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)
Category: Family
The Great Sacramento Santa Hunt of 2008
I remember fondly going out to an annual breakfast with my dad, The Game Guy, Sr., one special Saturday in December for pancakes and then to a little mall full of non-chain stores to visit Santa Claus- who was the embodiment of ol’ St. Nick if I ever knew one. One of the benefits of being at such a mall was the total lack of crowds which allowed our Kris Kingle to be take his time and actually engage in a conversation with me. After I got done visiting with Santa, my dad and I would then go Christmas shopping for my mom (it wasn’t until many years later that I realized the Saturday alone was probably the greatest gift my Dad and I could have given her).
By the time my sister came along, we kept up this tradition for at least 10 years. And for 10 years, the same Santa Claus. No foolin’- it was the same guy every year, and after a few years, he started to remember my dad (something about the Scotch my dad would bring for him probably was the trigger).
So as I looking towards my first Christmas as a dad, I can’t wait to start this tradition with my own son, Game Boy. Naturally this begs the question: where, dear readers, is the best place in Sacramento for a pancake breakfast (please don’t say Pancake Circus) and an awesome Santa? My first thought was to search out non-chain-based malls to capture the Santa experience of my youth, but then quickly realized that meant Florin Mall which instantly terrified me. So, any other suggestions?
et tu, Santa?
Not only does Roseville have the better mall, but they’ve now even taken Santa from Sacramento:
The jolly old one will attend holiday events in Roseville on Saturday – including that city’s annual parade – but Sacramento’s annual Santa Parade has been canceled.
The event, always run on the Thanksgiving weekend, has been called off for the first time in the event’s 26-year history, said parade organizer Laurie Hensley.
The decision to cancel the privately organized event was prompted when organizers came up $15,000 short for stages, sound equipment and cash prizes for parade participants, Hensley said.
Sorry Sacto kids, but it looks like your Christmas Eve milk and cookies will go uneaten this year. Santa is off to more lucrative pastures.
In Roseville, however, the Sylvia Besana Annual Holiday Parade is ready to roll at 10 a.m. Saturday.
It will begin at Riverside Avenue and Douglas Boulevard and Vernon Street, proceed along Vernon Street and end behind the Roseville Square shopping center.
Really, Roseville, have you no shame?
UPDATE 11-24-2008: Sac-Eats called it, the Sacto parade is back on after a hefty donation from Mayor-elect KJ. One wonders if Santa was being held as an innocent hostage in some kind of parade-financing dispute.
Thanks for Giving 2009
With all the national attention focused on the worldwide economic meltdown, it’s easy to forget the local effect. Now, more than ever, there are hungry families, struggling citizens, and unfortunate folks in our community that could use a hand.
Check out last year’s post for information on how you can help at local food banks, local athletic fund raisers, and volunteer organizations throughout the city. Be thankful for what you have, and help give others something to be thankful for.
Carousel coming to the zoo
Carousel Works’ work at the Kansas City Zoo
According to the Sacramento Zoo email newsletter, the Zoo is planning to add a carousel by next spring.
Yes! A carousel at the Sacramento Zoo! Well, not quite yet… By next spring, we will have a beautiful carousel located in our shaded Redwood Grove area (where the Magellanic Penguin temporary exhibit was previously located). This carousel will feature 32 carefully hand carved animals from the skilled craftsmen at Carousel Works – maybe your favorite animal will be one of them!
The carousel is being crafted by Carousel Works out of Mansfield, Ohio. At approximately 300 feet apart, I’m going to make the bold proclamation that this carousel and the one at Funderland are the two carousels in closest proximity to each other in the entire world. Prove me wrong. Roadside carnivals don’t count.
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
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.
Mad About Plaid: Seeing this show once is not enough
Even if you didn’t grow up in a KCTC “Music Of Your Life” listening household with parents who grew up in the WWII era, it would be impossible to not enjoy The Cosmopolitan Cabaret’s presentation of Forever Plaid.
Sac-eats and I just returned from the 8pm show, where we were treated to 90 brilliantly executed minutes of ’50s and ’60s tunes in four part harmony — which proved to be the ideal antidote to the figurative election hangover. Still smiling ear-to-ear, I’m already plotting which table I need to reserve for my next visit to this show.
Continue reading “Mad About Plaid: Seeing this show once is not enough”
Sad news for Pumpkin Patch fans
We love us a pumpkin patch here at the Sac Rag. I was beginning to wonder where we were with a 2008 review when I came across this article from kcra.com:
A Placer County pumpkin patch that’s been a local tradition for 20 years won’t be selling any pumpkins this year after getting hit by metal thieves.
Police said the thieves stole copper wiring from electrical lights and a truckload of tools from the Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Patch in Roseville.
The owner of the patch decided not to open this season after spending $15,000 on repairs.
As we used to say growing up, “that’s weak sauce, man.”
Beethoven’s 9th at Cathedral tomorrow
Academy Scholar Julie Anne Miller
The Academy at All Hallows, the resident symphony orchestra of All Hallows Catholic Parish, will present Beethoven’s 9th Symphony tomorrow night at 8pm at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.
More than 150 musicians and vocalists will perform together when the Academy Orchestra and Chorus join with Nevada County’s Music in the Mountains Chorus to mount this inspirational monument of western art and music. Beethoven, long deaf at the time of composition, rocked the musical world of 1824 Europe with this work of unprecedented scope and vision. The finale, with its setting of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,†has become one of the most socially important musical works of all time, and is often performed to mark historically significant times–most notably the performance led by Leonard Bernstein to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Midtown Halloween Safe Trick or Treat Walk Saturday
Dust off your pop–culture, literary, or costumed-hero themed costumes and let your freak flag fly tomorrow in Midtown:
On Saturday, October 25 from 11a.m. to 3p.m., the MBA and many local Midtown businesses will participate in a community Safe Halloween Walk along the J Street corridor from 16th to 29th and the surrounding streets.
Get your costumes and candy bags ready for this fun, safe, and FREE daytime event– visit the participating businesses to trick-or-treat for candy and share in the local Halloween spirit!
Meet up at the Relles Florist parking lot on J and 24th. On-street parking will be free on J Street between 16th and 26th, and on 16th Street to 29th Street between J and K.
The Sac Rag 
