VIDEO: #Petaluma High School Drum Line Championship Performance in Pleasanton

Schedule: Get Ready For #Petaluma’s Salute to American Graffiti Cruisin’ On The Boulevard

An annual Salute to American Graffiti honors George Lucas’ timeless, coming-of-age film, American Graffiti, most of which was filmed in Petaluma in the early summer of 1972. Grab your favorite squeeze, jump into your hot rod, candy-colored screamin’ machine or the family car for that matter, and cruise on back to the “happy days” of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Here is our video playlist from last year’s event:

Here is the 2015 Schedule For Today's Event.

Saturday, May 16, 2015

• 8:30 am: XERB – Tune your radio to XERB – 88.1FM – DiscJockey and Petaluma Mayor, David Glass, will be hitting the microphone with some great old tunes.
• 8:30 am – 8 pm: Cruiser Retail opens – Get all your American Graffiti merchandise
• 10 am to 1 pm: Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby, Theater Square, C & 2nd Sts
• New in 2015, The Cub Scouts have opened their track pinewood derby car and race it against other cars for trophies.
• 10 am to 7 pm: Visit with the movie stars from American Graffiti. Candy Clark, Bo Hopkins, and Lynne Stewart will be glad to see you and sign some pictures for you
• 10 am to 4 pm: Stop by the American GraffitiDisplay on the corner of Western Ave and Kentucky St. There you will see and meet cars. You will also see a few of the cars and their owners that were featured in the movie.
• 2 – 5 pm: Opening day for the Petaluma’s Farmers Market, Walnut Park, 4th & D St. Enjoy farm fresh produce from some of Petaluma’s local farms
• 2:30 – 4:30 pm: Meet the famous local Clo the Cow and have your pictures taken with her, she’s simply MOOvelous.

• 4-8 pm: Cruise Starts – They’re bringing back the good times you remember from your high school days when the roar of 400 plus classic cars start their engines and take to the streets to do what they were made to do, Cruise the Boulevard.Where to Watch the Cruise: Perhaps the best place to watch the cruise will be along Petaluma Blvd, south of B Street all the way down to the turn-around circle right before the river bridge. Grab you chair, a picnic basket, something to drink, your portable radio (tuned to 88.1fm) and if necessary, jackets and a blanket. Find a spot to watch the action. Be sure to wave and give the thumbs up to all the cruisers.

#Petaluma’s Tolay Creek Watershed Getting Help From AmeriCorps

An AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) team, known as Blue One, is in town assisting with local watershed protection and restoration. The team, consisting of seven members ages 18-24, is lending a hand to Point Blue Conservation Science from April 1st until May 22nd.

Point Blue Conservation Science is a local nonprofit which serves the community through ecologically friendly and socially conscious wildlife and habitat conservation. The organization’s STRAW program – Students & Teachers Restoring a Watershed- gives participants a hands-on learning experience with ecosystem restoration, while also promoting environmental stewardship amongst its members.

Blue One is assisting Point Blue with the planting of native vegetation – over 1,700 plants in total – as well as installing an in-ground irrigation system at the Tolay Creek watershed. This work is helping to restore the natural ecosystem and encourage native birds and wildlife to repopulate to historical averages.

Kara Peterson, member of Blue One, reflects upon STRAW and its mission: “It is amazing to know that the STRAW program started from one child’s curiosity about helping the environment, and a teacher’s response was to step up and take action.” Furthermore, Peterson stated, “Now, over 35,000 students, 400 teachers and 12 years later, a number of ecosystems have been positively impacted from STRAW’s work and it is an honor to be a part of that legacy.”

The AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) and its FEMA Corps units engage 2,800 young Americans in a full-time, 10-month commitment to service each year. AmeriCorps NCCC members address critical needs related to natural and other disasters, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship and conservation, and urban and rural development; FEMA Corps members are solely dedicated to disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery work. The programs are administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). CNCS is the federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Social Innovation Fund, and Volunteer Generation Fund programs, and leads President’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.

For other positive stories on Petaluma visit our web page PositivelyPetaluma.com. 

Get Ready For The Great #Petaluma Chili Cook-Off

On Saturday May 9, 2015 over 1500 people will converge on Behrens Park, Herzog Hall at the Sonoma Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma for the 18th annual Great Petaluma Cook-Off, Salsa and Beer Tasting event starts as usual at 1 pm.. Will you be there too? You will not only experience great food, beer, and entertainment, but you will also be supporting over 1200 kids in the Cinnabar Theater (a non-profit) Children’s Programs. Want to know how to double your donation? Ocean State Job Lot Foundation will match your donation made between now and May (a grant that they have been providing over the past 10 years each year raising the bar). Tickets are free for kids under 5, $10 for ages 5-11, $25 for adults, or $40 with beer. To purchase a ticket, or for more information, call 707-763-8920 or visit GreatChiliCookOff.com. You can also purchase your tickets at the gate on the day of the event.

Entertainment expected this year at the popular Stony Point band with opening act from Don’t Tip The Tweetster (Ska Band) followed by Sister Sirens and Zyphire Belly Dancers, then the Hip Hop Dancers from the Fierce Dance Company. Also The Amazing Caine will be walking around dazzling guests with his illusions and magic.

Click here to see a list of long time supporters and breweries and WHY THE STAKES JUST GOT HOTTER for this year Grand Champion.

#Petaluma’s Kitsbow Chosen 1 of 15 Companies That Make Clothes You Can Feel Good About Wearing

We thought it was appropriate considering in the previous weeks there were thousands of high school mountain bike riders competing in Petaluma this weekend to highlight a Petaluma clothes manufacturer Kitsbow who makes mountain bike wear. They were featured in an article yesterday by Outside Online Magazine highlighting 15 companies they call progressive and making sustainable clothing that looks as great as it wears. We only feature the Kitsbow product below, but if you want to see the other 14 companies highlighted please click on the article link below.

From Outside Online by Will Palmer:

The 21st century seems like a mess so far. Gridlock in Washington. Rising seas. Corporate domination. Kardashians. But if you’ve been paying attention, you know that there are positive things happening all over the place as well, and with accelerating frequency. Consider the clothes you wear. While mass-produced, polluting sweatshop apparel isn’t going away overnight, there are people all over the world—from Portland to Brooklyn to Addis Ababa and, yes, China—who are trying to make style sustainable.

Click here to learn more about what Outside magazine had to say about Kitsbow and its recommended and featured product, and a video recently released #obsessives spotlight on Petaluma bike maker Bruce Gordon.

Find That Perfect Something at #Petaluma’s Spring Antique Faire

“Antique” is of a latin origin “Ante” meaning before, and “Anticus” or “Antiquus” meaning former or ancient. “Antiquing” is action verb for the word Antique and means the process of making something old OR someone who “shops ’til they drop for cool old stuff”, and must find that unique piece that no other store has (not even Amazon or eBay) and must have it for your hutch, nook, porch, garden, entry way or favorite antique collection. As you are aware the high-tech revolution has born with it new words like SoLoMo or De-dupe. We decided to come up a new retro word of our own. It’s “Lumantiquing”. The word “Luma” is the latin word for the coolest historic down town on the west coast, and – – well you know the rest. So Lumantiquing is the process of getting out your sunscreen and tape measure and heading to PetaLUMA for the Spring Antique Faire where thousands will come together on April 26 to shop for antiques in our quaint historic downtown. Why do we call it a ‘Faire’ and not a ‘Fair’? Faire is simply the old fashioned spelling for Fair and pairs well with the word ‘antique’.

The Antique Faire happens twice a year – this year 2015 the Spring Faire is just a day following the Butter & Egg Days parade (See our recent post Which Came First—the Butter or the Egg?) on Sunday April 26 8AM-4PM, and the Fall Faire will be Sunday September 27th (Mark Your Calendar). In past years this event has exceeded 10,000 visitors and shoppers. Marie McCusker, Executive Director of the Petaluma Downtown Association, said this week that the Petaluma’s faire is ranked in the top 100 in the United States for antique faires.

Click here to see testimonials from prominent visitors to this event, photos from last year, and Frances Rivetti reviews what to wear to the antique faire.

Click here to learn more about the great things happening in Petaluma.

VIDEO: Smart Phone Captures SMART Train’s First Trek over the #Petaluma Bridge

This raw cell phone video shows the SMART Train crossing the Petaluma Bridge for the first time.

Click here to see a better quality video of the entire journey including a segment through the downtown Petaluma train station.