A Village Fair and a Fifth-Wheel Trailer - Lee Anne Birka
Lee Anne's Sonoma Journey - I Visited page
This is the first of three stories about Lee Anne's relationship with Sonoma.
🟩 A Village Fair and a Fifth-Wheel Trailer - Chapter 1 (You are reading this story.)
🟥 The Little House on Buena Vista Avenue - Chapter 2
Click the story title above to continue Lee Anne's journey as temporary work and housing lead to a permanent home in Sonoma Valley.
🟦 Twenty-Six Years Behind the Bar - Chapter 3
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Lee Anne Birka first remembers visiting Glen Ellen with her husband and unexpectedly finding the Glen Ellen Village Fair. She thought it was a wonderful small-town event. About three years later, a construction project brought them back to the area. They rented out their home in Soda Springs, bought a fifth-wheel trailer, and lived on a hillside property while a large house was being built. What began as a temporary move in 1998 became the beginning of Lee Anne's life in Sonoma Valley.
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My name is Lee Anne Birka, and I moved to Sonoma Valley in 1998.
Before that, I lived in Soda Springs in the Truckee area. I was married to a contractor, Scott Colburn, and he worked with two partners.
My first memory of visiting this area was about three years before we moved. Scott and I came through Glen Ellen and happened to find the Glen Ellen Village Fair.
I remember thinking, "This is a cool little event."
It had the feeling of the smaller communities where I had lived around Tahoe and Truckee. I grew up in Sacramento, which had always felt like a large city, but over time I discovered that I preferred smaller places.
We did not know then that we would return.
About three years later, Scott and his partners had an opportunity to build a large house in the hills above Glen Ellen and Kenwood.
The project was substantial enough that we decided to move to the property while the work was underway. We rented out our house in Soda Springs, bought a fifth-wheel trailer, and brought it to the construction site.
That trailer became our home while the house was being built.
The move was intended to be practical and temporary. Scott could be close to the construction project, and we could return to Soda Springs when the work was finished.
But moving to a place changes the way you experience it.
Glen Ellen was no longer simply the town where we had once come across a village fair. It became the place where we woke up every morning, where I needed to find work, and where our daily lives began taking shape.
I was in the hospitality business, so I started looking for a job. My first opportunity was at Viansa Winery, where I worked in the kitchen with Vicki Sebastiani.
The work brought me into Sonoma's wine and hospitality world, even though I soon realized the kitchen job was not the right long-term fit for me.
At the time, I could not know that another local establishment would become the center of my working life for more than twenty-five years.
I had come to Sonoma Valley because of a construction project and expected to live in a trailer only until the job was complete.
Instead, that temporary move introduced me to the community that would become home.
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Lee Anne first remembers Sonoma Valley through an unexpected visit to the Glen Ellen Village Fair.
About three years later, her husband's construction project brought them back to the area.
They rented out their Soda Springs home and lived in a fifth-wheel trailer on the construction property.
Lee Anne's preference for smaller communities helped Glen Ellen feel familiar and appealing.
A move intended to be temporary became the beginning of her life in Sonoma Valley.
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This story was created from a recorded conversation between Lee Anne Birka and Don Lundgren as part of the Sonoma Stories project. The conversation was edited for clarity and length while preserving Lee Anne's experiences, reflections, and voice. Once published, Lee Anne may request changes at any time or ask to have the story removed.
