After two years of planning and organization, renovations will begin on Feb. 6 for the Cesar Chavez Memorial Plaza. Since its construction 150 years ago, the park has been renovated many times to maintain it and adapt it to the new needs of the public. “It’s a prominent public space, and I’m looking forward to giving it a facelift,” said J. P. Tindell, park planning and development manager of the Sacramento Department of Parks and Recreation. Lisa Martinez, marketing director for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership (DSP), also said that she looks forward to the “beautification efforts” on the park. The DSP is known for holding many events in the park, including Friday Night Concerts in t

Q. My brother is going to get out of jail soon, and we were planning on him moving in with me, but his parole officer told him he couldn’t because he has to register as a sex offender and I live too close to an elementary school, which is against “Megan’s Law” or “Jessica’s Law” or something like that. Isn’t there anything we can do? I’m afraid if he doesn’t live with me he will be homeless. Jerri A. California’s Megan’s Law requires anyone convicted of a wide range of crimes, including forcible sex crimes involving non-consenting adults and most sex crimes involving children, prostitution, and child pornography, to register as a sex offender upon release on parole or probation or discha

As the sunlight crept through the thick leaves of Curtis Park Saturday morning, the sight of youth volunteers cleaning up dried leaves welcomed joggers and dog-walkers on the park. Twelve youth volunteers cleaned up Curtis Park from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. as part of the youth programs provided by the La Familia Counseling Family Resource Center and Hmong Women's Heritage Association. Staffers of the two associations supervised the youth volunteers. "It has given us the motivation to come together and focus to work with youths at risk that are living in the same communities," La Familia youth specialist Vidal Gonzalez said about the two groups collaborating. "Why don't we go ahead have acti

A Watercolors and Hiking event will be held in Locke, Calif. on Thursday, September 15, 2011 starting at 10:00 a.m. The hike will be led by Martha Esch. Bring the kids and the grandparents; everyone is welcome!  Well-behaved dogs on leashes, okay. This is a mostly level 1.5 mile hike apart from one 20 foot long, somewhat steep, narrow path up a levee hill and some optional off-path routes along the way that are prickly and narrow. Locke artist and art teacher, Martha Esch, will demonstrate easy techniques to painting a quick, lovely, loose watercolor postcard of scenic spots along the hike. Next, participants will begin using watercolor kits, blank postcards and brushes that will be pas

Spring is here, which means the kids have been hibernating all winter and are ready for some outdoor fun. The Sacramento Press recently posed the question, “Where is the best place to take kids to have fun for less than $20,” to people at Westfield Downtown Plaza. Joseph Enriquez, 22, of Elk Grove is a personal trainer. “(I would take them to) Funderland,” he said. Funderland is a small, outdoor amusement park at 1350 17th Ave. for children ages 2 to 12. There are nine child-sized rides. Admission to Funderland is free and each ride requires one ticket. Funderland offers single tickets for $1.75 on weekdays and $1.95 on weekends and has ticket books, wristbands and season passes. For

Spring is nearly a month in, and as April turns into May, the forecast promises warmer weather and plenty of outdoor activities, especially this weekend, as Easter is Sunday. There are plenty of ways to celebrate Easter, whether you’re looking for a traditional egg hunt or a nice place to eat Sunday Brunch. What: Southside Park Spring Egg Hunt When: Saturday, 11 a.m. - noon Where: Southside Park, 2107 Sixth St. Cost: Free With help from the Southside Park Neighborhood Association and St. John’s Baptist Church, Vineyard Church, the city of Sacramento will host the Southside Park Spring Egg Hunt, which will have a plethora of activities for the kids, including an egg hunt, face paintin

There are numerous trails and parks found in the greater Sacramento area. With a large variation in terrain and difficulty, there’s no need to go to the coast or all the way up to the Sierra Nevadas. Area trails and parks are somewhat unknown and this lack of experiences makes it seem like some of these places are not worth going to. This is where Recreational Equipment Inc., better known as REI, comes in. REI provides an opportunity to develop skills with a knowledgeable instructor. In the Sacramento area, REI’s Outdoor School has been steadily developing for the past few years. REI offers numerous classes every month and is still adding new classes. There is a wide variety of classes o

Sacramento’s Local Roots Food Tours are a fun way to experience Sacramento’s culinary scene by sampling different restaurants and learning new recipes, like homemade pasta noodles. The tours began in February, and were created by Lisa Armstrong who is the owner and only tour guide at the moment. “My first experience on a food tour was in Seattle,” Armstrong said. “After coming home from Seattle I couldn’t stop thinking about how much fun I had and what a great idea it would be to put together a tour for a city like Sacramento.” At 11:15 a.m. on a Tuesday, Armstrong conducted her first official three hour tour with a group that included eight people. “We are hoping to attract anyone who

Spring is in the air and volunteers in the Tahoe Park neighborhood are eagerly preparing for their first "Park Clean-Up Day" of the year. After organizing two successful clean-up events in the area last fall, event organizers hope to attract a large enough group of volunteers this Saturday to have yet another triumphant event at their local park. Late last year, the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association was awarded a $1000 dollar grant by "Gift-To-Share, Inc." with the purpose of purchasing tools and equipment for clean-up events. Recently, board members of TPNA obtained these tools and will be making them available for the first time during this volunteer effort. Tahoe Park is used by hun

City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, along with the Hagginwood community, will be gathering Saturday in honor of a new soccer field recently constructed in Hagginwood Park. The soccer field will be named after Grantland Johnson, a former city councilman and county supervisor representing all of North Sacramento. “We’re expecting about 60-100 people will show up,” said Jim Cones, director for Sacramento’s Parks and Recreation Department. “Recently we had a grand opening of a park in North Sacramento, and there were several hundred people.” Cones said the plan to implement the soccer field came from a survey that was conducted in 2008. “Some of the parks in the city were not as safe as they s

  Fall was definitely in the air Saturday as the Davis Farmers Market held its annual festival to celebrate the season. In addition to the typical market fare of garden-fresh fruits and vegetables, the festival, which is held on the last Saturday in October, brought a fall theme including Halloween decorations, a scarecrow display, additional vendors and more activities for families. Overcast skies and cool air accompanied the dozens of Mylar balloons, cornstalks and hay bales that made up the many decorations in the market area. Joy Wills, the assistant manager who has worked at the market for 18 years, described the festival as a “celebration of the fall harvest.” Wills also mentioned

Imagine playing softball at your local park and seeing an ad for a local sports equipment store, or going to a city skatepark and finding out there's a sale at the nearest skate shop. This type of city-business interaction could be possible with the Department of Parks and Recreation's Community Sponsorship Initiative. Thursday afternoon at the Sacramento Softball Complex, the department unveiled its new funding program, CSI, which was approved by the City Council April 6. The program provides individuals, groups and businesses sponsorship and advertising opportunities, all while funding Parks and Recreation programs and facilities. "It's taken us a year to get to where we are now, but t

The Park put its "no tennis shoe" rule on hold Thursday night. The club's dress code normally requires shoes to be "polishable," but hundreds of Sacramentans came together in all kinds of footwear to celebrate the life of Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM. AM, a celebrity DJ, died August 28 of an apparent Oxycontin overdose. He also was known for his love of Nike sneakers. In addition to owning more than 700 pair, he was designing a signature shoe for Nike at the time of his death. At about 10 p.m., a crowd filled the lounge/club to dance to tunes played by DJ AM's friends. As part of the "Get Loud 4 DJ AM" celebration, a slideshow depicted him with celebrity friends such as actress Mandy Moore

Anyone looking to meet new people, get some exercise and have a little fun need not look further than the Sacramento Ultimate Players Association (SUPA) for ultimate frisbee. Established in 2003, the SUPA offers people the chance to play organized or scrimmage ultimate frisbee year-round. It has been growing in membership annually since its inception. "When we started, we were just looking for structure and organization," said Mike Tomlinson, founder of SUPA. "The idea was sort of a prospering ultimate community. It went from one night a week with six teams to three nights a week. There are also some tournaments thrown in there. "We were doing only one short event.  Now we're doing arou

Ahhh, yes, it's that time of the month again folks. Second Saturday weekend that is! Although there are great things going on all month long throughout Sacramento, many locals will argue that the second weekend of the month in Sacramento is their favorite time to venture out on the town. In addition to the Art Walk on Saturday, this weekend has a plethora of cool things to check out. And for Sactown, mid-July is looking to bring us some relatively mild weather to boot! Take a look to see if any of these events can lure you to venture out...try something different this week! Thursday 7.9 Food & Wine: California Grape & Gourmet -- $50 ($70 day of) Where: Sacramento Convention Center When:

I can honestly say that I am proud to be a Sacramentan. Even more so since I began working on the events calendar for Sacramento at the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau! I have pretty much lived in the Sacramento area my whole life and never before did I realize that there are so many things going on- all the time! This weekend is packed full of Festivals, fundraisers, music & theatre and hopefully by reading this you are prompted to get out and have some fun! And please do note that there are many more things happening that I may not have mentioned...in order to keep these articles concise, I narrow them down to a few events. Feel free to add events in the Comment section at the bo

Spring is almost over and so begins the onslaught of fun, fabulous things to do during the summer months in Sacramento! It's not quite time to break out the bikinis and flip-flops, but I have spotted some sleeveless tops and open-toed shoes lately...my all-time favorite season in Sacramento is almost here! This week, and particularly this week-end, is already jam-packed with music, festivals and outdoor events with the promise of the heat soon to come. I hope you haven't made plans already... Tuesday 4.28 Music: Rev Theory-- $12 at the door Where: Marilyn’s on K When: Doors- 6:30pm, Show- 7:15pm Why: You may get an idea for their music-style by the bands they’ve opened for: the likes of

That's right, Landpark! William Land Park donated to the city of Sacramento over 166 acres of land in the year 1926. Today Landpark is a gorgeous park that includes, a picnic recreation area, a pond, a 9 hole golf course, jogging trails, an amphitheater, Fairytale Town, Funderland Amusement Park, and The Sacramento Zoo all set in the heart of Sacramento's downtown area. The Sacramento Zoo is a non-profit organization, something that the average Sacramentan may not know, says Lauren Kraft the public relations coordinator for the Sac Zoological Society. The Sac Zoo houses animals of endangered species with the higher purpose of caring and protecting them. They are primarily an educational a

Your first question is, "What is slacklining?" Well, it's a mix between chain surfing, tight-rope walking, and trampolining, and it's called a "balance sport." Slacklining is an up-and-coming activity/sport across the world, and Sacramento. Its popularity is partially due to the simplicity of the sport. A length (at least 60 ft.) of 1-inch nylon webbing, two 15 ft. lengths of nylon webbing, three carabiners, and a couple trees are all that is required to participate. Initially one might find it difficult to just stand on the line. A little practice will yield big results, however, and before long that same person will be attempting spins and jumps. Excitement grows with each new trick th

    I was flipping through channels on TV this week end while I was watching my son and I stumbled upon the last leg of the AST Dew Tour on NBC. This is one of the larger action sports contest series in the country, right up there with the X Games. They have everything from FMX to BMX and skateboarding. What caught me was that it is a horrible format and incorrect portrayal of what skateboarding really is. Its like watching beer league softball and wondering what all the rage is about Major League Baseball?     To get more to the point Thrasher Magazine has put on skate contests at real "street" locations in the past and the guys from FTC (skateshop on J street) took that concept and held