photo credit: Courtesy of the SOFA Santa Rosa Arts District

WinterBlast, the annual arts festival in Santa Rosa’s SOFA Arts District, returns on Saturday, November 9 with open studios, live music, vendors, food and drink, and the popular lighted sofa parade.

You might hear it before you see it…

[Hub Bub Club music clip]

Music from marching bands like the Hub Bub Club and the Luther Burbank School Marimba Band lead you down side streets to a neighborhood tucked away behind Juilliard Park, and then you see it…fifty or more decorated sofas festooned with lights, propelled by people in costumes, dancing down South A Street, all inviting you to join in the holiday spirit. 

For about two decades the area known as the SOFA District has celebrated the change in seasons with this quirky parade.

Event producer Spring Maxfield said it all came about organically.

“Sofas are the theme, mostly because the bunch of artists who had art studios in the district over there were kind of poking fun at the district being named the SofADistrict, and that stands for South of A Street,” Maxfield said.

The first sofa parade happened about 20 years ago and Maxfield said the neighborhood has evolved over that time:

“There were still art studios, but it definitely was an overlooked, kind of neglected corner of Santa Rosa, and it’s only blocks from downtown, but it really is just kind of in the, I guess armpit of Highway 12 and 101, and just kind of forgotten about,” Maxfield explained. “And Juilliard Park used to have a pretty rough reputation, so it kind of kept people from going in that area. And then the Spinster Sisters moved in, the Astro got revamped, the artists grew up a little bit, and the area just really kind of blossomed into its own.”

The parade is filled with all kinds of themed sofas, and last year a popular subculture phenomenon called the Mrs. Roper Romp, based on a character from the sitcom “Three’s Company,” was immortalized as a sofa entry:

[Three’s Company theme music]

“They built a giant sofa, with a giant Helen Roper head and hands and cocktails, and a whole bunch of Helen Ropers romping down through the parade,” said the man behind the Roper Romp Sofa, Jim Macken, who has been designing and pushing sofas down South A Street since the beginning.

“Many sofas in the first couple years just didn’t make it the length of the parade (laughs) you know, just ‘cause they weren’t designed to really roll well,” Macken said.

Macken said it didn’t take long for participants to really get into it.

“It happened pretty quick, like within the first few years things were starting to get pretty elaborate,” Macken said. 

However, the DIY vibe is also important, as is a sense of whimsy:

“It’s supposed to be kinda goofy, you know. It doesn’t have to be anything that makes sense, or…last year there was one like ‘Rolling with the Gnomies’ you know, and they just had like gnomes on their sofa,” Macken said, adding that he’s created everything from a purple Prince-themed couch to a phoenix with painted flames, to a Shrek sofa. 

So what has he designed for this year’s event?

“A Viking dragon boat, and then I’m bringing back Mrs. Roper,” Macken said. 

In addition to the sofa parades, which happen at 5 PM and again at 7 PM, there are open artist studios from 3 to 5 PM, food trucks, live music, beer and wine, a DJ, and a whole section of local artisan makers.

Vendor coordinator Gloria Rubio said she attended WinterBlast for the first time last year.

“All the sofas were so, so creative. All the light up stuff. I have a small daughter who was three years old at the time and she just thought it was a fairy winter land,” Rubio said.

Rubio said she noticed that those attending WinterBlast seemed predisposed to supporting the vendors on site.

“People actually supported our art, and purchased our art, and of course, we want that, but it feels extra special coming from an arts community, when they’re supporting our art,” Rubio said. 

While it is free to attend, the event takes funding to put it all together, as well as a solid group of volunteers. Maxfield, who is also the executive director of the Santa Rosa Urban Arts Partnership, said joining WinterBlast a few years ago was a perfect fit for her nonprofit.