At The Healdsburg Museum

     When we were in Healdsburg California, a few weeks ago, we saw a wonderful photograph at their museum.  It showed a parade float from the mid-1920s that featured the ‘Prune Goddess,’ a huge bowl of prunes, and the town’s motto: “The Buckle of the Prune Belt.”
     I loved it – the motto spelled out in flowers, the fading photograph, the whole thing.  But especially the motto.  It got me to thinking about other towns and cities and their mottoes:  Paris, The City of Light; Portland, The Rose City; Los Angeles, City of the Angels; San Francisco, Baghdad by the Bay; South Bend, Oyster Capitol of the World.  But none have the same caché as ‘The Buckle of the Prune Belt.’  (South Bend’s is close.)
     My musings took me to Oysterville, of course, and I wondered what motto would be appropriate here.  ‘Oyster Capitol of the World’ might have fit once upon a time… but now it’s taken.  (“By South Bend,” a little voice said. “just like they took the County Seat.)
     I reviewed the things we’re known for – the oldest continuous post office in the state; the first school district in the county; the site of the only lynching in Pacific County.  None seemed to lend themselves to a motto.  Especially not a motto as cool as Healdsburg’s.
     The nearest I could come was something my father used to say:  “Oysterville, where you’ll hear whispers of the past.”  Not bad…but I’m not proposing that we even have a motto.  I really don’t think we need one.  Not unless we’re ready to build a float.