For nearly 13 years, the former Graton firehouse sat mostly empty. These days, on Saturday and Sunday mornings, a coffee cart parked outside it serves coffee and pastries, and construction on a full cafe and bakery is underway inside. Sonoma Magazine reported in September that the project, Graton Station, opened the cart as its first phase this summer. Hoodline puts the building at 3120 Ross Road, calls Graton Station the town's first dedicated coffee shop, and adds fruit shrubs poured as sodas to the cart's menu.

The building started out as a train depot on the Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad, an electric interurban line that hauled West County's apples and farm freight. Its old right-of-way is now the West County Trail. The weekend of October 16 through 18 is built around the same fruit that used to leave from this depot. Graton and the farms around it hold the Saturday events, and Sebastopol's newest restaurants hold Sunday.

A depot that is back in the apple business

Four founders run Graton Station: Ferrell Carter, Adrian Apana, Tori Immel and Matt Jorgensen. The cart is open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Underneath the food program sits Preservatory, a food preservation and reclamation project from Apana and Carter. It turns Sonoma County apples, tomatoes, berries and other produce into jams, pickles, sauces and shrubs. The two chefs previously worked at SingleThread, Troubadour Bread & Bistro, Quail & Condor and Maison Porcella. So a shrub soda from the cart in mid-October is local produce put up in a building that once shipped local produce out.

Inside, the full cafe is still under construction. When it opens, the planned menu covers breakfast and lunch: breakfast sandwiches, savory porridge, mushroom toast, soups, salads, roasted chicken sandwiches, and house-made breads and pastries, changing with what local farms have. The team also plans communal tables, lounge space, and evenings with dinners and live music. For now it's the weekend cart, which happens to cover both mornings of next weekend, October 17 and 18.

Saturday, October 17, from the cart outward

Saturday packs West County's apple season into one day, and every stop on it falls outside downtown Sebastopol.

8 a.m. on Ross Road

Start with coffee at the cart, which opens at eight.

9 a.m. at the Graton Community Club

The Graton Community Club's "Growing Our Future" Fall Flower Show + Plant Sale runs Friday, October 16, and Saturday, October 17, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days at 8996 Graton Road. Admission is free. The cart closes at 1 p.m. and the show opens at 9 a.m., so one morning in Graton covers both.

11 a.m. or 1 p.m. at Gold Ridge Organic Farms

Gold Ridge Organic Farms, at 3387 Canfield Road in Sebastopol, runs its Ultimate Apple Trolley Experience on October 17. Tours leave at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. With two departures, you can split the day. Take the 11 a.m. trolley if you want the afternoon free for cider, or the 1 p.m. if the morning ran long in Graton.

Noon to 5 p.m. at Ethic Ciders

Ethic Ciders holds its Fall Harvest Celebration from noon to 5 p.m. at 8490 Occidental Road, Sebastopol. There will be live music, cider on tap and locally made apple treats for sale. A separate food-and-cider ticket pairs a barbecue plate from A&M BBQ with a premium cider made for the event.

That gives you four stops in one day, each tied to the harvest, and none of them on Main Street.

Sunday belongs to Sebastopol's summer openings

By Sunday the weekend moves into town. Sebastopol had more well-documented restaurant openings this summer than any other West County town, and most of them are open Sunday.

The Sebastopol Farmers Market runs every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., rain or shine, all year. Within walking distance of downtown, these opened this summer:

• Bonnie Bagels & Co., 280 S. Main St. Owner Michael Sousa and executive chef Greg Kalergis opened in mid-August with kettle-boiled, baked bagels. Sonoma Magazine reported that the shop sold out within three hours on opening day and again the next day. Salt bagels are on the board, along with schmears like caper dill, chile crisp and green olive. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
• Chippy, 6751 McKinley St., Suite 130. This fish-and-chips cafe comes from Acre Pizza owner Steve DeCosse and soft-opened in mid-June. The menu also has clam chowder, chicken katsu and fish sandwiches.
• Alesta Modern Mediterranean, 7233 Healdsburg Ave. It serves Turkish and wider Mediterranean cooking and was open by the Press Democrat's June 17 roundup.
• Wylde Provisions Co., 500 Robinson Road. This playground cafe pairs chef-made bowls and sandwiches with coffee and beer, and was among the summer newcomers the Press Democrat covered in September.

Sunday afternoon has one fixed event. The Barlow's calendar lists the HEAD WEST Marketplace for October 18 at 2 p.m. at 6770 McKinley St. Chippy is on the same street, which makes it a natural late lunch before the market.

One Barlow opening to keep an eye on is the second Wild Poppy cafe, planned for Suite 160. A Sonoma Magazine report in September said it was expected to open in late September. As of this writing, we haven't been able to confirm that it has opened.

The same week, out toward the coast

The apple weekend also overlaps with two coastal events, which helps if you're hosting guests for more than two days. The 12th annual Hitchcock Film Festival runs in Bodega Bay on October 16 and 17, and Sonoma County's Black Cod Week runs October 17 through 25, according to the Sonoma County events calendar. Black Cod Week lasts nine days, so it carries well past the apple weekend for anyone who spends Saturday in Graton and saves the coast for midweek.

Later in the month, the same calendar lists Geyserville's Fall Colors Festival and Vintage Car Show on October 25, Beltane Ranch's pumpkin patch and fall festival in Glen Ellen on October 30, and Halloween events in Forestville and Monte Rio on October 31.

Where the season goes after the trolley rides

The apple weekend doesn't end the season. It moves indoors and toward the holidays, mostly at the same places that hosted October 17.

The November dates come from the Sebastopol Chamber's calendar, which lists the dates without fuller details for the sourdough class, the marketplace or the Turkey Trot. Ethic Ciders gives more about its popup: local artisans, mulled ciders, seasonal brandies and pommeaus, with no reservations required. The Sunday farmers market keeps its year-round hours through all of it.

Back on Ross Road, Graton Station's cart keeps weekend hours while construction continues on the cafe inside. Once it opens, the old depot will be able to serve breakfast and lunch from Preservatory's pantry of Sonoma County apples and other fruit.

Much of West County's character lives in buildings like the old Graton depot, put back to use for the town around it. If you own an orchard parcel or an older home in Graton or Sebastopol and want to talk about its history and its next chapter, Daniel Casabonne is glad to help. Request a private consultation.