Our Community
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 scraggy 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.
Community life in town revolves around our children,
their schools, service clubs, active local interest groups and
politics. With a total population in the upvalley incorporated areas of
approximately 20,000 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 bocce ball leagues, an annual
Easter Egg Hunt, Christmas decorations hung by the Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanians, and Rotarians on Thanksgiving morning early and
followed up with superb locally made bloody marys, 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 at the
stately Meadowood Napa Valley.
|