On Saturday the Midtown Business Association is hosting its annual holiday celebration, featuring tons of fun events for Sacramentans of all ages and interests. Highlights include the IndieSacramento trunk show and craft bazaar at 24th and J all day featuring crafting and live music, an open house viewing of the Governor’s Mansion renovation, and a Ricky Berger and Sac Rag favorite Daisy Spot show at Bows & Arrows at 6pm. Tons of stuff for you crafter types, and kiddie activities all day at the Mosaic Salon parking lot at 27th and Jay. Here is a walking map for the event. (PNG image)

Continue reading “Midtown Holiday Celebration Saturday” »

This guy probably gets
free washes everywhere

Today is Veteran’s Day, and Harv’s Metro Car Wash will be offering free car washes for veterans.

[Harv's co-owner] Aaron Zeff and business partner Doron Levitan are both veterans themselves. Zeff trained locally at Mather Air Force Base before its closure and finished his career flying the supersonic RF-4 Phantom.

Harv’s Metro Car Wash
1901 L Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916.446-0129
http://www.harvscarwash.com

Penguins love ice-skating

…[Your holiday of choice here]! The Downtown Plaza Ice Rink opens tomorrow at noon with FREE skating all day. After tomorrow, regular admission is $6 plus $2 for skate rental. Plus $8 later on at Rite Aid for ankle braces and ice packs. The rink accepts cash only.

Mrs Cool reminds me that this weekend also brings 2nd Saturday and the Antique Faire. It was great planning to have the faire on Second Sunday, if you aske me.

Spend less dough getting into the fair so you have more to spend on the fried dough inside! Here are some ways that the State Fair folks are saving you money this year:

Today is Tuesday, so that means all children 12 and younger get in for free, and those carnival rides will cost you just $1 each today. This applies to next Tuesday, too.

Today, August 19th, is First Responders Day, so all First Responders (in our out of uniform) with proper identification gain free admission. (OK, so I have a First Responder card from my CPR/AED/First Aid/Bloodborne Pathogens certification — would that get me in? They mean firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, and the like, right?) Continue reading “Enjoying the Fair for Less” »

Everyone’s favorite hardware store is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend.

Being in California, things that are “old” to us are usually strip malls that were built in the ’70s so it’s meaningful when a local business reaches the venerable century mark (especially one in Sacramento proper, as most of our region’s oldest businesses are in the Mother Lode towns like Placerville and Auburn.)

Sac-eats will be pleased to know that The Banjo Ramblers will be part of Saturday’s entertainment, in addition to the jazz bands of local high schools.

I personally will be there for the cotton candy and to get my face painted.

During the I-5 construction project, the Regional Parks Department is offering at no charge a commuter pass to allow commuters to park at Discovery Park or another American River Parkway facility, to cycle or skate to work in downtown Sacramento. The pass will be valid Monday-Friday, and includes all County park facilities along the Parkway (excludes Hagan Park). The Fix I-5 project is scheduled to begin on May 30 and expected to last until early July.

Continue reading “Free ‘Survive I-5 Commuter Pass’” »

This article from the Sacramento Business Journal reminded me of an idea I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. I’d would like for our readers to comment on this post with locations in Sacramento that they know for certain offer free wireless internet service. I know there are tons of sites out there that claim to index these *hotspots* for you, but they are rarely up to date.

I’ll start. I know that Panera Bread offers free Internet service to its customers. I’ve used the one on Howe Avenue many times without fail.

So there you have it, Sacramento. Get out there and find some wifi and report back with your findings. I’ll add a category for this topic (*Free WiFi*) for easy reference later.

UPDATE: Thanks for all of your comments. I think our list is turning out quite nicely. Here’s our Google map.

If you’re not sure what this whole Starbucks thing is all about, or a Peet’s freak eager to sip a free cup of Starbucks and loudly declare it no better than feline urine, or have always wanted a coffee version of a fish market, stop on by your neighborhood Starbucks for a free cup of their newest blend “Pike’s Place Roast” today. Bonus: it’s “purchased ethically,” which I assume means they offer stock options to the beanpickers. Anything less is culturo-economic rape in my opinion.

Bring your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or neighbors’ children to next Sunday’s presentation of “The Tale Spinner.”

This is a musical theatre production by the Junior League of Sacramento (JLS) — a women’s volunteer organization that performs hands-on work and trains its members to be leaders. The JLS has been staging its Children’s Theatre productions for more than 60 years, and the JLS has served the Sacramento community for just over 65 years.

What: “The Tale Spinner” — a musical theatre production for children, geared to Pre-K through 3rd grade, but even adults have a lot of fun.

When: Sunday 3/16 with the performance at 2pm — it lasts about 40 minutes, and there will be activities for children after the play

Where: Hiram Johnson High School Auditorium — take U.S. 50 to 65th Street, go south on 65th, turn left on 14th Ave

About 16,000 school children will be seeing this year’s play, which has been running for the past month during the week. Back when school districts had funds for extracurricular activities, upwards of 50,000 children would see it annually. The schools incur costs to bus the children to the production. In recent years, the JLS has received grants specifically for bus transportation from corporate sponsors.

Continue reading “FREE fun & educational event for children next Sunday (3/16)” »

A photo of Tom Brady is a blog post’s
ticket to Google success

Two free events coming up this weekend that I wanted to make sure to mention. First of all, don’t forget Saturday is Museum Day. Free admission to 25 local museums from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Forecast calls for rain at least part of the day on Saturday, possibly in the afternoon, so maybe an after-lunch trip to the train museum will be just what the Dr. ordered for your weekend.

Continue reading “Weekend events: Museum Day, Harpeth Trace @ The Firehouse” »