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- Written by: Vicky Parish Smith
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Kelseyville Pear Festival is a one-day celebration of Lake County’s harvest of pears, walnuts, olives and winegrapes.
This has always been a family-focused event that showcases the rich agricultural heritage of many generations.
It features a grand parade, historical displays, local businesses, craftsmen, food vendors, musicians, dancers, horses, kids’ town, and community services.
This is the best-attended, one-day event in Lake County.
For the past 27 years Lake County families and those from beyond have planned reunions, enjoyed outdoor concerts and cheered at high school homecomings, all to coincide with the Kelseyville Pear Festival held on the last Saturday of each September.
A recent feature is the sold-out farm-to-fork dinner centered in the middle of Main Street on Friday night.
Sadly, 2020 has seen traditional community events canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And again, Lake County endures horrific fires and weather conditions that make any sort of outdoor event nearly impossible this September.
With all the defugalties, the all-volunteer Kelseyville Pear Festival Committee will be planning to bring everything back on Sept. 25, 2021. Mark that day on your calendar and we will see you then.
For more information go to www.pearfestival.com or contact C. Richard Smith at 707-278-7268.
Vicky Parish Smith has worked with the pear festival organizing committee.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council on Thursday voted to approve a new ordinance to implement changes to rules regarding commercial cannabis operations, allowing more of them to open in the city.
Thursday’s discussion about the rule changes was the third meeting in a row in which the council discussed them.
The item begins at the 1:29:15 mark in the video above.
The discussions initially had begun at the Aug. 25 meeting, when staff asked the council if it wanted to increase the maximum number of permittees allowed.
At the time, City Manager Alan Flora said the city had a continued demand for licenses and the city’s existing cannabis businesses were seeing success with their operations.
At the Sept. 3 meeting, Flora returned with more information at the request of the council – relating to the number of permittees, police calls at the facilities, available commercial zoning and financial impacts.
The council at that point gave the go-ahead for changes to the number of businesses allowed and locations.
In his report for the Sept. 17 meeting, Flora said retail dispensaries would continue to be limited to three as they currently are in the city municipal code.
The rule changes would lift the caps on delivery-on dispensaries, which is two, and other cannabis businesses, which is 12, and rather than using a total number as the basis would instead limit them to locations on the city’s Commercial Cannabis Combining District map, Flora said.
In an email before Thursday’s meeting, Flora told Lake County News that there is immediate interest for at least four additional permits.
During the council discussion, staff read a public comment from city resident Joan Mingori, who asked if they wanted the city to be the cannabis capital. She added that she believed it was criminal to not let people speak to the council face-to-face about the matter, a reference to the fact that the council meetings continue to remain closed to in-person participation by the public.
She said there is a growing black market issue and asked why staff continued to bring up the matter, questioning how many of them live in the city.
Councilman Russ Perdock said he disagreed with removing the number cap, pointing out that at the Sept. 3 meeting he had suggested increasing the cap numbers by six.
Councilwoman Joyce Overton, maintaining that she was the only one to be against allowing the cannabis businesses to begin with, said she didn’t think the new rule changes would be a big issue.
Councilman Phil Harris moved to approve the first reading of the ordinance, which was seconded by Vice Mayor Dirk Slooten. The council approved the ordinance 4-1, with Perdock voting no.
In other business on Thursday, the council got an update on animal shelter operations, heard a presentation from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on public safety power shutoffs, approved the first reading of an ordinance adopting the city’s development impact fee program for transportation, awarded a $455,000 contract to the California Engineering Co. for professional engineering services for the Sulphur Fire Road Rehabilitation Project, approved a radio voting receiver site for the police department, adopted a third amendment to the Fiscal Year 2020-21 budget to appropriate funding for professional services, equipment and supplies, and gave Overton direction on voting for resolutions as the city’s delegate at the 2020 League of California Cities Annual Conference, which is virtual this year.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
The US Forest Service said Monday that the August Complex as a whole had reached 846,752 acres.
The complex was sparked by lightning storms in mid-August. It is burning on the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests and has been divided into three zones – the South, which includes Lake County – as well as the North and West zones.
Officials said the east side of the South Zone is fully contained, and the containment of the entire complex is now 34 percent.
To put this into perspective, officials said the perimeter of the August Complex is more than 568 miles, a greater distance than the drive from Boise, Idaho, to Red Bluff, California.
On Sunday, smoke prevented the use of aircraft to assist in the firing operations around Pillsbury Ranch, but firefighters continued to utilize hand ignition where possible to remove vegetation and increase protection of structures, officials said.
While hand ignition by ground crews is slower than aerial ignition, the Forest Service said it allows for continued progress when smoky conditions make it unsafe to fly.
Dozers and crews continue structure protection and strengthening the control lines west and northwest of Lake Pillsbury. Officials said these lines will be used as both primary and alternate locations for containment of the fire.
Fire crews are widening lines and installing pumps and hose to prepare for future firing and holding operations, the Forest Service said.
The number of structures the complex has destroyed remained at 35 on Monday. Also unchanged is the number threatened – 1,595.
Full containment is still expected on Nov. 15, the Forest Service said.
Evacuations in the complex’s south zone remain in effect for Mendocino and Lake counties.
In Mendocino County, evacuation orders have been reduced to evacuation warnings for zone A, zone C, and a part of zone E, while Pillsbury Ranch and the Lake Pillsbury basin in Lake County are still under mandatory orders. Evacuation information can also be found here.
Forest Order No. 08-20-13 remains in effect for the August Complex. Residents and property owners may return to their properties within the Mendocino National Forest in Glenn County, but access to the Forest Service closure area for other purposes, including hunting and recreation, is prohibited.
Properties accessed via a Forest System road may require a permit from the US Forest Service. Contact the Mendocino National Forest at 530-934-3316 for more information.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
On Monday, Lake County’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 512, up by 53 since the last report on Friday. Of those, 96 are active and continue to be monitored by Public Health, 405 are recovered and one is hospitalized.
Dr. Gary Pace also reported Lake County’s 11th COVID-19-related death, which he said was not associated with a recent outbreak at a skilled nursing facility, Lakeport Post Acute.
Public Health departments in all 58 counties reported Monday a statewide total of about 789,000 cases and more than 15,000 deaths from COVID-19.
As of Monday, all three of Lake County’s skilled nursing facilities have COVID-19 cases – two of them with residents who have contracted the virus and one has cases involving staff only – based on the California Department of Public Health’s skilled nursing facility COVID-19 dashboard.
Lakeport Post Acute has 36 confirmed cases in residents, 21 in staff and seven deaths so far, according to state and local officials.
Pace said another facility – which he did not name – has two resident cases and four staff have tested positive.
The California Department of Public Health’s skilled nursing facility COVID-19 dashboard indicated that that second facility with both residents and staffers who have tested positive for COVID-19 is Rocky Point Care Center in Lakeport.
Meadowood Nursing Center in Clearlake also has staffers – last reported at two by local officials – who have tested positive for the virus.
“It appears the usual course is a staff member becoming infected in the community, and bringing it to work,” Pace said of the spread of the virus in skilled nursing facilities. “Multiple other situations of COVID infection are arising in care workers and local businesses.”
He continued, “Labor Day was two weeks ago today, and post-holiday increases are common. We have all been sacrificing many normal experiences for six months now. It is tough to maintain a high level of vigilance; masking, avoidance of social gatherings and proper social distancing all seem to be decreasing in our communities.”
Given the increase in cases, Pace said Lake County’s latest numbers are consistent with the state’s most restrictive tier, purple or Tier 1, in its Blueprint for a Safer Economy.
Pace said if the local case growth trend continues, the state will force Lake County to close indoor dining and add other restrictions.
“Schools not open for on-site instruction by the time we get to that point will not be able to open until we get back into the Red Zone – Tier 2 – and stay there for two weeks. These are state mandates. We sacrifice local control when we fail to take basic precautions known to slow the spread,” he said.
“Most of us want to keep businesses open, and resume on-site learning at schools as soon as it is safe,” Pace said. “How do we accomplish this? Slowing transmission in the community by wearing masks and avoiding gatherings with people outside of our households. Indoor gatherings are high risk, and may have particularly serious consequences if you or someone in your family works in a setting with vulnerable people – like a nursing home, homeless shelter, hospital or jail.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at