April Fool’s joke hits home run The rumor that Joey Gomes was leaving baseball for football proved unfounded, but it’s a reminder that Prune Packer season begins June 5.
HEALDSBURGTRIBUNE.COM
OUR 161ST YEAR
NO 15
Roots blues at LBC The North Mississippi Allstars bring electric rural blues to town, with Bobby ‘Sinners’ Rush. 4
Open Mic: Evelyn Mitchell The council member advocates for engagement as a way to protect and support local community. 7
APRIL 9, 2026
The point is the pizza ● Acre lands at Mill Street Row By Christian Kallen
Photo by Rick Tang
New entry in the local pizza scene The owners and staff of Acre Pizza show off the first pepperoni pie, fresh out of the electric Pizza Master ovens, as the Healdsburg branch opens its doors this week. From left, Steve DeCosse, Marci Ellison, Courtney Negrevski, Sharon DeCosse and Claudia Rivas.
— MORE PAGE 12
Honors to girls team, volunteers ● Grove Street Project to move forward From the City of Healdsburg Healdsburg City Hall was standing-room-only as community
members came together to celebrate accomplishments and legacies at the April 6 Healdsburg City Council meeting. The council honored the Healdsburg High School Varsity Girls Basketball Team for “exceptional determination, resilience, and teamwork throughout the 2025–2026 season” on its way to winning its first North Coast Section title since 1995. The council praised the team for their success, with Councilmember Mitchell noting that “Healds-
burg is a great place and you make it even better.” The nex t proclamat ion declared that April is “Arts, Culture and Creativity Month in the City of Healdsburg.” The proclamation recognized that “arts, culture and creativity are essential public goods, vital for the health and growth of thriving communities.” Noah Jeppson and Michiko Conklin of the Arts & Culture Commission accepted it. — More on page 3
The hottest ticket in town on Monday, April 6, arrived unannounced—a soft opening of the newest restaurant in Healdsburg, Acre Pizza. The last time so much local attention focused on the globally popular quick dinner occurred in August 2022, when JC-district favorite Mambo’s opened in the Vineyard Plaza. It joined a comfortable cadre of local pizzerias, from casual (Round Table) to more bespoke (Pizzando). Acre, however, is a long-anticipated addition to the growing Mill Street Row collection of businesses spawned by the renovation of the old Mill Street Antiques collective space at 44-B Mill St. Just a few short months ago Quail & Condor opened its expansive new bakery café at 44-J Mill St., and now it will take just a few steps around the corner to get from café to pizza at Acre. That alone lends the newest pizza place in town certain sta-
tus—and it’s only the fourth Acre in the county, joining pizzerias in Petaluma, Cotati and Sebastopol’s Barlow. The name might be familiar to coffee lovers, as Acre Coffee at one time had six local coffee houses in the county and one in San Francisco. “But when Covid came, we added pizza to two locations and closed the others down,” said Steve DeCosse, co-owner of the small chain with his wife, Sandra. “We kept making the pizza, and it became busy because everybody could do takeout.” They took playful advantage of Covid concerns, too, giving away a free roll of toilet paper with each pizza. The jump from coffee to pizza may not sound like a natural progression, but both commodities are common and premiere, the sort of products that many consumers enjoy frequently, and rely on quality and service to retain brand loyalty. — More on page 5