Old Mill School Graduates Celebrate at the Lumber Yard!

After a rousing graduation ceremony at Old Mill School in downtown Mill Valley on Tuesday, June 17, the members of the 5th grade graduating class and many of their friends and family (175 folks in all), headed over, most of them on foot, to the Mill Valley Lumber Yard where owners Matt and Jan Mathews had generously donated their extraordinary and iconic Mill Valley property to host a celebration lunch.  As the graduates arrived, they were thrilled to find that this was not just some "stuffy" grown up lunch; the space allowed them to run and play to their hearts content - burning off some of the graduation excitement in the shadow of Mount Tam, and beside the cooling Old Mill Creek.  Piazza D'Angelo catered the delicious child and adult friendly lunch, complete with an ice cream sundae bar! Stephen Gordon, owner of Guideboat Company at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard, and Gibson Thomas, publisher and editor of Edible Marin and Wine Country magazine, and mother of one of the graduating 5th graders, donated a wooden boat paddle for each of the graduates, which they signed for each other to take home as mementos of their time together at Old Mill.  It was a great opportunity for many of the parents and other adults, who likely drive by the Mill Valley Lumber Yard site several times a day but had never stopped in, to see what the Mathews have already done to improve the historic property, and hear about their ideas for the future.  Guideboat, as well as lifelong Mill Valley resident Molly DeVries' Ambatalia and Gayle Nicoletti's Bloomingayles floral shop, all at the Mill Valley Valley Lumber Yard, are all locally owned businesses.   Congratulations to ALL the graduates in Mill Valley this time of year, and a great thank you to all of the members of our community who make their big days special. 

Gibson ThomasPublisher and Editor-in-Chief
edible Marin & Wine Country