Letter to the Editor – After 1,300 editions, the Sun sets in Yountville
Dear Yountville Sun Readers,
This is a day I hoped I would never encounter.
I had intended to leave a lasting legacy of a weekly news source to my beloved community of Yountville. For many reasons that just isn’t in the cards.
I want to thank you for your readership.
When my late husband Oscar Rhodes and I started the Sun in May of 1998, we were blessed with your curious but immediate acceptance.
Readers then questioned if there was enough “news” in Yountville to support a newspaper.
But there was nothing but news in Yountville at that time. Hotel Yountville, Villagio Inn, Bistro Jeanty, Bouchon, the Napa Valley Museum, the nine-hole Vintner’s Golf Course and Lakeside Grill and a new fire station opened within a few months of each other. The Washington Park subdivision was filling up with new residents.
Yountville was changing. It was fascinating. Readers were hooked.
We were hooked too and never looked back. Deadline day came every week. We travelled very little, often not together as someone had to put the paper out.
Oh, but the fun we had right here in the valley — covering wine auctions, new wineries, fundraisers, annual celebrations, making fine friends and learning about the wine and tourism industries.
Town government was consistently a major topic, as it should be. There were frequent fundraisers by local service organizations that deserved some ink. We reported on more than our fair share of flooding, fires and earthquakes, as well as human tragedies.
Along the way technology transformed the way this little weekly was produced, simplifying the production process.
The Sun was many times blessed with dedicated and talented contributors. They wrote compelling news, features, editorials and columns and submitted some amazing photos along the way.
When Oscar died in 2013 I was glad to have the responsibility of carrying it on. After the dark days of the COVID pandemic, I knew it was time to retire. My 70th birthday was several years behind me.
In Calistoga my friend Pat Hampton was getting ready to close down the Calistoga Tribune, which she started shortly after the Sun came out. She and I eventually sold our papers to Highway 29 Media in November of 2022. Now that entity is being abandoned, at least temporarily, with this edition.
I can’t think of a time when Yountville has needed a regular and reliable news source more than it does right now. The recent referendum on the workforce housing plan has left Yountville severely divided, uneasy and distrustful.
I pray the very capable and devoted existing staff of the Highway 29 will prevail and that the pause into which it enters now will be short-lived.
There is some evidence to support this — no details yet. But today the Yountville Sun has set after rising over 1,300 times.
Sharon Stensaas
Sponsored
Author
