St. Jude Fundraiser

My wife and I are going to be hosting a block party BBQ and fundraiser. While I can’t make the invitation open to everyone who reads my blog, I wanted to share what we are doing and hopefully inspire others to connect with their neighbors and/or give to a good cause. 

This fundraiser is in honor of our next door neighbor, Mike Keating, who lost the battle against cancer on February 8, 2014. While he was an East Sac resident living on the same block for over 35 years, we only knew him for the 9 months that we lived next door to him. In that time he touched our lives deeply. We will miss him and he will be in our hearts forever more. 

He loved kids so we thought St. Jude's would be a wonderful organization to do a fundraiser in his honor. St. Jude's focuses on treatments for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases. You can learn more about them at www.stjude.org.

If you had the honor of knowing Mike or ever enjoyed a Murder Burger in Davis (he was an owner at one time) and would like to make a donation in his name or if you just want to give to a great cause, you can do so at www.stjudeevents.org/sherman.

As the weather turns to spring and everyone starts to get outside more, I encourage you to get to know your neighbors, pull the BBQ into the front yard, share some wine and beer and hang out with the amazing people that make up our community. Then make a habit of it! 

Spring Plant Sale

This Saturday, March 29, the Sacramento Perennial Plant Club will host its annual plant sale from 9am-3pm at Shepard Garden and Arts Center. They will be offering all of their favorite and most unusual plants for sale, as well as second hand gardening books. In addition to the plants for sale, there will be a raffle. And farmer, teacher and soil scientist Bob Cantisano will provide a lecture on organic gardening at noon.

Proceeds from the sale will benefit local horticultural projects and community gardens. For more information, call (916) 455-8166 or visit sgaac.org.

Plant and Craft Sale

This weekend, all of the various horticultural clubs that meet at Shepard Garden and Arts Center, as well as a number of arts and crafts vendors will be on hand to sell their wares. In addition to browsing all the plants and crafts for sale, attendees will also get to enjoy great food and music.

The show will run from 10am-4pm both days. For more information, contact Kathy Norton at (916) 617-2406 or kathy.norton@mac.com. Or visit the Shepard Garden and Arts Center website at sgaac.org.

Sacramento Food & Film Festival

On several evenings spread out over the next ten days, people throughout Sacramento will get to enjoy food, wine, beer and movies at the 3rd Annual Sacramento Food & Film Festival. The goal of the festival is to promote food literacy throughout the Sacramento region in a fun and truly delicious way.

The current schedule is:

-March 20 (Thurs.): Food Film Festival Premiere, 6-8pm
-March 22 (Sat.), Film: Beer Wars, 4-7pm

-March 25 (Tues.), Film: Bottle Shock, 7-10pm (a great movie!)
-March 26 (Wed.), Film: Cafeteria Man, 6:30-8:30pm
-March 28 (Fri.), Film: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 6-9pm
-March 29 (Sat.), Film: The Slow Food Story, 5-7pm
-March 30 (Sun.), Film: Sweet, Sexy Ocean, 4-6pm

The various films will be screened at different locales around Sacramento, most accompanied by food and drink related to the film. Especially exciting for residents of East Sac is that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be screened at the Clunie Community Center in McKinley Park. What could be better than that? Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad will be provided by Selland's.

Proceeds from the festival will go to the California Food Literacy Center. To find out more about the various venues and films and to buy tickets, call (916) 595-7822 or go to www.sacfoodfilmfest.com.

Glenn Hall Park Volunteer Day

From 9am-12noon this Saturday, March 15, volunteers are needed to help tidy up Glenn Hall Park. Projects will include pruning, weeding, planting the flowerbeds and otherwise getting the park ready for spring. Some tools will be provided, but if you have your own, that's great. You are also encouraged to bring you own gloves and a hat. Coffee and snacks will be provided.

While drop-in help is certainly appreciated, R.S.V.P.s are preferred. If you are interested in participating or have other questions, send an email to cadence@surewest.net. The only thing that could potentially delay the volunteer day is heavy rain.

Four Leaf Clover Scavenger Hunt

Save the green beer for later, and come on out to the East Sacramento Mercantile this Saturday, March 15, to join in the "Search for the Four Leaf Clover" scavenger hunt. The hunt is on from 11am-6pm, with drinks and snacks provided.

There will be up to $200 worth of prizes available. And while you're there, you'll want to take a break from your clover quest and check out all the great arts and crafts on hand from East Sac artists and craftspeople. For more information, visit eastsacmercantile.com.

East Sac McKinley Park Food Truck Mania is Here!

Just a reminder, Friday March 14th is the first of this years Food Truck Mania in McKinley Park. They will continue on every 2nd Friday through October!

They will have music, a beer/wine garden and great eats from a wide variety of food trucks including: Swabbies, Bacon Mania, Game Day Grill, Drewski's, Krush Burger, Dave's Dawgs, Crusin Crustacean, Happy Cow, Simply Southern, Chando's, Davepops and others.

The trucks will be out from 5:00 to 8:00 on these dates: March 14th, April 11th, May 9th, June 13th, July 11th, August 8th, September 12th and October 10th!

I hope to see some of you there!

Food Truck Mania

As I mentioned last month, this coming Friday, March 15, marks the debut of Food Truck Mania in East Sac. If you've never tried feasting from a food truck before and/or are excited to try all the variety of tasty foods that will be available, then come on by McKinley Park, near the playground, from 5-8pm to see all that area food trucks have to offer.

There will be at least ten local food trucks on hand, including Drewski's, Chando's and DavePops, as well as a beer and wine garden and music. Organized by Councilmember Steve Cohn, this monthly event will occur every second Friday, March through October. For more information, call (916) 808-7003 or check out the Sacramento Mobile Food Events (aka SactoMoFo) website at sactomofo.com.

See you there!

908 45th Street Just Sold in East Sac

Just over a week ago I had the pleasure of handing off the keys to an amazing home in East Sac.

908 45th Street had multiple offers on it since it is such an amazing three bedroom, two bath home on a picture perfect block of 45th Street. My clients were wonderful to work with, the listing agent was the pinnacle of professionalism and the seller took care of everything to make it a great transition to the new owners.

All in all, this was one of the smoothest transactions that I have had in a long time, and it was on a house that I love and could have easily seen myself living in (if I didn't already have the dream home for my wife and I)!

Celebrate Girls at the Library

In honor of Women's History Month, the Friends of McKinley Library are sponsoring a program at the library designed to encourage girls to be curious, confident and make a difference. It is called Girls Like You! and will be held at McKinley Library this Saturday, March 8, starting at 2:30pm.

All school-age girls are invited to attend the talk (conducted by Leslie Stair from Artsy Mommas) and learn more about a couple of curious and brave girls who were able to make a difference at early ages. The talk will be followed by art activities inspired by these girls. For more information, call (916) 264-2920.

Junior League of Sacramento Crab Feed

This coming Friday, March 7, the Junior League of Sacramento will be holding its Totally '80s Crab Feed at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center (6151 H Street). From 6-10pm, enjoy all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab, pasta, bread and salad, a no host bar, live music, dancing and generally just Wang Chung tonight for a great cause. There will also be a silent auction, raffle prizes and dessert auction.

While not required, '80s dress is encouraged. Those with the best outfits are eligible to win an iPad during the totally tubular costume contest. So be sure to get out your best Day-Glo neon tops, member's only jackets and leg warmers.

Tickets are $55 in advance for adults 21 and older only, and $65 at the door (if any are still available). Proceeds will fund various League community programs, including Kids in the Kitchen, Impact Sacramento and the new Read and Feed Garden. For more information and to buy tickets, go to www.jlsac.org/?nd=crabfeed.

Sac-Con

You know you wanna. This coming Sunday, March 2, Sac-Con returns in all its wonderfully nerdy glory. As Sacramento's Toy, Comic and Anime Show, you can expect plenty of comic books, gaming areas, artists and much more. There will also be art and costume contests, panels, workshops, collectible card game tournaments and a charity raffle.

Guests this year include Kevin Eastman (artist and creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Sergio Aragones (Creator of Groo, MAD magazine artist), Scott Shaw (Annoying Orange), James O’Barr (The Crow) and many more.

Sac-Con starts at 10am and runs until 5pm at the Scottish Rite Center. General admission is $8, or you can pay $10 for Early Bird admission (at 9am). For more information, visit www.sac-con.com.

Original Sacramento Home & Garden Show

Spring is just around the corner, which means it's time to start thinking about all the ways you can improve your home indoors and out. This coming weekend, find the businesses and products that will help you make those improvements at the Original Sacramento Home & Garden Show, held at Cal Expo.

The show is now in its 33rd year, and is expected to be better than ever. This weekend you'll find garden furnishings, patio covers and sunrooms, heating and air conditioning, landscaping, solar, building contractors, roofing, painting, gutters, home security, windows, doors, siding and much much more. And experts in design, remodeling, landscaping, finance and energy savings will also be hand to offer their advice at the "Look, Listen & Learn" stage.

Admission is $7 ($6 with a can of food for the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services), and children 12 and under are free. For more information, call (916) 924-9934 or visit sachomeandgardenshow.net/spring.

McKinley Park Food Truck Mania!

One of the great benefits of attending the East Sac Chamber of Commerce meetings is finding out about upcoming events before they hit the public marketing.

This year McKinley Park will be the host location for Food Truck Mania every 2nd Friday from March through October!

They will have music, a beer/wine garden and great eats from a wide variety of food trucks including: Swabbies, Bacon Mania, Game Day Grill, Drewski's, Krush Burger, Dave's Dawgs, Crusin Crustacean, Happy Cow, Simply Southern, Chando's, Davepops and others.

The trucks will be out from 5:00 to 8:00 on these dates: March 14th, April 11th, May 9th, June 13th, July 11th, August 8th, September 12th and October 10th!

I've already got it in my calendar. Good food and good beer at my favorite park. All I need is some nice weather and my lady and it will be a great evening out...

East Sac J Street Bike Lane Meeting

While I was at the last East Sac Chamber of Commerce meeting, they mentioned that there is a conversation to extend the bike lanes on J Street.

There is the possibility of extending the bike lane from 42nd Street to 56th Street and removing some of the on street parking in this area to accomplish this.

If you would like to be part of the discussion you can attend the meeting from 6:30 to 8:30pm on Wednesday February 26th at 5241 J Street.

Fun at McKinley Library

Looking for something to do this Saturday? Then come on by the McKinley Library for one or both of their public events. The first, at 1pm, is when the SFSquared book discussion group will meet. Any and all sci-fi and/or fantasy book lovers are welcome to attend.

And at 2:30, magician Forrest Barnes will show off his skills and offer a history lesson at the same time. He will share stories about how African-American inventors improved our lives, and will demonstrate magic and illusions to illustrate those inventions.

Intrigued? For more information, call (916) 264-2920.

64th Annual O'Reilly Sacramento Autorama

Sure, flowers, jewelry and dinner out are great. But hey, that's SO been done. Looking for something different to do with your Valentine this year (or a trade deal of ballet one night and hot rods the next)? Then look no further than the 64^th Annual O’Reilly Sacramento Autorama, going from February 14-16 at Cal Expo.

This year's theme is "Need for Speed." Consider your needs met, as more than 500 hot rods, muscle cars, custom cars, motorcycles and specialty cars from all over the western U.S. will be hand. There will be live music and awards for the best vehicles. An auction for artwork by the best pinstripers in the nation will be held at the Autorama Panel Jam, with all proceeds to be donated to the UC Davis Children's Hospital.

General admission is $20, children 1-12 $10. ($2 off coupons are available at O'Reilly Auto Parts stores.) For more information, call (916) 763-7469 or visit www.rodshows.com/sa.

East Sac Chamber Lunch and State of District Report

This Wednesday, February 12, the public is invited to attend the East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce’s February lunch meeting at the Clunie Community Center. At this meeting, City Councilmember Steve Cohn will be presenting his State of District 3 report, including his future goals for East Sac and River Park.

I am a member of the East Sac Chamber of Commerce and make it to many of the meetings and it is always worth going. This meeting should be extra special given all the conversations that Steve Cohn is involved in about the future of East Sac (i.e. McKinley Village). I look forward to hearing what he has to say...

The lunch is from 12pm to 1:30pm, and is $15 per person. To make reservations, or just learn more about the chamber, call (916) 452-8011 or email eastsacchamber@aol.com.

Valentine's Craft Class

As long as they come from the heart, the best Valentine's gifts don't necessarily have to cost a lot. This Tuesday, February 11, at 5pm, come by McKinley Library to learn how to make creative and thoughtful Valentine's gifts using simple and affordable household items and other materials.

For more information, call (916) 264-2920.

Sacramento Weavers & Spinners Guild Open House

This coming weekend, come on by the Shepard Garden and Arts Center to check out all the warm and cuddly goodies available at the Sacramento Weavers' and Spinners' Guild's annual open house. Perfect time to get a warm blanket to snuggle under in this wonderfully wet weather. 

In addition to there being pieces for sale, this event is a great opportunity to learn more about the crafts of weaving and spinning. See demonstrations, check out equipment and materials, and even try your hand at spinning or weaving (with the guidance of a Guild member, of course).

The open house will run from 10am to 4pm both days, and admission is free. For more information, visit www.sacweavespin.org.