The River Remembers
Bringing history to life with community as a way to ground a shared vision for the future
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 that became the first "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. Since then we've produced several other community-driven live events that bring history to life as a way to ground us as we develop a vision for a shared future together. Add paragraph text here.
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 took place in early October of 2025 . The family-friendly gathering attended by over 350 community members was a 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. The event included dozens of art and food vendors, live music and performers, and large format historic photos that brought the downtown to life.
After sunset, rare historic photos and videos from the Russian River Historical Society were projected onto the side of Bartlett’s market along with a special musical performance. The event also included open houses at the Historical Society archive and Monte Rio Fire Station, and dozens of volunteers who helped cleanup the the historic downtown area.
The Monte Rio Revival was supported by Friends of Monte Rio, the Russian River Historical Society, Monte Rio Fire Protection District (now Gold Ridge Fire District), and the volunteer work days were 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.
Planning and fundraising efforts are under way for the 2026 season, which we hope will include expanding the Monte Rio Revival to be on First Fridays during the summer months, volunteer work days, and community planning sessions to help develop a prioritized roadmap for the future of Monte Rio's historic downtown.
For more information, check out the episode of "The 707 on KRCB" about the event, the article in Sonoma County Gazette, and the Google Photos album.
Awakening Historical Memories
Using source photographs from the Russian River Historical Archive, we used generative AI photo to video tools to "awaken" these photographs 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 these memories to life.
Beyond just making the videos, at the Monte Rio Revival event in 2025, these animated videos were projected onto the wall of Bartlett's Market and the community was able to experience these animated photographs together in the actual place that were documented along with live music being played with lyrics about the town. Watch this video to get a taste of the real life shared experience.
