March 2026 • Foundation for Petaluma Public Waldorf

The entrance told you everything you needed to know.

A hand-painted directional sign greeted guests as they walked in: Maui, 2,338 miles. Dillon Beach, 22 miles. Stormy’s Sippin’ Shack, straight ahead. You made it to Sunset Splash!

And then the doors opened, and the world that had been built inside the Petaluma Veterans Hall came into full view.

Sunset Splash — the Foundation’s first major auction since the school’s creation — was joyful, high energy, and entirely beautiful. It was exactly the kind of night that reminds us why we chose this school.

From the moment guests arrived, there was a palpable sense of warmth and belonging. Families, teachers, and friends of the school mingled easily, laughter and conversation filling the hall. The evening centered on the children and the shared purpose of sustaining their education.

We Set a Goal. Then We Blew Past It.

Here’s what happened when 297 donors showed up for Valley Vista Public Waldorf School:

Goal: $130,000
Raised: $184,488 (42% over goal)

Every paddle raised, every bid placed, every item donated was a vote of confidence in this school and the children who learn here.

Before the Doors Even Opened

Long before the first guest arrived, the hall was already becoming something else entirely.

A hand-built wooden sun — painted in panels of yellow, orange, and rust, assembled on a pallet and hauled in from the school — rose beside the band stage. Volunteers climbed ladders to hang a sweeping hand-painted mural: rolling blue-grey waves, a warm gradient sky, and a whale tail breaching at the center. Hand-dyed silk fabrics in sunset colors draped the stage. A fire pit constructed out of drift wood and glowing lights, anchored one corner of the room, giving folks a place to gather and connect.

Every table held a centerpiece assembled by hand: driftwood logs carrying pillar candles, wine bottles filled with dried grasses, rope-wrapped bottles, and small felt starfish — each one hand-sewn in a different color, so no two tables were alike.

*The hall became an imaginative coastal world, built entirely by members of this community.*

Then there was the bar. Stormy’s Sippin’ Shack wasn’t just a drinks station — it was a fully built nautical world: salvaged wood planks forming the bar front, a painted ship’s wheel, a hand-painted papier-mâché marlin suspended overhead, globe floats strung in nets, a hand-lettered sign, Edison bulbs on a rope. It took days to build. It looked like it had always been there.

*Stormy’s Sippin’ Shack: built from scratch by community volunteers.*

The Night Itself

Guests arrived as neighbors, as strangers, as families who had waved at each other in the pickup line but maybe never quite found the moment to connect. The gorgeous (and delicious!) grazing table gave everyone a reason to slow down and chat with new friends.

Our parent auctioneer/MC and co-MC transformed themselves into Poseidon and a mermaid for the night. Three parents arrived unintentionally coordinated in deep sea blue, their elaborate fascinators each featuring a different sea creature: one topped with a starfish, one with a crab. Ocean explorers, fisherwomen, and a few uniquely dressed captains rounded out the crowd. The costumes added to the playful spirit of the night and made it clear that this community knows how to celebrate together.

The silent auction tables lined the walls, filled with generous offerings from more than 300 local businesses, families, and community members. Along one wall, the class art projects told a quiet story about what happens inside Waldorf classrooms: nineteen pieces spanning every grade level, lit with fairy lights. Wet-felted weather scenes, embroidered birds in flight, geometric string art, Norse-inspired mosaics, circular weavings, a community fingerprint, origami butterflies in flight, and a hand-carved Black Walnut Viking chair. Each one facilitated by dedicated teachers and parent volunteers; a quiet testament to what a whole-child education looks like in practice.

*Wet-Felted Weather Scenes by our TK/K students & parent helpers.*

The Fund-A-Need was the emotional center of the evening. Beloved members of our teaching community shared stories about the everyday moments that make a Waldorf education so powerful: children discovering confidence through craft and movement, growing into themselves in a school that truly sees them. The room got very quiet. More than a few people wiped tears from their eyes. Then the paddles went up, and the generosity that followed took everyone's breath away.

*Teachers share their stories of impact and transformation.*

Later, The Bad Parents (a band made up of current and former parents) took the stage as lifeguards. Their set moved from Dua Lipa to Prince to Outkast, and when “Living on a Prayer” closed the night, the entire room was singing together. DJ Urn then took the stage and kept the dance floor packed until the lights came on.

It was joyful, heart-centered, and perfectly reflective of the spirit of this school!

*The Bad Parents bring the house down. DJ Urn keeps it there.*

What Your Generosity Makes Possible

Funds raised through Sunset Splash sustain the programs, materials, and experiences that define a public Waldorf education at Valley Vista; things that public funding alone doesn’t fully cover:

Handwork and movement programs
Classroom aides in TK, Kindergarten, and Handwork
Art-integrated classroom materials
Field trips and adventure learning experiences
Teacher training and mentorship
Library and music resources
Festivals and community celebrations

These aren’t extracurriculars. They are the heart of how students here learn — head, hands, and heart, woven together.

Thank You!

To the Auction Committee, the Class Project Coordinators, the volunteers who spent days building a world inside the Petaluma Veterans Hall, the teachers who shared their stories, the businesses who donated, the performers who played, and every single person who showed up with generosity of heart — thank you!

As one attendee put it afterward, the evening felt like “a beautiful blending of people — everyone contributing what they could with generosity of heart.”

And throughout the evening, one thing remained unmistakably clear: the children, their teachers, and the shared commitment to their education were at the center of it all.