The 600

Last night the Healdsburg Peace Project threw a party for ten people and 600 attended.

The story I've heard is that long ago a small group of college students came to Healdsburg with a project they were doing for credit. Healdsburg is a town of about 12,000 people situated near the heart of America's fine wine counties.

The students came, called themselves the Peace Project and went, and the assembly vanished only to be revived years later by local people when wars became too frequent. 

My wife and I joined about 20 years ago. The group has demonstrated in the plaza every Thursday since then until recently  blocked by the coronavirus. 

I think the Peace Project became a minor tourist attraction. You could drive by it on Thursday and see a tableau from 1969 with signs protesting war, racism and environmental degradation.

So last night the PP, which is nearly all old activists, met at the Plaza for the first time in months. My wife and I decided to stay in quarantine. Other groups had heard about the vigil and showed up in force. Instead of ten protesters there were 600, and they made the news. The Healdsburg police, as usual, defended the right to peaceful protest.