On Monday night, the Healdsburg City Council voted to name the future park in the Saggio Hills Development after Laura Fish Somersal. Laura Fish Somersal was a Native American woman, a world-famous basket maker, a national leader, linguist and educator of California Indian culture. Somersal was a lifelong resident of northern Sonoma County and dedicated much of her life to preserving local Native culture and language. This is the first park in Healdsburg to be named after a woman, person of color and Native American.
The park naming process began over a year ago, when the City asked the community to submit potential names for the new park. Thirty-two names were submitted with twenty-eight unique proposed names (four proposals were duplicate or similar) and went through an extensive review process, including input and feedback from the Healdsburg Museum and the City’s Parks and Recreation Commission.