the drought by improving how to grow drought resistant produce and sustainable food as covered in our article From Marketing Executive to #Petaluma Farmer: Deborah Walton created Canvas Ranch.  After recent storm we saw posts indicating that Petaluma cattle ranchers were saying they have never seen the grass grow on the hills as fast as it is. We all know the strain our local farmers/growers have been challenged with the drought.  This was illustrated in the video KPIX News Video: Demand Soars for Organic Milk #Petaluma Dairies Trying to Keep Up.

I hope you enjoy the following feed of photos and videos (which you will only find on Positively Petaluma – as some of the content was sent to us by our followers and some we created and the content is so spread out you probably would not otherwise find it yourself).

We arranged these photos and videos on multiple pages so it would not take forever for you computer to load each one all on one page. SO CLICK THE PAGE NUMBERS BELOW TO SEE THE NEXT PHOTO OR VIDEO.

These Petaluma photos were taken by Associated Press Photographer Eric Risberg.

Petaluma Woman Who Had To Have Her Starbucks Despite the Heavy Rains, Assoicated Press Photo by Eric Risberg
Petaluma Woman Who Had To Have Her Starbucks Despite the Heavy Rains Associated Press Photo by Eric Risberg

Poppy Tooker of Louisiana Eats! Interviews Petaluma’s Liam Callahan of Bellwether Farms

Poppy Tooker Lousiana Eats89.9 WWno’s (The University of New Orleans, New Orleans Public Radio which is a part of the NPR digital network) host Poppy Tooker on Louisiana Eats! interviews our very own Liam Callahan of Petaluma’s Bellwether Farms called Why I Decided To Keep The Family Business Alive.

In the article provides the following:

           “Of course, family dynamics aren’t isolated to Louisiana. Liam Callahan followed in his mother’s lead to become a gourmet cheesemaker in the rolling hills of Petaluma, California and traveled as far as Italy to sharpen his skills. His family’s dairy has been providing sheep’s cheese to high-end stores and fining dining restaurants for roughly two decades, including the all-local, all-seasonal restaurant of Chez Panisse. Their head chef Cal Peternell has brought his family through the restaurant so often, it’s hard for him to distinguish between his domestic and professional families”

Poppy did a fantastic job of this interview and I learned a lot about how Bellwether Farms makes their world-class cheeses. (This is an audio only. For the full interview you can click on the article link above)

Here is another nice short video we found that was done about three years ago by David Carstens

KSRO Interview Hayley Yount-Severe Top 3 Things To Do In Wine County Are In #Petaluma

Hayley Yount-Severe associate publisher of 101 Things to Do in Wine Country was a guest on KSRO Radio. They condensed the 101 things to do in the wine county down to the three best.  Two of the three that she recommends are in Petaluma. In this interview she mentions the Holiday Lighted Boat Parade (which is this evening) and the other is our City of Lights Driving Tour.  She says that Petaluma does parades right!

 

VIDEO: KTVU News Casa Grande’s Fish Hatchery Is Largest Student Run In Nation

The Casa Grande High School fish hatchery program is so successful that it has been highlighted in Japanese environmental science text books.

The Casa Grande students raise the fish from eggs to adolescence and 40,000 each year are released.
Kerrianne McCarthy, a student in the program, says “It’s a really good feeling, it makes you feel good because you kinda created life”

The Casa Grande hatchery is not the biggest in California, however it is the biggest fish hatchery in the nation entirely run by students.
KTVU –

VIDEO: Did you miss this year’s Butter & Egg Days Parade? No problem PCA has got your back!

Share this post on your facebook timeline or with a friend who missed the parade this year. Maybe you know someone who was in it and would like to see the video. I am sure they will appreciate it.

This video was narrated by Mark Jaramillo and Tina Jones and they announce each entry. It is more than one hour and a half of coverage of the 2014 Butter & Egg Days Parade in Petaluma. While every minute is worth it, the nice thing about video is you can pause, skip ahead, fast forward and rewind.

From Garage to New Studio: Petaluma’s Gretchen Andermahr-Iniguez Grows Her Pilates Business

LifeStyles Pilates-6You will learn how this Petaluma mother of three grew her Pilates business from her front living room to a larger Washington street location at 353 E. Washington Street.  She is inviting you to check out her new studio at the Grand Opening on December 12, 2014 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

In our interview with the owner of the new LifeStyle Pilates, Gretchen said “I found Pilates in 2005 and have been hooked ever since.”  That was the year she took her first Pilates class. However she was no stranger to health and fitness after working in that business now for over 12 years.  She is a certified Personal Trainer through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFFA), a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), and a fully certified Holistic Health Coach.