The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society (STJS) is the organization behind the annual Memorial Day Weekend Jazz Festival, which is reinventing itself this year as the “Sacramento Music Festival.” Executive Director of STJS, Vivian Abraham, explains that the event has gone through many name changes over the course of its 39 year run. Beginning as the Dixieland Jubilee, it morphed into the Jazz Jubilee, and then to the Jazz Festival. Despite these changes, Abraham says, “We still found people telling us they did not attend our Festival ‘because I don't like that kind of music.’” And so, last year, the decision was made to change the Festival’s name, reflecting a focus on multiple genres of m

Folsom residents saluted its 11th annual Folsom Veterans Day Parade this past Friday. Parade participants gathered at the Target parking lot on Blue Ravine Road and made their way towards City Lions Park. The theme for this year’s celebration was “Saluting our Newest Generation of Warriors: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.” Thousands watched the parade as representatives from the armed forces, the City of Folsom, scout groups, community organizations and residents participated in honoring those who have served our country. Over 2,000 participants were involved in the parade. Representatives from various JROTC, ROTC, beauty pageants, youth sports and high school

It was supposed to be cathartic. Healing. To bring a sense of peace and closure to a difficult experience. Instead it was like opening the wound all over again. Grief is complicated. Father/daughter relationships are complicated. At least mine is. Was. Is. See what I mean? When I saw the announcement for this year’s Panteón Sacramento, put on by La Raza Galería Posada, I saw it as an opportunity for my sister and my son and me to do something that we hadn’t been allowed to do properly: memorialize my father. He died unexpectedly over just a couple of days in May of 2010. He was 68. His third wife took charge of the memorial, which was a sort of open house, and the obituary, whi

El Dorado Hills, CA | Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Today at the El Dorado Hills Town Center, the Fallen Warriors Memorial held their 6th annual Motorcycle Poker Run and Car Show. The mission of the Fallen Warriors Memorial Organization is, “Through a scholarship program and school participation, is to honor and remember former area high school students who gave their lives while serving our country.” Currently, their website lists 29 Fallen Warriors from 22 different area schools. In memory of those Fallen Warriors, veterans and participating high schools have established a scholarship fund to recognize the sacrifice of that school

Sacramento, CA | Sunday night at the California Peace Officers’ Memorial, located at 10th Street and Capitol Mall across from the Capitol, a candlelight vigil was held to honor the memory of fallen Peace Officers, and to add 11 more names to the honor roll. Peace Officers from around the State and as far as San Diego made the trip not to only pay tribute to those fallen Officers, but to help keep the memories fresh in citizens’ minds, so that these great sacrifices will not be forgotten. There was an overflow crowd at the event, which not only included fellow Peace Officers and their families, the families of the fallen, but the general public that wanted to pay their respect to those wh

Three hundred and forty three Sacramento area firefighters climbed 110 flights of stairs early Saturday morning in honor of the 343 firefighters who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. The second annual Sacramento 9/11 Memorial Climb was held at the 28-story Renaissance Tower on 8th and K. Fire departments representing cities including Sacramento, Davis, El Cerrito, Placerville and Vacaville participated. Climbers made four ascents: three from the basement to the 26th floor, and a final ascent from the basement to the roof, bringing the total number of floors climbed to 110, the same number of floors in each of the towers of the World Trade Center

Wednesday, Aug. 4 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. The Republican Broadcast Services will be taking photos of assembly members on the South Steps of the Capitol. About 30 people are expected to attend. Noon - 1 p.m. The California Breastfeeding Coalition will hold a walk meeting on the South Steps of the Capitol in honor of world breastfeeding month. About 100 people are expected to attend. Thursday, Aug. 5 1 - 5 p.m. Senator George Runner will be leading a dedication east of the fish pond at the Capitol. The ceremony will be a dedication of a memorial bench to the late Capitol staffer Will Smith. Around 50 people are expected to attend.

Monday, May 25 12-1 p.m. Elk Grove Civil War Round Table will be holding a Civil War Memorial walk and rally near the fish pond. Fifty people are expected to participate. 1-2 p.m. A 21-gun salute will be held in memorial of the Mexican-American War near the Mexican-American Veterans Memorial just north of the traffic circle on 10th Street and Capitol Avenue. Seventy-five people are expected to attend. Tuesday, May 26 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Happy Tails, a no-kill facility dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of homeless and abused animals, according to their website, will be holding a bake sale on the north and south entrances of the Capitol. 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. Caravan for Justice wi

Knives chopped, pans tossed and orders were shouted — it was an Iron Chef of sorts in the quaint kitchen of the Shady Lady. But instead of competing, a conglomeration of chefs came together to feed those who knew and loved Adam Gregory Rains, who passed away on April 17, 2009. Rains was the victim of a car accident that left three people dead in St. Helena around 1 a.m. Friday morning. His culinary career in Sacramento included working at Kru Restaurant, helping to open Tuli Bistro, and catering with Mulvaney's B&L. Rains had also begun attending the Culinary Institute of America this year. One of Rains's coworkers from Kru said of him, "It didn’t matter how intense it got, he always ma

--This is a collaboration by Angelina Turner and Becky Morgan.-- Have you ever been driving down the freeway and noticed that a section is named after someone? A portion of Hwy-65 is dedicated to fallen Officer Mark A. White; or historical figures like the Donner Party have Donner Pass? Cities of all sizes have at least one building named after someone that gave a measurable contribution to their community or accomplished something great: the Crocker Art Museum, Sutter’s Fort, or on a grander scale, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building or the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Colleges name dorms, gymnasiums and lecture halls, to honor a large donation or because of an invaluable impress