A “Big Party” was celebrated this past Thursday in Midtown Sacramento. The Big Party was Artober's red carpet event held at The Next Door B&L Mulvaney's located at 1215 19th Street. Approximately 150 people attended the event. The Big Party was put together to celebrate the 2011 Transformational Leader Awards party and was hosted by Tracy Saville and T2 Performance Solutions. The event featured writers, photographers, performers, leaders in the Sacramento community and artists. Art, culture and business, civic leadership, music and community members joined in honoring and celebrating the work done by many in the Sacramento community. Guests were also photographed by Nicholas Wray, one

October was officially declared as National Arts and Humanities Month by President Obama back in 2009. Artober is a month-long event starting Oct. 1 that highlights the talents and art resources in Sacramento and celebrates the meaning of the month. It will include local artists, businesses, art walks, festivals, workshops and other special events in Old Sacramento and the downtown area. Last year, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced that the For Arts’ Sake Coalition would be introducing a new action plan for the Sacramento area. A team of 20 artists and art enthusiasts worked to bring resources together such as getting organizations and businesses involved in the process of making the public a

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the United States more than it is in Mexico. Celebrations were held throughout Sacramento, I made a visit to the Tequila Museo Mayahuel. The restaurant-bar-tequila museum is located at 1200 K Street and it held its Grand Opening Celebration on Thursday night. The Tequila Museo Mayahuel was packed early and it stayed open later than usual. I’m not a tequila connoisseur and for people like me there were many more choices to choose from if you wanted a drink. I did try some shots since I didn’t want to be rude or anything. A giant blown-up Corona beer bottle (a universally known icon that means there’s a party going on near-by) was at the front of Mayahuel.

Rarely will you be solicited for a used toilet paper roll, but perhaps you’ll hand one over for the sake of art. What else are you going to do with it? The third annual Crayons to Canvas Art Drive is accepting art supplies of all varieties this month as organizers work to supply the Stanford Home for Children’s new art therapy room. Begun in 2008 by the sibling duo of Sacramento artist Raphael Delgado and publicist Veronica Delgado, the drive provides resources for an art-based therapy approach for at-risk youth. Stanford Home Development and Marketing Manager Sarah Mentze said the art therapy room, which opened in June, works as a supplementary resource to therapy programs offered by S

You may have already heard the New Year's Eve ball drop is off for this year. Norm Alvis of Edaddywarbucks.com, which co-sponsored the drop last year along with Paragary Restaurant Group, asked both the city and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership to pay a third of the estimated $100,000 for a ball drop. Neither agreed, so the event was canceled. One celebration that might compare to the spectacle of last year's celebration, which drew an estimated crowd of 12,000 to 20,000 people, is a city-sponsored event in Old Sacramento. Organized by the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau, the celebration will feature live music, food and drink vendors and perhaps most importantly, a firewor