The Gifting Games: Edge Esmeralda Meets Healdsburg

Edge Esmeralda spends a month each year prototyping the future inside someone else's hometown. But most of that prototyping happens among people who already bought a ticket. The Gifting Games invites residents to cross the line between village and town, literally, and discover what flourishing looks like when it includes the people of Healdsburg, not just the people building the future inside the gathering. Participants meet at the Plaza for a brief orientation on the practice of authentic, safe, and appropriate generosity: making eye contact, slowing down, giving presence, offering food, flowers, conversation, or simply asking a neighbor what they need. Each participant receives a small cash budget (drawn from this $5,000 fund) and a few suggested gifts (wildflowers, a coffee, a handwritten note), but the real game is improvisation: reading the moment, following curiosity, and creating the most connection possible. After a couple of hours out in town (solo, in pairs, or small groups), everyone returns to the Plaza to share stories, integrate what they experienced, and reflect on what they learned: about themselves, about what Healdsburg actually needs from its temporary residents, and about what "flourishing" means for a wider variety of humans than we typically connect with. This isn't charity tourism. It's a practice. The format is drawn from a real experiment I ran on the streets of New York in 2020: a full day of approaching strangers with gifts, listening to their stories, and discovering that the resources most people need (presence, dignity, being seen) are freely available if we're brave enough to offer them. Key learnings from that day: it's shockingly easy to make someone's day; the magic happens when you stay a few minutes longer than comfortable; and the giver receives as much or more than they give. Why this matters for Edge Esmeralda specifically: Healdsburg has already been generous with this village: offering ticket discounts to locals, free programming on Wednesdays, and a host-family program that puts attendees into local homes. That generosity mostly flows one direction, from town to village. The Gifting Games flips it, even briefly, and gives residents a structured way to be good guests, not just good attendees. It's also goodwill building and a live rehearsal for the thing Edge Esmeralda says it's actually building toward: a permanent village near Cloverdale that will need to know how to be a neighbor, not just a destination, from day one. What success looks like: 40+ Edge Esmeralda residents have a fun and powerful experience of the town they're living in, not just the village inside it. Relationships form that outlast the event. Ideas are seeded for how the permanent Esmeralda village treats its future neighbors from day one. Collaborations are sparked with Healdsburg organizations and small businesses with long histories in the town. Edge Esmeralda develops a repeatable practice for community engagement that doesn't require an app, a ticket, or a governance structure. Just showing up as ourselves. ━━━ Budget Request ━━━ • The Gifting Games is a low-cost, high-impact way to build real relationships between Edge Esmeralda and the town it lives inside for a month, and to stress-test whether our ideas about human flourishing survive contact with the Plaza, the vineyards, and the porches a few blocks off it. Budget breakdown (~$5,000): Participant gifting budgets (40 participants × $75 each): $3,000. Supplies (flowers, food, care packages, gift bags — sourced from Healdsburg shops and farmers' market vendors wherever possible): $1,000. Orientation materials, documentation, and facilitation: $500. Post-event meal and integration gathering, open to the Healdsburg neighbors participants met that day: $500. Facilitator: $1,400 — $6,400 ━━━ Total: $6,400 ━━━