Our Niche Publications

Daniel Kennerson, now 33, and Jonathan Dorfman, now 36, both graduated from Nevada Union High School. They didn’t meet until both were working for a U.S. Department of Defense contractor based in the Loma Rica Industrial area of Grass Valley. The engineer and the physicist were trying to induce nuclear fusion, but a sideline was…

Co-founders Beth Moore and David Kuczora called themselves ringmasters. “That’s because coordinating the three aspects of the Wild Eye Pub – restaurant, saloon and event venue – can be like managing a three-ring circus,” Moore laughs. The popular Grass Valley establishment had been open for 20 months when COVID-19 changed their trajectory. Like most new-business…

Brian Chambers has blended love for his family with passion for art, opening a new space amid the COVID-19 pandemic. His gallery, The Chambers Project in mid-town Grass Valley, showcases a psychedelia-fueled aesthetic where he offers multi-media events, pioneers collaborative creation, draws innovators from around the world and boosts the local economy.

To eat out, to lift a glass with friends, to laugh and joke — without fear that your dentures are going to fall out — that’s a kind of freedom few people would think about. Dentist Joseph Miller thought about freedom a lot as he planned and built a state-of-the art dental implant center in…

“I smell smoke!!”  Those words strike fear into the hearts of Nevada County residents, but local businesses and organizations can help people to make their properties fire resistant. “People reach out to us because they want that information,” says Fire Safe Council of Nevada County Executive Director Jamie Jones. The nonprofit was formed to aid…

Businesses already are adapting to a warming climate, which is bringing bigger and more destructive wildfires, longer and deeper drought, and more frequent rain-on-snow events that cause flooding. Some of the consequences include higher insurance bills, the need to use more energy and costs for making buildings more fire-resistant. Business owners (and residents) can take…

The paint you choose for your business or home can help solve the climate crisis. That’s because most paints contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which gas off and contribute to the warming of our atmosphere. You can smell VOCs when you paint a room or get into a new car. They are solvents used…

During the early COVID-19 pandemic, when lock-downs shuttered brick-and-mortar retailers, the already growing e-commerce sector surged. In 2020, the pandemic’s first year, online sales across the United States grew 43 percent, rising from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nevada County businesses already were struggling against…

Empty supermarket shelves during the pandemic were an abrupt wake-up call, reminding shoppers that local farmers are a welcome alternative to standard grocery distribution channels. CASA Farm owners Victor Estrada-Hildebrand and Michael Hildebrand-Estrada had just purchased their five-acre agricultural property outside Nevada City.

The Gold Rush returned to Nevada County in 2020. Real estate was hot. Buyers were desperate. Sellers were riding high on the money wave. Then, in the summer of 2022, the wave froze.

As climate warming causes wildfires to become larger and more severe, Nevada County property owners face a new challenge: the availability and cost of new fire insurance.

Based in Penn Valley, the business Kellie Swallow had worked so hard to build shut down three times for extended periods. How was she going to keep Me Time Sanctuary going amid the pandemic? “I needed to be resourceful,” Swallow revealed, “so I applied and qualified for a PPP Loan, an EIDL Loan, a California…

I’m on a mission of health and wellness!” declares Homer Nottingham, who spends his weeks offering free and low-cost fitness classes.

Sixteen years ago, Vivian Tipton got a phone call while on a cruise in the Cayman Islands: Her son, Joseph, had died of an overdose. She felt like she couldn’t move air through her body. For a while, she couldn’t take care of herself or even speak properly.

Michael Kimmes likes to say he was rescued from an orphanage and a life of near-slave labor. Now, he rescues trees destined for firewood.