More than 850 visitors flocked to Sierra Valley Saturday, Sept. 21, to experience the seventh annual Sierra Valley Art and Ag Trail. The event showcases local music, arts and crafts in the historic barns and ranches of Sierra Valley. More than 50 artists and exhibitors displayed handmade artisanal goods across 15 different sites in Plumas and Sierra counties in a unique community celebration of history and culture.
Three “trailheads” accepted admission and provided attendees maps and guidance. Trailhead No. 1, located at the newly completed Sierra Valley Preserve Nature Center just outside Beckwourth, was bustling by 10 a.m. The site includes two buildings and an accessible walkway for birding, dotted with interpretive signage. It is paved in permeable pavement that allows water to pass through to the ground beneath instead of creating runoff that carries silt into the surrounding wetlands. Plumas Audubon Society personnel were present, offering guided tours. A formal grand opening is expected once construction is complete.
Blazing the trail
This was the first year organizers have charged admission to the Art and Ag Trail, said co-producer Lindsay McIntosh, who organizes the event along with her husband Owen. As the event grows, it’s necessary to subsidize the cost of facilities such as portable toilets and dumpsters. While site counts haven’t yet been tallied, the event sold more than 850 wristbands. That’s on par with typical attendance, which usually runs between 800 and 1,000, McIntosh said.
The event was started eight years ago by Kristi Jamason. As land protection manager with the Feather River Land Trust, Jamason got to know the local ranchers and became familiar with the many striking historical barns of the region. Inspiration struck when she attended a ranch day put on by Anna Harvey of Harvey Ranch. Initially, Jamason planned a tour of barns and art studios — then one of the ranchers volunteered to host the art. “And that was when it came together,” Jamason said.
After a hiatus during COVID, Jamason passed the torch to the McIntoshes, who took over organizing in 2022.
Following the trail
From the first trailhead, guests followed the Art and Ag Trail along A-23 south, with stops at scenic ranches along the way.
At Sierra Valley Farms, Rand Nash, of Sierra Valley Boatworks, displayed beautiful handmade cedar and redwood sea kayaks. Although they look like works of art (and in fact he has built them as art pieces), they are seaworthy and “really fun to paddle,” he said. Nash attended the first four years of the event. This is his first year back post-COVID.
“I love doing this. The atmosphere, the customers — it’s my social life.”
Kim Jennings, Bradley and Son Grass Fed Beef representative
Nearby, Kim Jennings staffed the booth for Bradley and Son Grass Fed Beef. The main ranch is located in Durham, with the cattle transported to the mountains each spring. Bradley and Son sells to farmers’ markets in Sierra Valley, Truckee and Tahoe City, as well as supplying restaurants and the Feather River Food Co-op. They do a brisk business at the markets, though the shoulder seasons are a little more challenging, said Jennings. The biggest hurdles are roads and weather.
“I love doing this. The atmosphere, the customers — it’s my social life,” she said.
John McCormick is the owner-operator of Sasquatch Farms, based, until recently, off Chandler Road in Quincy. McCormick just acquired a Butte County property boasting 50 varieties of heirloom fruit trees. His personal favorite is the Arkansas black spur apple, a late-season multiuse apple with a rich purple-black hue.
Down the road at the Diamond S, Erik Roosenschoon of Rose Island Cabinets in Portola displayed a selection of furniture, cutting boards and game boards made from wood accented with colorful resins. Roosenschoon has owned a cabinet-making shop in Portola for 24 years, and in the past few years, has branched out into resin work. All of his pieces are made from wood harvested from the Dixie Fire. They have become so popular that this winter he plans to close up the cabinet shop and focus on resin work full time. Popular items include benches, stools and cribbage boards — but everything sells. It’s much easier and more fun than cabinetry, he said. No two pieces are alike. Plus, he’s able to spend a lot of time outside, hunting for materials — finding that one “right” piece.
This was Roosenschoon’s third year as a vendor on the Art and Ag Trail, and he said traffic was good. He reported that he’d just had customers from Nashville, Tennessee, who joked that next year they’d have to drive so they could load up the car.
The interior of the Diamond S barn was remodeled in the 1990s, transforming it into a venue popular for weddings and concerts, complete with stage and a saloon-style bar. Renee Smith has managed events at the site through her company Two Hearts since 2018. Her company also rents party supplies, including tables and chairs, to clients throughout Plumas County. She loves meeting the couples and helping to realize their vision. “I have an interior design background,” she explained, “so when we start picking out colors, that’s my favorite time.”
Gracie Robinson has been a mosaic artist for about 15 years. Through her business Yuba Love, she applies grout and tile to concrete and wood. Currently based in Grass Valley, Robinson hopes to relocate to Loyalton to be closer to her family
“I love the big open sky and the clouds,” she said. “It almost feels like you’re going back in time a little bit.”
It’s a sentiment others along the trail echoed. Laurie Wigham, a San Francisco–based artist, first came to Sierra Valley 13 years ago. She’d agreed to help illustrate a book of birds for a friend, and traveled to the area for a bird-focused drawing class with John Muir Laws. She’s been back every summer since, and now teaches a course on sketching history in the northern Sierra through San Francisco State’s Sierra Nevada Field Campus.
“I just fell in love with the place,” she said. “It just kind of got its hooks in me. Particular landscapes speak to you. It’s like coming home every time I come here.”
“It’s like coming home every time I come here.”
Laurie Wigham, San Francisco–based artist
Alongside her own work, Wigham displayed pieces by an artist friend, Catherine McAuliffe, who is currently working on a series chronicling the devolution of local historic barns. She described a particular site off Highway 89 where the barn is slowly “melting into the meadow.”
A perennial favorite on the trail is Sierra Valley Yaks, owned and operated by Greg and Jenna Gatto. The Gattos raise yaks primarily for meat. They also harvest fiber and operate a dairy for home use. The couple raised cattle for quite a few years, Greg explained, but wanted to stay year-round in the mountains rather than returning to the warmer climate for the winter. Nine years ago, he made a passing joke that yaks might cope well with Sierra snows; not long after, Jenna had found a yak for sale. Today, they have a herd of about 200.
New to the trail
In addition to old favorites, two new sites were added this year, said McIntosh: the old schoolhouse in Loyalton and Hobo Ranch on Old Truckee Road outside Sierraville.
The old schoolhouse was built in 1879. McIntosh is currently in the process of renovating and converting the space into an arts and cultural center through her nonprofit Musica Sierra. The organization recently installed a large four-panel stained glass window by local artist Marjorie Voorhees, entitled “Headwaters.” The project was funded by a grant from the California Arts Council. Voorhees also owns the Sattley Cash Store, another stop on the trail. You would never expect to find such a talented stained-glass artist in Sattley, McIntosh reflected. You’d think she’d be in New York or Boston, restoring old churches.
You would never expect to find such a talented stained-glass artist in Sattley.
Lindsay McIntosh, Sierra Valley Art and Ag Trail co-producer
Hobo Ranch, meanwhile, offers a more urban take on farming, said McIntosh. It doesn’t feature the sweeping meadows, cattle and picturesque barns typical of the region. It really added some variety, said McIntosh. Owners Heather River and Brian Hess raise sheep, cut flowers and dye plants to produce naturally dyed wool. The couple started Hobo Ranch about a year ago, said River. They also run businesses in Truckee. During Art and Ag, visitors had the opportunity to experience natural dyeing using indigo.
Their son Orland Hess had a display of his own, featuring silver rings, pendants and a tiny machete made from a nail. Over the past year, Hess has apprenticed with a Truckee jeweler as part of an eighth-grade project through Tahoe Expedition Academy. His favorite pieces are simple silver rings.
Looking down the trail
In the future, McIntosh hopes to hone the marketing for the event, to spread the word more widely and get even more people out on the trail, to experience the magic of Sierra Valley. Art and Ag may be just one day, but many of the businesses — from meat producers to event venues to artisans — are open all year-round.
