Community life in town revolves around our children, their schools, service clubs, active local interest groups and politics. With the population of the up valley incorporated areas just under 30,000 people, many residents have lived here all their lives. The majority of businesses, including wineries, are family owned and operated. Many St. Helena families have been in the area for generations.
Small town community life abounds in the form of every night of the week from bocce ball leagues, an annual Easter Egg Hunt, an annual Harvest Festival including a pet parade, a jewel-like vintage movie theatre and performing arts venues ranging from a country barn setting (the White Barn) to the world renowned Auction Napa Valley! The auction, put on by the wineries and the respected Napa Valley Vintners Association, is held annually at Meadowood Napa Valley.
Napa County is considered the most rural of all the Bay Area counties. This is partly due to the extensive land area consumed by lakes, rivers, forests and craggy mountains and partly by human design. Napa County stepped out in front of the rest of the United States in the 1960's by adopting the first agricultural land protection policy. Known to locals as the Ag Preserve, the policy was then and is to this day, a groundbreaking land use policy that protects the agricultural character and quality of this unique valley by asserting that agriculture and open space are the "best use" for this extraordinarily fertile land.