The River Remembers
Bringing history to life with community
Coming together to share stories ... to remember.
I first became part of the Russian River community as part of the ownership group that helped save the Rio Theater in 2014. My family and I bought a home at the river a few years later, and we became full time members of the community during the pandemic. As I deepened my relationships with various local organizations, I began volunteering with the Russian River Historical Society, and was blown away by the photographs of these villages along the river from the late 1880s and early 1900s.
As part of my ongoing education about history and land and place, I wanted to bring these amazing photographs and stories to life, and worked with the team at the historical society to organize a 40th anniversary fundraiser called "The River Remembers," which brought together images and videos from the archive and other community partners, along with live stories from lifelong residents.
The program traveled through history and down the river, highlighting voices and images from Guerneville, Monte Rio, Duncan's Mills, Cazadero, and the Coast. It included a memorium for recent community members lost, and the historical society put forward a vision for its next 10 years, including a new intention to work towards being in right relationship with the Pomo, Kashia, Wappo and Miwok people who's unceded land we are settled on.
After the successful event, I agreed to come onboard as the historical society's first Artist in Residence to continue to bring the community together and bring these stories to life.
The River Remembers: Rio Nido
The second event in the series was a collaboration with the Friends of Rio Nido with special programming highlighting the unique history and music of Rio Nido, will include a live storytelling event at the Rio Nido Lodge and live music at the Roadhouse. Throughout the day, attendees explored Rio Nido history through a local art market, an oral history recording booth, and the opening of a new installation of historical photos of Rio Nido.
You can find out more about upcoming River Remembers events by becoming a member of the Russian River Historical Society and signing up for their email newsletter or following them on Facebook. See more at russianriverhistory.org.
Monte Rio Revival
The third event in the River Remembers series takes place on Friday October 3rd from 6-9pm. It is a free, family-friendly celebration of the legacy and future of Monte Rio’s unique historic downtown, once home to a bustling train station, an eight-story hotel, and dozens of local businesses. This free community gathering transforms the Park & Ride at the intersection of Moscow Road and Main Street into a vibrant celebration featuring live music, food vendors, and a local art market.
After sunset, experience rare historic photos and videos from the Russian River Historical Society projected onto the side of Bartlett’s market along with a special performance. The event also includes open houses at the Historical Society archive and Monte Rio Fire Station, large-scale historic photographs, and opportunities to volunteer for cleanup and continued revitalization of the historic downtown on Saturday September 6th and September 27th from 9am-11am. Be part of the revival! Additional parking available across the Monte Rio bridge near the Rio Theater.
The Monte Rio Revival is supported by Friends of Monte Rio, the Russian River Historical Society, Monte Rio Fire Protection District (now Gold Ridge Fire District), and the two volunteer work days are organized in partnership with Monte Rio Recreation and Park District and Russian Riverkeeper. The event received funding through Creative Sonoma’s District 5 community arts grant program.
For more details, see a recent article in Sonoma County Gazette and RSVP at this Facebook Event.
Awakening Historical Memories
Using source photographs from the Russian River Historical Archive, we used generative AI photo to video tools to "awaken" memories of the historic downtowns of Monte Rio and Rio Nido.
While there are some strange hallucinated details in the videos, we were able to (mostly) retain the original integrity of the place while animating them in a way that brings the memories to life.
