Bill Lynch: Aunt Celie, lover of Vintage Festival

Vintage Festival returns ?for another year of ?old-fashioned community fun|

My grand aunt Celeste (Celie) Murphy, whose home was the historic barracks across from the Plaza and the mission until she died in 1962, was editor and publisher of the Sonoma Index-Tribune from 1915 to 1946. She was a historian and advocate for the preservation of historical buildings and Sonoma traditions.

She was also a leader in the revival of the Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival in 1947, its first since 1898. So, it is true that our festival, the most senior in California, is 121 years old. However, there was a rather large gap between the days when local vintners, including the Gundlachs and the Bundschus, gathered together in the hills northeast of town to celebrate the harvest of their wine grapes, and the revival of that celebration in October of 1947, when it was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the California wine industry at the Buena Vista Winery here in the 1850s by Count Agoston Haraszthy.

With grand aunt Celie as the major organizer of the revival, many prominent old Sonoman wine families were involved, including members of the Sebastiani, Kunde, Weise and Serres families, as well as Frank Bartholomew who was then the current owner of Buena Vista Winery. Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Larson, leaders in the Boyes Hot Springs community, were on the committee, as was local school principal Jesse Prestwood.

Almost from the beginning, Aunt Celie, took charge of the entertainment, which included historic pageants staged at the front of the Mission. They traced the history of the founding of Sonoma, the arrival of Gen. Mariano Vallejo and the Bear Flag Party.

Her lyrical narratives, influenced by Greek Mythology, often elevated the heroes of Sonoma to their own pantheon. For example, she began one pageant with a romantic tale about how General Vallejo’s parents found each other in early California and then how their marriage produced General Vallejo, Sonoma’s patron hero:

“Of this union blessed Mariano Guadalupe (Vallejo) was born, illustrious son of California’s soil, a handsome lad, ere long a soldier proud. All Monterey acclaimed his courtly mien, his studious mind. Brave was he in Indian Wars, and won high rank and wore gold braid and clanking spurs, a gallant horseman and the Governor’s friend.

“Then romance lured him fatefully to San Diego and there he met his fate. Francesca Benecia was her name, of Don Carrillio, famous for his lovely daughters. Their love they plighted but days of bliss were months away, so like a star he worshipped her afar.”

The tale continues, with their eventual marriage and move to Sonoma and their accomplishments here. The entire tale was written and delivered with the same flourish, heavy in adjectives.

I have several of Aunt Celie’s original scripts and pull them out occasionally because they remind me of her, and how passionately she wrote about the place she loved so much, her Valley of the Moon.

Her love of local history was clearly evident in her writing and I’m sure she would approve that the 121-year-old tradition, which she helped revive 71 years ago, is still going strong.

Vintage Festival takes place Friday through Sunday. For a schedule, see page B1.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.