Sonoma gourmand to launch West Marin Food & Wine Fair

Joanne Fusco is chef at historic Marconi Center in Marshall.|

Joanne Fusco, longtime Sonoma resident and executive chef at the Marconi Conference Center and hotel, has organized the first West Marin Food and Wine Fair on Saturday, April 13 at the center in Marshall.

Chef Fusco has taken Marconi Center into a new era by creating the West Marin Food and Wine Fair, and it should be delicious with foods from 25 hyper-local producers. Go to try goodies from Cowgirl Creamery, the “new” Tony’s Seafood and Black Mountain Artisans. And don’t overlook Tomales Bakery, plenty of oysters and Pt. Reyes Vineyard wine.

Marshall is one of many locals’ favorite destinations to enjoy fresh out-of-the-water oysters, and Marconi Center has a rich history in Marin County and around the world.

Miwoks occupied most of this area and Marin in the 18th century. In 1894, Guglielmo Marconi tinkered with electromagnetic – i.e. radio – waves in his parents’ Bologna, Italy attic. He first relayed Morse code without wires, and gradually lengthened the distance he would send telegraph signals.

In the United States, Marconi established the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America and came to dominate the field of radiotelegraphy. Marconi’s transmitting and receiving station in Marshall included a hotel with 35 rooms, a library, game room, lounge and dining hall, plus some bungalows.

RCA bought the American Marconi Company in 1920 and eventually sold most of the undeveloped land at the Marshall site, keeping just 62.7 acres around the buildings.

The infamous drug-rehabilitation organization Synanon took over the property in the 1960s and switched from a drug rehab program to an “alternative lifestyle community,” then declared itself a church, while stockpiling weapons. In 1979 the Point Reyes Light ran a series of editorials calling attention to the goings on at Synanon leading to a Pulitzer Prize for the newspaper.

The cult’s leader Charles Dederich was later charged with conspiracy to commit murder; Synanon finally dissolved in 1991.

Now the Marconi Center welcomes conferences and meetings, with chef Joanne Fusco feeding everyone.

Well worth the trip for an historic day at Tomales Bay. Free parking and free entry. 18500 Highway 1, Marshall. 637-3444.

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