It was a lot of preparation, work and planning for a very short visit.

But that’s protocol when the president of the United States stops by. For a little more than two hours on Thursday, President George W. Bush mingled with a several of Napa Valley’s elite for a GOP fundraiser at Harlan Estate off Oakville Grade.

His short visit, which included dinner, involved a small army of Secret Service agents, White House officials and local law enforcement.

On Thursday evening the presidential helicopter Marine One landed at Sutter Home Winery distribution center on Highway 29 in St. Helena. From there Bush was whisked away in a vehicle motorcade to Harlan. The entourage did not take a straight line from Sutter Home to Harlan. Instead, the barrage of SUVs, motorcycles, passenger vans and private vehicles wound its way down Highway 29, across Zinfandel Lane to Silverado Trail, onto Oakville Cross Road, then south on Highway 29 to Oakville Grade.

The zig-zag route meant closing those roads and a backup of traffic in both directions.

Sheriff’s Capt. John Robertson was the lead officer for the sheriff’s department. Robertson said about 50 sheriff’s deputies assembled for a briefing around noon, Thursday.

“We had 25 people in place at the landing site at Sutter Home and 25 people at the event at Harlan,” he said. “There were four people from our specialty team in the motorcade. The bomb squad made several sweeps of the landing site before the president’s helicopter landed.”

Robertson said it took about seven days to plan security for the president’s two-hour stay in the valley.

“We worked with Secret Service as well. We have to visit the sites and routes the president will be at and travel. Our main concern is for security. We can plan and plan, and those plans can change within hours to his arrival,” he said. “This visit went off without a hitch. Everything went very smoothly.”

The California Highway Patrol also played a big part in the success of the president’s visit.

“We provided traffic control from when he landed at Sutter Home to Harlan and back to the landing site. We had anywhere from 100 to 130 motor units on that section of road. That number included CHP motorcycles,” CHP Officer Hugo Mendoza said.

Mendoza said the department had to scramble to get enough manpower and vehicles.

“We were looking for officers to send hours before the event. I was supposed to be just at the landing site, but I had to double up and as soon as the motorcade took off, I had to race ahead of it and meet them at the event site,” he said. “I had two posts.”

Mendoza said the department was also short on patrol cars.

“We had to use several unmarked vehicles. But everything went as planned,” he said. “Everyone had an assignment and knew what they were responsible for.”

The private sector also got involved in the action.

Paul Stokey, owner of Tesoro Flowers in St. Helena used his and his staff’s creative talents to design the magnificent floral centerpieces for the tables at the event.

For the past 10 years, Stokey has been the house florist for Harlan Estates Winery.

“The winery contacted me. I also did the flowers for President Bush’s visit to Napa Valley in 2006. We wanted to do something extra special for the centerpieces,” Stokey said.

Stokey said the centerpieces consisted of rust Calle Lilies, Estelle, Terra Cotta and Leonidas roses with veburnum berries.

“We brought in all the rich reds.”

He said the planning took about a month. Although the Secret Service gave him Carte Blanche to use what every inspired him, Stokey said they did oversee his work.

“I was a little nervous, but they were extremely nice. They didn’t inspect any of my work, but just kept an eye on us as we put things together.”

Stokey made enough centerpieces to grace four tables that seated about 35 people each.

The flowers were donated after the event.

Enterprise Rent-a-Car supplied a sport utility vehicle and the passenger vans used in the motorcade.

The business was informed that transportation would be needed for about 85 people.

“We supplied one SUV and seven passenger vans which can accommodate 12 people each,” said Enterprise regional corporate manager Sarah Peterson. “We have a staff person that works closely with the government and lets us know when they need vehicles for these type of events. We had about a week to get ready.”

Peterson said “summer time can make it stressful finding that many vehicles. But we made it work. We rounded up the vehicles from the North Bay offices.”

The SUV and vans were driven to the Enterprise office on Soscol Avenue, where they were picked up by the White House staff.

Peterson said no special attention was given to picking out the vehicles. “We just made absolutely sure they were all clean, spotless,” she said.