COBB – The strangest thing happened overnight before the Cobb Blackberry Festival on August 24. Rain. Unseasonal weather greeted the annual celebration with sporadic light sprinkles, blue sky, billowing clouds and intermittent sunshine. As wild fire concerns were allayed for the community, the smiles came out. Families and couples wandered amongst the 70+ vendors gazing at local craft offerings, queued up for barbecue, shaved ice, tacos and other tasty treats while sipping local wines and beers. The Lions Club served up their traditional delicious Blueberry Cobbler, and as is the custom, sold out. The parking field at Belmont Pines Golf Course was full of some 1,200 cars and trucks that ferried in thousands of celebrants. The kids’ play area was full of activity.
The vendors reported solid business as live music by Three On The Tree and The Gill Brothers Band provided delightful accompaniment. The festival, started in 2019 as a support for the community and craftspeople who emerged from the devastation of the Valley Fire, was a resounding success. Proceeds support the Cobb Area Council’s community building, infrastructure and wildfire safety projects, while attracting tourism to their beautiful location. Sponsors of the event were more than pleased with the turnout, realized by the efforts of scores of volunteers who labored for months to bring it to fruition.
Debbie Loehr owns Mountain Oasis, the mountain glass art studio on Cobb Boulevard. She comes every year. “This is the only place I sell my art, because I just want to be part of the community, and this is how I can how I can contribute to that.” She has pieces all over the Bay area, including the Napa Gallery, and customers in San Mateo and Mendocino. She also sells on Facebook Marketplace, and gets customers commissioning her for their specific needs. But she loves the Blackberry Cobbler Festival and plans to keep coming back.
Anita Wells is from Ukiah, and she brought her beading work to Cobb for the first time last year. Business was good enough to bring her back again this year. Eight years-ago she went to Montana to visit her daughter. They took a class together, and she’s been beading ever since. “My husband knows I’m sick when I put my beading down. That’s how he knows I’m not feeling good.” Her fine and intricate work is done one bead at a time. “I’ve got beading in front of me all the time with two little puppies on my chair with me.” She makes the rounds of crafts fairs from Fort Bragg and Mendocino to the Kelseyville Pear Festival, but loves the Cobb event.
Becky Bevans from Hidden Valley came last year “…and just fell in love with it. Just the energy here. And the variety.” She returned this year as a vendor with her pottery. “I love it. I think it’s absolutely fantastic. The venue’s wonderful. The people are wonderful, and the weather today is amazing, and good sales.” She tried the wheel for the first time a couple of years ago and became obsessed. She throws a lot at home, then heads down to Nimbus in St. Helena to fire her clay. As she says for her maiden voyage as a vendor, “Can’t complain for my first one.”
This is Elizabeth Kelly’s third year as a vendor. She hails from above Clearlake and she sells goat milk soap, lotions and creams. She’s selling a litter of Armenian Gampr pups as well. She has already sold three of the litter of eight, and swears by them as livestock guard dogs. “I chose the Gampr because they could take down a bear. Up by where I live, bears come down. I have a small farm, so my animals need to be protected.” She got the dogs to protect her Nigerian dwarf goats whose milk she calls, “liquid gold”.
