Sonoma Hotel Project

Gary Edwards

Gary Edwards and Darius Anderson are both long-time residents of – and champions for – Sonoma Valley.

Edwards, a former City of Sonoma vice mayor, planning commissioner and councilman, runs Sage Marketing, a company that sources artisanal cheeses for both small specialty shops and large retailers such as Costco and Trader Joe’s.

Anderson runs a variety of enterprises ranging from real estate development to political consultation to media; one of his publications, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, is the newspaper of record for California’s North Coast and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize.

“Sonoma Valley is a small place, so just the fact that we both live here makes us neighbors,” says Edwards, “and while we often don’t see eye-to-eye politically, we’re also good friends. Some people have been surprised by that and ask why I support Darius. I tell them I may not support him politically – but if I went into battle, I’d want him next to me.”

Edwards, in fact, has gone into battle with Anderson: back in 2017, when the North Bay fires were ravaging Sonoma County. Edwards was a city councilman when the fires ignited on the night of October 8th, and he immediately joined the relief efforts.

“I wasn’t officially part of emergency response, of course, but I couldn’t help myself,” says Edwards. “And I met Darius at the Veteran’s Building, where evacuees were being sheltered. His impulse had been the same as mine.”

 Edwards and Anderson each had access to heavy-duty vehicles – Edwards owned a refrigerated truck he used in his cheese business and Anderson had a couple of trucks from Ramekins, a hospitality venue in Sonoma he owned at the time.

“We loaded food from the Sonoma Market that the owner had donated, and heavy equipment and medical carts for patients from the Sonoma Developmental Center – whatever needed to be hauled, whatever needed to be done. And I remember thinking, here’s this guy, one of the most powerful people in the county – in the state really – and he’s out here doing heavy manual labor in an emergency. He didn’t have to do that. He did it because it was his community, because he cared about his neighbors and fellow citizens.”

But Anderson’s participation in fire relief didn’t stop there, Edwards adds. A few days after the 2017 fires started, Edwards heard from his insurance agent that Rohnert Park city officials had refused to authorize a tent structure to expedite claims processing for fire victims.

 “It just didn’t make sense, and it was really putting added hardship on people who had lost most or all of what they owned in the world,” Edwards says. “And the first person I thought of contacting – the first person who I thought might actually accomplish something – was Darius. So I called him and he immediately told me to contact Steve Falk, the publisher of the Press-Democrat. Now, I expect that Darius talked to Steve, who talked to people in Rohnert Park city government and explained that the Press Democrat would be interested in a story about fire victims being greatly inconvenienced. I don’t know the details. But however it played out, it was like – boom – immediate approval of the tent structure. That’s the kind of leverage that you like to see applied to government.”

Edwards also credits Anderson with yeoman’s work in supporting and promoting sustainable economic growth in the Sonoma Valley. He points to the development of Cornerstone Sonoma, a nine-acre complex of gardens, art installations, food and wine venues, public entertainment sites, and shops as a case in point.

“Darius pulled that whole project together,” Walker says, “and it was by no means a simple undertaking. It required both a compelling vision and complete commitment, and it benefitted the whole valley, not just the City of Sonoma.  I really appreciate that comprehensive view he has – he thinks of the valley, the county, the region, whenever he considers a project.”

Walker cites other anecdotes that make him proud to call to call Anderson a friend.

“Darius is deeply involved with social outreach to Cuba, and I went there with him once,” Edwards says. “I was really impressed by the way he interacted with people there – the locals, other visitors, everyone. We’d go into a restaurant, and he’d end up connecting with virtually every party in the room. He’s just compelled to build bridges with people.”

Edwards also recalls Anderson’s generous contributions to the Sebastiani Theater following a burglary of the historic entertainment venue.

“He never hesitates, he never asks for credit – he just helps people when help is needed,” says Edwards.

But of all the memories Walker has of Anderson, one stands out with particular poignancy. Not because it’s dramatic – quite the opposite, really. But it’s emblematic, he says, of his friend’s character.

“Again, it was during the 2017 fires,” Walker recalls. “We’d been working non-stop at emergency response for a couple of days, and it was night. We were in downtown Sonoma, and it was blacked out because there was no power. We were hungry, but no restaurants were open. So we just sat there in the dark and quietly shared some potato chips and a glass of wine. And a year later we met and had potato chips and wine again, and he invited the whole neighborhood to join us. Those moments that bring the community together – they mean everything to Darius.”