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A celebration of our Resilience

The Ten-Year Valley Fire Commemoration

JOIN US with your expressions of resilience
​MUSIC: Email events@middletownartcenter.org or text 707-355-4465;
POETRY/PROSE Brendamyeager@gmail.com;
​VISUAL ART click here.
Schedule of Commemoration Events: September 9, 12 and 13

Tuesday, September 9, 9am — Board of Supervisors meeting
Proclamation Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Valley Fire
Board of Supervisors Chambers
255 N. Forbes Street, Lakeport

Friday, September 12 — Cobb Mountain Events
1:00 pm – Honoring Lives · Recognizing Service · United in Resilience
Mandala Springs Wellness Center
14117 Bottle Rock Rd, Cobb

5:00–7:00 pm – 10 Year Anniversary: Community Gathering
Cobb Mountain Lions Club/The Little Red School House
15780 Bottle Rock Rd, Cobb

Saturday, September 13 — Middletown Events
4:00–6:00 pm – Valley Fire Commemoration Ceremony
Middletown Square Park
  •  Opening music, reflections from local and state leaders, memorial plaque dedication, poetry, and open mic story sharing. The community is invited to bring or create mementos for a remembrance altar and memorial wall honoring our experiences and lives lost. Fire resilience and home hardening info booths will be on-site.
  • Community stories ~ open mic (3 min)
  • Community Remembrance Wall/Altar  - The community is invited to bring or create mementos for a remembrance altar and memorial wall honoring our experiences and lives lost.
5:30–7:30 pm – Food Walk
Middletown restaurants, food trucks and vendors:  A food walk featuring small plates and tastings from local restaurants and vendors with a Food Walk Passport Map. (fees determined by each establishment).
6:30–10:00 pm – Arts & Culture at Middletown Art Center
Art Exhibition, Music, Poetry, and Community Dance
  • 6:30 — Exhibition opens
  • 7:00 — Music, poetry, and dance performances by community members
  • *8:30 — Community Dance with music by Carlos Garay, Victor Hall, and Friends (*start time estimated)
concurrent:
7:30 pm – Movies in the Park
The Wild Robot
The Valley Fire ignited on Saturday Sept. 12, 2015 devastating South Lake County. It burned 76,000 acres inhabited by people and wildlife, forests, oak chaparral, and wildlife, destroying over 1,300 homes and structures, displacing thousands, and taking five lives.

 The MAC opened just six months prior to the Valley Fire.  Many artists, MAC members for the community and board members lost homes and artwork. Immediately upon returning form evacuation MAC provided a safe space,  materials and guidance for community members to process and share their experience of trauma and loss. MAC became a gathering place for connection, and recovery. A space for channeling  the creative impulse in the face of so much devastation into the healing power of art.

Its impact was, and still is, profound, leaving scars on both land and people. Each fire season since carries reminders of loss, trauma, and vigilance. But our collective experience and recovery have also shifted, and now inform our relationship with the fire-prone land we co-exist with.​

Nature resilience is a mirror and example for our own.  Green shoots and wildflowers rose and still rise from burn scars, oaks and manzanita continue to grow, and the land,  flora and fauna demonstrate that regeneration is inherent to nature.
 

Many community projects and programs have provided free or very affordable access to art making and art appreciation. From individual to collaborative artworks, to taking care of self, or revitalizing shared public space; poetry and print books, re-establishing the EcoArts Sculpture Walk, and creation of the monumental Water Baskets which are a symbol of community unity, and resilience that honor the original people of this place who knew how to live with fire and are sharing their traditional ecological knowledge with us today.

The Valley Fire is now integral to our community identity. MAC’s purpose  to weave art into daily community life—not just as enrichment, but as a vital way to navigate trauma, foster connection, and cultivate resilience rooted in both people and place.

Many people have been involved in establishing and sustaining this vibrant little arts and cultural center in the heart of Middletown. We could not have accomplished all that we have without community support.THANK YOU to each and every one of you—for your contributions, large and small—as artists and art appreciators, board members and volunteers, members, donors (annual, monthly, or one-time), sponsors, and participants in the many projects we’ve brought to life together!

MAC was made by community members for the community to enjoy and built on the foundation of the EcoArts Sculpture Walk, founded and sustained until 2013 by Karen Turcotte and John Williams, followed by Lisa Kaplan and board members Julie Adams, Terry Church, Ken Gonzalez, Renata Jaworska, and Ann Prehn. The group that got the MAC up, running, and opening the first exhibit was: John Hanses, Renata Jaworska, Sariah Marier, Kristina Della Valle with Francisco Cafisa and Lisa Kaplan. When the Valley Fire devastated our community, just six months after opening, Kay Ashley, Janis Irvin, and Elaine Watt had joined Hanses, Jaworska and Kaplan. Nine of ten of these lovely people lost their homes and artwork in the Valley Fire.   

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the many people who have been and still are integral to sustaining the MAC:
Members and Donors: How can we count the ways we appreciate you so!!!
With all of this growth, the MAC is seeking a highly qualified and organized  individual with writing and computer skills to join our leadership team. This individual is passionate about the arts and committed to living in Lake County. Compensation commensurate with experience, qualifications, and availability. 
Please email resume and letter of interest. to info@middletownartcenter.org.