Page 21 - Sonoma County Gazette June 2019

“Funky Fridays” Concert Series Returns
to Sonoma Valley’s Hood Mansion
Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation, in conjunction with concert organizers Bill Myers and Linda Pavlak, announce the return of the Funky Fridays summer concert series. The 13-evening live music series will begin on Friday, June 7 and run through August 30. Concerts are held on the lawn of the historic Hood Mansion off Highway 12 at Pythian Road.
The 2019 concert series opens with the popular Levi Lloyd & Friends. In subsequent weeks, audiences will again enjoy The Bluesburners, The Big
Fit (formerly known as Frobeck), Volker Strifler Band, Poyntlyss Sistars Band, Dylan Black Project, Gator Nation, Soulshine, Rock and Roll Rhythm Revue, Jami Jamison Band, Soul Fuse and Stax City. The popular Funky Dozen will close out the season.
Funky Fridays gates open at 5:30 pm with 7-9 PM show time. Adult admission $10. Children 18 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or in advance. Parking is free.
The complete band schedule, volunteer sign-up, advance ticket sales and more details about the event are available at www.funkyfridays.info.
Funky Fridays Funds Key Parks Projects in the Sonoma Valley
In the three years that Funky Fridays has supported the Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation, the concert series has contributed more than $150,000 to benefit parks. Following are highlights of these donations.
In partnership with El Verano Family Resource Center and La Luz, Regional Parks’ Community Engagement division coordinated park outings for under-resourced families to Sonoma Valley Regional Park, Maxwell Farms Regional Park and Spring Lake Regional Park.
The Bear Aware program. The Natural Resources division has purchased bear-resistant food lockers and bear-resistant waste/recycling bins for the trailheads at Hood Mountain Regional Park and Sugarloaf State Park. They’ve placed Bear Smart signs at the trailheads, and are working on
an interpretive panel on bears. Funky Fridays funds have also supported additional cameras to monitor bears and other wildlife at the parks.
Regional Parks partnered with volunteers from Conservation Alliance to help Hood Mountain Regional Park recover from the October 2017 fires. Funky Fridays funds enabled Regional Parks to purchase hundreds of tools for a major volunteer workday at the park to repair fire damage and clear downed trees and debris from the Hood Mountain fire road.
Funky Fridays funds have been used to prepare the “Los Guilicos Uplands” section of Hood Mountain for interim access by enhancing trails to improve accessibility and addressing fence, boundary, signage and resource protection. “Headwaters Addition,” where interim improvements include safety enhancements, a temporary restroom and debris removal, and to begin construction on two miles of trail through the Lawson Addition.
The Sonoma Valley Regional Park “Bioblitz” provided an opportunity
for preschool-aged children to seniors to record the biodiversity of the park through iNaturalist.org. Overall, the group made a remarkable 380+ observations of approximately 125 species.
Youth Crew recruits underserved youth aged 16-24 with a paid job to gain job skills that will help with fuels reduction in the parks, create fire breaks, remove invasive plants and beautify the parks. Funky Fridays funds will help purchase a van to transport the Youth Crew to park work sites.
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