Who is Bill Soberanes?

We are looking forward to the umpteenth annual Bill Soberanes Halloween Festival, held tomorrow (Saturday, October 27th – 11 am- 1 pm) at The Plaza North and The Plaza South Shopping Centers. This event is a Petaluma favorite and regularly draws close to one thousand children and their families to trick or treat at The Plaza shops on the Saturday before Halloween.

But who is Bill Soberanes? And why did we name the Halloween Festival after him?

Bill wore many hats: Founder of the World Wrist-Wrestling Championships (a statue in his honor stands at the corner of Washington Street and Petaluma Boulevard North), a newspaper columnist and photographer (Bill’s column appeared in every issue of the (Petaluma) Argus Courier from June 2, 1954, until June 4, 2003, two days after his death).

Bill spearheaded the Ugly Dog Contest. Bill coined the word “peopleologist” and promptly became the world’s leading peopleologist, accumulating at least 45,000 photos of himself with politicians, movie stars, rock stars and sports figures among others. He was a boxer and a Merchant Marine. He was deeply involved in the Whiskerino Contest in Petaluma.

Bill definitely earned the name “Mr. Petaluma”.

Bill was also husband to wife Jane Soberanes and they were two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.
PNSC Halloween SignWhen Ellen Moorehead, former marketing director of The Plaza South, decided to create the Halloween Festival, she didn’t need to look any further than Bill Soberanes to find the perfect person to host the festival.

In addition to everything else that Bill did, he also presided over an annual seance where thirteen people (including yours truly the last couple of years) would grasp hands for 13 minutes at midnight on Halloween and try to raise the spirit of Harry Houdini. Although the spirit of Harry Houdini never appeared, those seances have inspired a movie – The Annual Harry Houdini Seances. I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the last three seances that
Bill held. They were an experience I will always treasure.

Bill and Jane came to every single Halloween Festival. He never missed a one of them. After he died, his wife Jane continued to come, and to this day, many of Bill’s family members join us at the festival.

Check out John Maher’s – aka “Petaluma Pete” – great video celebrating the life and times of Bill Soberanes.

And don’t forget to visit us at the Bill Soberanes Halloween Festive - Saturday, October 31st, 11am-1pm here at The Plazas North and South - Home of Kmart, CVS, Raley’s and Trader Joe’s. Trick or Treating with the merchants, face painting, lots of fun. We are also running a Halloween donation that morning, so please bring your old costumes and Halloween accessories for us to redistribute.