Page 36 - Sonoma County Gazatte May 2017

The Great Petaluma Chili Cookoff, Salsa, and Beer Tasting
Penngrove Market looks terri c with fresh construction and a great barn red paint job with white trim. Clean new windows are sparkling. Word has it that several local couples plan to open a café and fresh, local foods market, with a sometime-in-July ballpark date. It’s been two years since the Great Fire of May 7, 2015 closed the market. A re-open can’t happen soon enough!
Get Rid of Cooking Oil, don’t put it in the land ll, or heaven forbid, down the drain. I took mine to the Willowbrook Ale House parking lot. At the back, there’s a collection thingy. Just open the lid and pour it in. Now, don’t you feel better? It’s at 3600 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma. Then, treat yourself to a burger.
Backroad Challenge – May 20 Registration is open for the 2017 Backroad Challenge and you can sign-up online. It’s your chance to ride one of three epic Wine Country back road routes that will take your breath away and test your resolve. The ride starts and ends at Penngrove Park, 11800 Main Street. Your reward is a delicious BBQ at the Backroad Festival. You can sign up for the Half-Metric, Metric or Century rides, ranging from 99.54 to 35.52 miles. Go to www.backroadchallenge.com for all the details. The website even presents elevations.
(greatchilicookoff.org) is the perfect spring primer for us all to get out and enjoy Petaluma’s great weather, food, and beer, after a long and soggy winter. Held
at the Petaluma Fairgrounds on Sat, May 6, the Great Petaluma Chill Cookoff is not only a great food event, but has been highlighted by craft beef aficionados due to the two dozen breweries and cideries that pour in the beer garden each year. Where other beer festivals cost more, and do not include any food, “Chili” offers a great selection of local craft beers, along with all the great chili and salsa you can eat.
The 2017 Open Studios Tours is scheduled for the weekend of May 6-7, from 11am – 5pm. Sponsored by the Petaluma Arts Association (petalumaarts. org), which marks its 60th anniversary this year, this year’s tour includes 22 artists at 14 different studios around Petaluma. We try to buy at least one local piece of artwork a year, to not only support local artists, but also because once hung on our wall, it reminds us of what a great community we live in.
This year marks several milestones for “Chili”, including its 20th Anniversary. Known as the Chili Empress, this will be Laura Sunday’s final year running the event, after creating and nurturing “Chili” into the North Bay’s premier spring food and beer event over the past 20 years. Also retiring this year are the Tree Huggin’ Hippies, whose very first chili competition was 20 years ago at the inaugural Great Petaluma Chili Cookoff. Since that time, they have gone on to win just about every chili competition they entered, including the state finals. Yours truly will be in attendance too, as I run the local celeb judging panel, as well as tally all the People’s Choice votes at the end of the day.
Who’s That Knocking at the Door? Our neighborhood and Nextdoor
is abuzz about door-to-door salespeople who o er a lower rate per therm on natural gas, than PG&E. If you’re interested in transferring to them, they will want to see your PG&E account number. It’s up to you, but keep in mind.... PG&E infrastructure is still used, even if you buy the gas from one of the 25 gas companies called Core Transport Agents (CTA) who sell gas to PG&E. Here’s a list of them in a shortened tinyurl web link: tinyurl.com/PG-ECTA. Customers should know the “charge per therm” from PG&E is a bundled rate that includes the gas commodity and transportation costs, whereas the CTA’s price is only for the gas commodity cost per therm.
The Sonoma Resource Conservation District (sonomarcd.org) is a “local non-regulatory organization whose mission is to promote responsible natural resource management through voluntary community stewardship and technical assistance.” Basically, RCD helps preserve our natural resources, often by teaming with local farmers and ranchers to help them maintain their land for agriculture, instead of selling out to a developer. Because of RCD’s work, they often get access to areas that are not generally open to the public, like
Some solicitors have clipboards or nametags with the PG&E logo, or
imply they are working for PG&E. According to Deanne Contreras, PG&E spokesperson, PG&E’s policy is to call you before sending a worker to access your property, home or meter. The worker will have a legitimate name badge. Customers always should ask to see identi cation before allowing anyone claiming to be a PG&E representative inside their home. PG&E employees always carry their ID and are willing to show it to you. If a person claiming
to be a PG&E employee has identi cation and you still feel uncomfortable, call PG&E’s customer service line at 1-800-743-5000 to verify an appointment and/or PG&E’s presence in the community. If you feel threatened in any way, notify local law enforcement immediately. Try to get a license plate number. A separate issue going on: It is criminal to impersonate a PG&E worker to gain access to a home for criminal purposes. Call your law enforcement if you suspect someone is checking out your home.
their upcoming private tour of Jacobsen Ranch (Sat, May 6, 10am-1pm), where guests will learn about the Petaluma Marsh, hay production and ranching near the bay, and walk the stunning ranch property along the river.
“The Petaluma Community Engagement Fair (Sun, May 7, noon – 4pm @ the Lucchesi Center) is a grassroots, non-partisan effort to encourage and support residents’ engagement in the life of our community based on the values of respect, appreciation, and understanding of diversity and toward the goals of a sustainable environment, inclusive economy and the provision of assistance to those in need.” Contact Marjorie Helm @ MarjorieHelm10@gmail. com for more info.
Finding History Day, May 21 – Free! Discover and celebrate the hidden treasures held in the many historical archives within Sonoma County! History groups are gathering at the DeTurk Round Barn from 10 am to 2 pm to showcase their collections and events. You’ll enjoy free admission – and who hasn’t always wanted to visit the DeTurk, at 819 Donohue Street, SR? There will be Mini-workshops, Book Signings, Presentations and Tours of local SR historical sites and archives. Petaluma organizations who will be represented include the Petaluma Museum Association, the Northwestern Paci c Railroad Historical Society and the Petalumans of Yesteryear. They will be joined by 25 other historical societies, libraries, museums, and 8 local authors, 3 speakers, conservation/preservation workshops and lots more. Download the Finding History Day ier at sonomacounty.ca.gov/Historical-Records-Commission/ Finding-History-Day/
Info: 707-545-0831 x 1562 or email: FindingHistoryDay@gmail.com
The Petaluma Police are warning both homes and business to be aware of a current telephone scam in which the caller demands immediate payment for alleged past due PG&E bills or else the customer will immediately lose their power. I’ll keep this simple - legit companies send bills, and when not paid, send more bills, and when not paid, resort to warning letters. By the time they call, you are well aware that you are in arears. Trust your intuition – If it doesn’t feel right, that’s because it isn’t.
As a kid, one of my favorite events of the year was the Living History Days (Sat, May 13, 10am – 4pm) at Petaluma’s Old Adobe (petalumaadobe.com). Living History Days gives present-day Petalumans a glimpse at what life was like on the historic adobe in the mid-1800’s, when the Old Adobe served as the agricultural center of General Vallejo’s 100 square mile ranch and employed
as many as 2,000 workers. Much of what we enjoy about Petaluma today, including our great wineries and breweries, can trace their roots back to the Old Adobe.
“Daily Acts (dailyacts.org) is a non-profit focused on sustainability, with the“core belief that every choice you make matters.” They offer some incredibly insightful, and useful classes, including their upcoming “EmPOWERing Our Communities” forum on energy and efficiency, with tips on how to conduct your own DIY energy audit of your home (Thur, May 4, 6:30-8pm), “Waste Not, Want Not – Buiding Soil & Community through Composting” (Tue, May 9, 6-8pm), “Garden Design Workshop – Creating your Water-Wise Oasis” (Wed, May 17, 5:30-8pm), and “Growing Our Gardens More Resilient – Habitat Gardening for Pollinators” (Wed, May 24, 5:30-7:30pm.) They will also be holding “Rockin’ Homesteads Tours” in Petaluma, Cotati, and Windsor on Sat, May 13, from 10am – 1pm.
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