Page 22 - Sonoma County Gazette June 2017

The heART of Cloverdale!
If it is June, that means Friday Night Live starts its newest summer season of free concerts and popular Street Fair. This year, as usual, the lineup of bands is spectacular!
If you haven’t yet joined the happy folks from all around our region who make FNL the start of their weekends right to September then you’ve been missing out on some great singing plus impromptu dancing in the Plaza to worldwide music and so much more.
Every season everyone--all ages, all backgrounds, all orientations, all cultures--joins in the lively, family-friendly fun to create a very special FNL community right in the heart of our downtown Plaza. Whether you’re on your own, with a group of friends, or with family, you’ll soon become part of the Cloverdale “family”.
Kids can dance and enjoy the music, too. Even get their faces painted, jump in the jumpy castle, rock climb, or maybe join the adults in people watching. Add in both the Street Fair’s wide range of delicious foods and beverages
(featuring Sonoma County wines and craft beers by the glass) plus those of local restaurants and there’s something for every taste and budget. Then, too, thanks to the intriguing Fair booths along the boulevard you’ll discover lots to browse and, if you’re in the mood (like we always are), lots to buy.
This year’s FNL line-up is as varied and exciting as ever. It all starts June 2nd with the Street Fair open at 6 p.m. and the music revving up at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited so bring your own chair and get here as early as you can! (cloverdaleartsalliance.org)
• The Honey Island Swamp Band (6/2 – Bayou Americana)
• Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash (6/9 – Honky-Tonk)
• Tommy Castro and the Painkillers (6/16 – Blues Rock)
• The B-Side Players (6/23 – Latin Global Funk)
• The Lil Smokies (6/30 – Progressive Bluegrass)
• Orgōne (7/7 – Funk Soul)
• The Quebe Sisters (7/14 – Texas Swing)
• The Iguanas (6/21 – Chicano Rock)
• Groove Session (7/28 – Groovin’ Rock)
• Johnny Sansone (8/4 – Electric Blues)
• The Naughty Professor (8/11 – Funky Jazz)
• Paci c Mambo Orchestra (8/18 – Latin Big Band)
• Monophonics (8/25 – Retro Soul)
September 1st provides the end date with Special Guest Artist, a Grammy Award winning Blues Hall of Famer to be announced on August 20th. Stay tuned!
Enjoy The Sculpture Trail thru 5/03/18!
At 401 North Cloverdale Blvd., by the Library, look for the “Big Red Candy Apple” by M. C. Carolyn, a ne start on the marvelous outdoor public art that is the Sculpture Trail (101sculpturetrail.com) which extends from this point to just south of Geyserville. As you stroll down the Boulevard large sculptures, each a unique expression of the artist bringing new thoughts and possibilities to their observers and o ering another distinct example of the art that is at the heart of Cloverdale.
The grace of the “Acrobat” by Bryan Tedrick, which seems to pause in mid- air, is just down the way from Pierre Riche’s “Chief Steel Feather” with his imposing metal face greeting scores of visiting photographers. Just past the historic Citrus Fair is the last in the Trail, the imposing yet graceful “Shadows of Eternity” by Boback Emad.
On behalf of all of us who gain so much from your great work, our heartfelt thanks go out to Executive Director/FNL Program Mgr. Mark Tharrington and everyone at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance for giving us Friday Night Live. Our thanks also goes to Joyce Mann, the Cloverdale Organizer, everyone at the Cloverdale Historical Society (CHS) and Elissa Morrash, CHS Executive Director, for producing our portion of the Sculpture Trail.
22 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 6/17
The Parade As I write this, we are just one week o from the event of
the year in Healdsburg...every year. I can remember my rst Healdsburg FFA Parade and delighted in every single one after it. My daughter and her friends marched then headed to the Fair to eat In and Out, play fair games and support local businesses, civic groups, churches and families in downing their hot dogs, pizza and frozen treats.
And then there are those farm animals and the kids who have raised them. Such love and attention goes in to bringing pigs, cows, sheep, chicken, bunnies and more to maturity to present to their families and peers. The auction for these farm animals is bittersweet because the monies raised support FFA
and 4H but it also means these young farmers part with a pig or lamb they have raised from a baby. It is truly the growing up moment in an agricultural community and this annual parade is the veri cation that, tourists restaurants, fancy hotels and all...we are a community of farming and agriculture. We
do not forget this and, as a community, we come together at the end of May
to remember our fallen soldiers and remember our roots in Healdsburg are farming. Period.
Oh, and don’t forget the cake walk! Please send your photos and stories from this year’s FFA parade as well as those from years past to me at barbarabarrielle@gmail.com and I will place them in my social media feeds and in next month’s column.
I will share one of my FFA stories at the risk of having my daughter, Charlotte, now 19, hate me for recounting her Sir Rusty story one more time. Sir Rusty is the name of the steer that is auctioned o every year to raise funds for FFA. Usually, 4-H and FFA kids sell these to their friends and neighbors
but ra e tickets can also be bought at the Fair. I am always good for $20 worth (no one has yet hit me up this year) and when my daughter was about ten,
I stopped by the Sir Rusty booth (every year the steer gets the same name although it is clearly not the same steer!) to buy a few more tickets. She got excited and asked the lady in the booth if Sir Rusty would come live with us
if we won. The lady laughed and told Charlotte that only half of Sir Rusty would come to your house and that he would be delivered in packages for your freezer! As I lunged through the booth to put this vile woman out of her earthly misery, my daughter, with eyes wide in disbelief, started sobbing and did not stop crying over the fate of Sir Rusty for two entire days. And she did not eat meat for two solid years in deference to Sir Rusty. Lady in the booth; you have no idea the emotional damage you did!
Summer begins in Healdsburg and I hope this community gures out a way to open the pool at a decent time and keep it open into the Fall when it is still hot and when we deserve to have a public pool.
Healdsburg Chamber I highly recommend getting on the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce’s email list. The Chamber has amazing events and mixers, even for non-members, and they are the best consolidator of local activities. Check out www.healdsburg.com and simply join the list and head to the next mixer for wine and nibbles as well as the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life in our community.
Alexander Valley Film Society and My Film Don’t forget to get on the email list for the Alexander Valley Film Society and Film Festival at av lmsociety.org. Not only do they throw a wonderful local lm festival but the lm society screens wonderful lms throughout the year (I just saw “Obit” and “I Called Him Morgan”) that you would normally never nd in a small town like ours. Very good entertainment and fun little events like drive-in theatre at the Cloverdale Citrus Festival Grounds make the Alexander Valley Film Society a wonderful additional to all of Northern Sonoma County. In Healdsburg, their home is the wonderful wine-and-food friendly Raven Film Center www.raven lmcenter.com.
Crossing ngers that the lm I produced “Veracruz” makes it into the Alexander Valley Film Festival. It premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival to much applause and we will be thrilled to show it at as many wine country locations as possible. The story of career low life criminal, Jimmy Hill, and the last job he has to do before getting out of the life and over to Mexico, with or without his heroin-addicted love, Luly, and the host of bad guys that are after the two of them. Check out the trailer and photos at facebook.com/ veracruzmovie and make sure you “like” our page!