In and around Sonoma this week
First Friday for Art in Sonoma is here on February 3. It’s all walkable, a lovely array of food and drink are provided and the experience is fun, cultural, educational and stimulating. Sonoma Valley photographer Sandie Nalezny is the Artist of the Month at the Sunflower Caffe, 421 First Street West. The opening is from 5 to 7 p.m. and features pours by St. Supery Vineyards, music by JOYRIDE, and an eclectic crowd of your friends and neighbors. More information can be found at sonomasunflowercaffe.com.
Next, take a lovely walk through the Plaza to the Sonoma Community Center at 276 East Napa Street to meet the new Winter 2012 Artist in Residence Tyler Nansen, also from 5 to 7 p.m. Up in Gallery Room 212 food and drink will be handy and for more information about the Community Center you can go to sonomacommunitycenter.org. Head back towards the Plaza and stop in at the Arts Guild of Sonoma Valley at 140 East Napa Street. You will see a wonderful selection of local artists in the home of the oldest Arts Guild in California. Food and drink Sonoma Style are complimentary and check out the Guilds new website at artsguildofsonoma.com. Doors are open from 6 to 8 p.m.
On Saturday, February 4 the Valley’s newest shop, The Republic of Thrift, will have their Grand Opening. Founder and owner Jeannette Tomany has created the perfect blend of thrift store shopping, recycling, and supporting the Sonoma Valley Unified School District plus additional nonprofits like Pets Lifeline. Here it is in Jeanette’s own words, “I have been so impressed by the Sonoma community! The public, people outside the school communities, have been stopping by to tell me how much they like the store concept and how proud they are of me. Their kind words and of course the incredible support by school families and friends have gotten me through the stress of starting a new business and keeping my eye on the goal of helping our public schools.” The new store will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning February 4. The Republic of Thrift is located at 17496 Sonoma Highway and for more information call 933.9850. How cool is that!
Wednesday, February 8 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at MacArthur Place, 29 East MacArthur Street, is the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance recruitment event. All prospective mentors are welcome. I am on my second tour of mentoring and you all know I’m a busy guy but if I can find the one hour a week to mentor you can too. There are children waiting for you to walk into their lives. Take the first step and attend this event. You will not regret it. For more information go to sonomamentoring.org.
Save the date Saturday June 16 for a Haitian Cultural Festival and fundraiser for the Timoun d’Haiti. More information forthcoming.
Last night the C.U.S.P. group – Community United for Swimming Pools – held a Town Hall meeting at Ramekins Culinary School, Special Events and Inn at 450 West Spain Street. I am a proud member of this newest ‘Gang Of 5’ along with Sonoma Council Member Tom Rouse, Arden Coturri, Paul Favaro and Sam Coturri. We first of all want to thank Sarah and Darius Anderson the owners of Ramekins for their generous donation of the lovely space so that our community could gather together and talk. A big thank you to SVTV Ch 27 Comcast Cable and the CommonBond Foundation for bringing the meeting into the homes of our citizens. Over 70 folks came out, spoke about their dreams and concerns regarding a community pool and were heard. More meetings are planned and so if you would like to join us we would love to have your participation. Contact Sam Coturri at scoturri@gmail.com or call 337.0968.
“The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.”
– Mother Teresa
