About

 

Positively Petalumas Downtown Office Headquarters
Positively Petalumas Downtown Office Headquarters

Positively Petaluma was founded originally as an experiment in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by a Petaluma marketing executive. The collection of information contained in the Petaluma Magazine would take hours to search and locate over multiple news and social media outlets that you can see in seconds with the swipe of your finger. This information can be viewed on all mobile and smart devices supported by Flipboard technology. We created Positively Petaluma as an option or departure from traditional media outlets with a focus on the good things happening in our city.  Petaluma has a rich history and culture that is attributed to the great people who live here and its thriving industries born from it. We like to think of our website as the dessert of Petaluma information. If you currently live or grew up in Petaluma you may have a sense of pride in our city and find that our site is a great place to visit and start your day with a good cup of coffee with a dose of good news about your home town.

Wayne Dunbar, Editor
Wayne Dunbar, Founder and Editor

Wayne Dunbar is a marketing executive and resident in Petaluma since 1986. Dunbar formerly served on the Board of Directors of Petaluma American Little League and coached youth baseball in Petaluma for 10 years.  He also served as an officer for the Petaluma Elks Lodge #901 where he was Officer of the Year in 2001 and awarded their district’s highest honor the Bert Keane Award in 2006. More recently he was chosen to be a judge at the 2015 Great Petaluma Chili Cook-Off and actively involved in the citywide marketing efforts.

Columnists & Contributors

Petaluma Eats!

Positively Petaluma Contributor Houston Porter
Houston Porter, Restaurant and Food Blogger

Houston Porter is a self-proclaimed Petalumaholic.  If there is an event in our city you can bet he will be there especially when food is involved. He is a restaurant reviewer for Petaluma Argus Courier , Elite Yelper, and author of the PortLodgeGuide.com. He calls Petaluma a nourishing place to live. For more information visit his website Avant-Larde.

 

 

Petaluma Wine!

SherriePerkovichHeadshot1
Sherrie Perkovich

Sherrie is a 16 year resident of California that comes to us via Chicago. Her focus here will be on the Petaluma Gap wine growing region and the wineries and vineyards in the Gap. Sherrie is on the marketing committee for the Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance and thus has the inside track as this region begins its journey to become an official AVA. In addition to Positively Petaluma, she also writes for CommDigiNews.com, AmericanWineryGuide.com and TheGrapeHunter.com. Sherrie has been writing since 2011 with a focus on wine, travel, entertainment and things to do around the San Francisco Bay Area. Follow her on Twitter @BigNoseWino.

David Sandri, CSW, WLS, WSET Certified Advanced
David Sandri, CSW, WLS, WSET Certified Advanced

David is a veteran in the wine industry for over 25 years and has earned the title of Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) from the Society of Wine Educators, Advanced Certification with Wines & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), and is a Wine Location Specialist (WLS).  He has 10-years experience in wine judging throughout the United States and is published internationally.  He regularly lectures in the Sonoma State University Wine program on various topics, and helped in the development wine appreciation courses through College of Marin.

 

Our Favorite River Town

Bill Hammerman
Bill Hammerman, Petaluma Historian

Bill is “the” local Petaluma historian.  He has a 40-year career as an educator and an avid community volunteer.  He is founder Petaluma Electronic Network (PEN) in 1996, the Petaluma CyberCity Roundtable (PCCR) and the Petalumans of Yesteryear in 1998, and the Petaluma Alliance for Local Emergency Response Teams (ALERT) in 2006. He was one of the original walking tour guides for the Petaluma History Museum and currently serves as the facilitator for the Sages of Petaluma and the Petalumans of Yesteryear.

 

News & Feature Articles

Visual Journalist, Photographer, Videographer

Ashley Collingwood Photography
Ashley Collingwood Photography & Visual Journalist

Ashley K. Collingwood holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism with the University of Oregon. She is a visual journalist with a focus on photography and videography. In 2014 she was the top 10% in her class recognized by the National Honor Society in Journalism.  She is also a graphic designer.

 

 

Agriculture and Food Movement/Petaluma Community Access

Christopher Fisher
Christopher Fisher, Ag & Food Food Writer

Fisher is a Petaluma resident since 2003 and currently Outreach Coordinator for Petaluma Community Access.  He has experience writing  about the intersection of agriculture, food and politics for Z Magazine, Civil Eats, Grist and Truthout. He is a member of the Editorial Collective of Nueva Prensa/New Press.

 

 

 

Guest Contributors

Laurie Ferguson
Laurie Ferguson

A fifth-generation Petaluman, Laurie Ferguson is the broker/owner of Rolling Hills Mortgage & Real Estate and the assistant coordinator of the North Bay chapter of Project Linus, a nonprofit that provides blankets to children from newborn to teen suffering from illness or trauma. She has been quilting for over 10 years and considers herself an advanced beginner.

 

 

Food writer, photographer and filmmaker
Laura Gouillon, food writer, photographer and filmmaker

Raised in Petaluma and to this day she still has chickens in her backyard, Laura Gouillon is a rising sophomore studying Computer Science at the University of Southern California. Fascinated by the intersection of art and technology, Laura thrives upon photography adventures, explores DSLR filmmaking, and pretends to take on different accents when she orders food. While she was on the Petaluma Library’s Advisory Board, Laura created the library’s first Facebook page and helped promote social media marketing. At Petaluma High School, she previously served as a national officer for the CTE organization SkillsUSA, competing in Technical Drafting.

 

MarianaRaschke
Mariana Raschke, Journalist

Mariana Raschke is a student at San Francisco State University, majoring in journalism with a concentration in Print and Online Writing. She has written articles for Santa Rosa Junior College’s Oak Leaf, covering local events and people in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. Mariana is interested in issues concerning social justice both locally and globally and is passionate about traveling, reading, and writing.

 

 

Stay tuned to learn about new special guest bloggers who will contribute to Positively Petaluma in the near future.

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