Festivals & Events

Heirloom seeds! Petaluma’s newest retail store at the corner of Petaluma Blvd. North and E. Washington Street is Baker Creek Seed Bank. Fittingly housed in the historic Sonoma County National Bank building, the seed bank sells heirloom veggie, fruit, flower and herb seeds that your Grandmother or your Grandmother’s mother use to plant. Baker’s main store is located in Mansfield Missouri and this is their 1st store in the West.

In a time where Marion Nestle and Michael Pollen are making us aware of what we eat, many of us are looking at trying our hand at growing the fruits or vegtables our grandparents grew or ate when they were growing up. This is the seed store to visit.

Baker Creek Seed Bank - 199 Petaluma Blvd. North, closed on Saturdays, www.rareseeds.com

A former employee of ours, Mike Lee, who use to work at our Quality Inn, is now a professional photographer and soon-to-be-med student. Besides having a thriving graphic design/photography business, www.Focus97, he gives his time to Operation Rainbow, www.operationrainbow.org, serving as their documentarian.

In the last week Mike has been serving with Operation Rainbow in Haiti bringing some relief to everyone who needs medical attention. Mike has blogged and posted photos of the tragedy and resilency of the Haitians. Please visit either http://blog.focus97.com or www.operationrainbow.org to see what’s happening real time and help financially if you are able. Thank you

Here we are sliding towards the end of October and the annual pumpkin patch/corn maze off Hwy 101 at the north end of Petaluma is causing its yearly traffic jam.  Drive up for breakfast at Della Frattoria and stop over at the pumpkin patch for your Halloween delight.

Yesterday was the Autumunal Exquinox, which simply means it was the first day of Fall. Wow, where has the year gone - let’s not dwell on it - need an idea about what to do this coming weekend? The Sunday Chronicle had a great little article about pick-your-own apples and pumpkins, which just so happens to be up in our neck of the woods. The illusive Gravenstein apple, with a short season, is available right now. Click onto the link and start planning . . .

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/20/PK1Q19KNFT.DTL

yummy Gravenstein apples

For those of you who didn’t know, the Lagunitas IPA you’ve been drinking is manufactured in our little town of Petaluma. Yep, right here just down from our Quality Inn about a block or so. And they’ve just opened  their TapRoom and Beer Sanctuary, closed Monday and Tuesday, with live music. So forget about winetasting too foo foo, come check-out the brewskis, take a tour, have a bite to eat. Yo ho ho and a bottle of Pale Ale. . .

www.lagunitas.com

Lagunitas Brewing Company

Our little town of Petaluma is really lucky to have Cinnabar Theater as our own little slice of the cultural pie. Starting in August will be their Summer Music Festival and all cultures of music will be showcased, an Italian orchestra, Taiko drumming, jazz singing.  It’ll be San Francisco without the parking problem. www. cinnabar.2009-petaluma.summer.music.festival.htm

Petaluma's Cinnabar Theater Summer Music Festival

hey you, this weekend is NASCAR at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. I bet you still can get tickets to the race. The best thing is the weather will be perfect and even if you didn’t go to the race Petaluma has some quirky little places to visit, like the Farmer’s Market at Walnut Park on Sat at 2pm and Lala Creamery, a cute little ice cream place downtown on Petaluma Blvd. North that just opened. It use to be Deaf Dog Coffee, the greatest place to get a Mocha, but that’s another story.

Sonoma Valley is home to a variety of exciting events and festivals. From food and wine to arts and music, Sonoma Valley is the place to celebrate the good life with friends and family.