Much like the willow tree, everyone this year has had to be flexible and bend to the strange winds we have been dealt. We weren’t sure how it would go having our Annual Fall Celebration––usually a raucous yet cozy affair with live bands and a full bar–– completely virtual. Yet, we bent and improvised and reassessed. Luckily, we found that we were able to offer much of what we usually have at our Fall Celebration. We had an online auction, two options for catered meal pick-ups, and a Zoom event complete with a Sempervirens Award celebrating the incredible life of Eileen Cooper, live performances from Casey Neill and Joanne Rand, and a Q&A with Congressman Jared Huffman. While we truly missed dancing and toasting in person, we were absolutely overtaken with how fun this year’s event still was.
Thanks to Joanne Rand for your ballads.
This would not have been possible without the help of many hands and our extraordinary community. We want to extend our extreme gratitude first to our volunteers. For getting the word out, we are so thankful to our social media guru and intern, Clary Montagne Greacen, who kept the ball rolling for our social media accounts. We are also super thankful to Jenna Catsos of Pen & Pine who created the beautiful graphic for our Fall Celebration poster (which is now a rad EPIC sticker that you can purchase!). On the radio, special thanks to Lauren Schmitt, Tanya Horlick, and Duff on KMUD for making sure the Southern Humboldt crowd heard about the event! On the ground, we want to thank Rob DiPerna, Dian Griffith, Bente Janssen, and Tanya Horlick for making the rounds with posters.
For our catered meals, special thanks to Chef Natalia Boyce and Edward Hunter who prepared the delicious meal for our Northern Humboldt friends with bounty from Luna Farm, Jacoby Creek Land Trust, Cypress Grove, and Little River Farm. And in Southern Humboldt, huge thanks to the Mateel Community Center and the wonderful Babette Bach and Moses Danzer from Barbeque to You for creating a tasty fall meal with support from Chautauqua Natural Foods, North Bay Shellfish, Tree Nug Farms, and Mycality Mushrooms. Volunteers who braved the frost and rain to make the catered meal pick-up possible include Ann Wallace, Lauren Schmitt, Duff, Emily Ficklin-Wood, Adam, Nicole, and the awesome Rob DiPerna.
Thanks to Casey Neill for a great performance!
For our silent auction: Gisèle Albertine and her partner Nancy Noll, Josefina Barrantes, Nathan Madsen, Tony Silvaggio, Destiny Preston, and Judith Mayer all helped to create an incredible array of items and getaways for you all to bid on by asking businesses far and wide for their support. We are also especially grateful for the many businesses, artists, and sponsors that made this event financially possible for us and helped our fundraising efforts be a reality after a summer of no events.
We also want to extend our thanks to our Del Norte community who came together to help make the Sempervirens Award for Eileen Cooper a beautiful tribute. Because of our roots in Southern Humboldt, we have honored many of the great activists of that area with the award. Eileen is our first recipient from Del Norte County and sadly, she passed only a week away from the Celebration. However, of course, the award pales in comparison to the legacy that Eileen has left for Del Norte County.
Before she passed, Eileen helped to establish the EPIC Del Norte Chapter. The Chapter helps to empower local activists in Del Norte County and to be a louder, prouder voice for the environment. Eileen seeded the Chapter with an endowment to keep folks working on behalf of Del Norte County. This endowment is managed by the Humboldt Area Foundation. It will ensure that work is always funded in Del Norte County, and the larger the initial capital for the endowment, the more we can do year-in and year-out in the county. If you are interested in donating to the EPIC Del Norte Fund, please click on this link. All money in the Del Norte Fund goes to EPIC work in the county.
A video of Eileen Cooper singing at a town hall was played in her memory.
Lastly, we want to thank all of our supporters and members, the main reason and possibility behind our celebration and organization. What a year! We hope you were all able to participate in some form for our annual Fall Celebration reunion of our members, supporters, and friends. If we forgot anyone in this thank you, please let us know so we can correct our error. If you have any questions or grievances overall about the event, please contact rhiannon@wildcalifornia.org.