Saturday afternoon in Healdsburg can be a relatively quiet time. It’s good time to shop, taste wine, enjoy tea time or just people watch in the plaza. If you’re looking for an event, however, you may have to do some digging – unless you’ve heard Ziggy Eschliman promote the grand re-opening of all week long.
Ziggy is “the wine gal,” on KRSH-FM, the area radio station with a distinctive playlist: a little rockabilly, a little classic rock, and a lot of “Americana,” whatever that is. Increasingly, KRSH is sponsoring live events, such as concerts at local wineries or in their own back yard.
One of these events came to Healdsburg this Saturday at Affronti Wine Bar from 2 to 4 pm. Ziggy was there, as well as a juggler, a magician, and friends and followers of all the above.
The occasion was the “Re-Grand Opening” af Affronti, a small restaurant and wine bar tucked away on Healdsburg Ave. down a “curiously long corridor,” at 235 Healdsburg Ave. For the past six months things have been fairly quiet at Affronti, slowed by the on-going construction of a roof over the inner courtyard – a project that was only supposed to take two months, according to manager Julie Moore. “We lost a lot of momentum during that time,” Moore said, “so we’re reminding people we’re here.”
Beneath that the new roof, magician Ash K the Pretty Good and juggler Fred Anderson performed, chef Jude Affronti and crew served up their trademark small plates, Barb Matheson poured tastes of her husband Mat Gustafson’s new wines for Paul Mathew, and Ziggy called in updates to the radio station.
When everyone was feeling loose enough, Fred Anderson coaxed Ziggy into a juggling lesson to the tunes of Hot Chocolate’s “I Believe in Miracles.” (see video)
Food, wine, music and juggling. Who says Saturday afternoons in Healdsburg are quiet?
