Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of California, is one of the northernmost counties of the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Its population in 2008 is estimated at 466,741. Its largest city and county seat is Santa Rosa.

Sonoma is the southwestern county of California's Wine Country region, which also includes Napa, Mendocino, and Lake counties. It has thirteen approved American Viticultural Areas and over 250 wineries. In 2002 Sonoma County ranked as the thirty-second county in the United States in agricultural production. As early as 1920 Sonoma County was ranked as the eighth most agriculturally productive U.S county and a leading producer of poultry products, hops, grapes, prunes, apples, and dairy products, largely due to the abundance of high quality irrigation water. More than 7.4 million tourists visit each year, in 2006 they spent more than $1 billion. Sonoma County is the home of Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College.

Sonoma was one of the original counties formed when California became a state in 1850 with its county seat originally the town of Sonoma. However, by the early 1850s the town of Sonoma had declined in importance in terms of both commerce and population. Elements in the newer, rapidly growing towns of Petaluma, Santa Rosa, and Healdsburg began vying to move the county seat to their towns. The fate was decided following an election for the state legislature in which James Bennett of Santa Rosa defeated Joseph Hooker of Sonoma and introduced a bill that ultimately resulted in Santa Rosa being confirmed as county seat in 1854.

Sonoma County was severely shaken by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The displacements along the fault line averaged 15 feet (4.6 m).

Events: http://www.sonoma.com/events.html

Parks and Recreation: http://www.parks.sonoma.net/

County Website: http://www.sonoma-county.org/

School District: http://www.scoe.org/