When it comes to the most romantic day of the year, traditional gifts of roses and heart shaped boxes of candy still dominate the market, but for those ladies and gentlemen looking for a more unique way to show their affection, consider the gift of food and fun by giving your special someone tickets to the Sacramento Chef Challenge. Tickets are only $25 each and include: • Chef Challenge competition • Gourmet food sampling • Wine and Beer tasting • Cake War presented by Cakegrrl.com • Live Music • Raffle and Silent Auction Prizes “When you’ve celebrated 30 Valentine’s Days together it can be difficult to find a really special gift,” says Rancho Cordova resident Linda Allen, “I was truly

Want to check out some of Sacramento’s wonderful museums but have not yet had the time or budget to do so? Mark your calendars for this Saturday and head out to the 14th Annual Sacramento Museum Day. A record 28 museums are participating this year, including newcomers the Center for Contemporary Art and the Sacramento Children’s Museum. 26 participating museums are offering free admission all day (10am-5pm; last admission at 4pm), and the Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town are offering half-price admission in order to offset parking control and security costs. Sacramento has a wide variety of Museums featuring everything from art, science, and history to children’s exhibits, wildlife, and

  Access Sacramento is excited to kick off PCS 2012, our thirteenth year, on this Thursday February 2nd at the wonderful Crocker Art Museum. If you would like an opportunity to see all 10 films on the big screen in the museum's theatre, now's your chance. It's a one night only event and rare chance to see all the films from 2011 together again. We hope to see you there!     The Crocker Art is pleased to present an encore screening of the 2011 "Place Called Sacramento" film festival. Friends of Access Sacramento, PCS filmmakers and fans are invited to celebrate, again, the 10 short films first premiered last October at the Crest Theatre.   Crocker Art Museum 216 O Street Thursday Fe

Not everyone has this coming Monday off (alas!) but for those that do, Sacramento has a few options for using your day off to celebrate the man it honors—Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK365 is presenting the 31st Annual March for the Dream, which includes a peaceful march (choose to begin from the Oak Park Community Center, Grant High School, or Sacramento City College) that convenes on the Sacramento Convention Center for an afternoon of celebration. There will be something for all ages and interests—vendor booths, kids’ crafts & activities, entertainment, an art village featuring local artists, and more. The Crocker Art Museum is opening their doors for their free Holiday Monday program. Mo

There you can find some the best artists that create handmade jewelry, clothing, food, versatile music, and orginal art just to name a few. Although this event tends to reach capacity, the experience is all worthwhile and unforgettable. This not only promotes the theme and importance of keeping authentic art and music alive, but it gives the artistic owners an opportunity to have their crafts become a career path or a future business. On their website you can find the different types of activities they have each year, and a background story on why and how this event was established. This extravaganza is dedicated to those artists that have worked hard and have been in the music and origin

Midtown Merchants are brewing up a bewitching good time for kiddos and pooches of all ages and sizes. Midtown's Annual Halloween celebration is just a few days away. Join us for the Midtown Trick-or-Treat and Pooch Parade this Saturday, October 29th from 11a.m.- 3p.m. Enjoy an afternoon of Trick or Treats from over 70 participating Midtown businesses, as well as a parade of dressed up pooches strutting their stuff throughout the district. In addition to satisfying your kids sweet tooth, bring the whole family down to Mixed Bag (24th & K) and Relles Florist (24th & J) for a variety of FREE family friendly activities. Catch the hourly magic show, pumpkin decorating, face painting, balloon

  The Capital Cities Artober celebration is in full effect and Midtown is excited to give the Sacramento region another opportunity to explore and commemorate the arts in a big way. This Saturday, October 15th, the Midtown Modern Arts Festival (MMAF) will take place on 20th Street between J & K. The FREE family-friendly street-fair will occur from Noon – 6:00pm and is guaranteed to offer attendees a broad spectrum of creativity including Music, Dance, Comedy, the Visual Arts and every medium in-between. The festival will feature a performance program on two separate stages: the KlickNation Stage and the MARRS Building Stage. Performing artists include the Sacramento Ballet, The Sacrament

For the twelfth year, Access Sacramento is planning the world premiere of “A Place Called Sacramento” (PCS), a scriptwriting and short film production project for local writers and producers. PCS challenges local scriptwriters to write ten-minute scripts about the people, places, and events that make our community such a unique place to live (submission guidelines on-line at www.AccessSacramento.org). Neighbors and friends will gather at the 2011 World Premiere at the CREST Theatre on Sunday October 2, 2011 at 1:00 PM. $10 (general seating) is a fundraiser for community media. Advanced ticket purchase is recommended at Tickets.com, the Crest Box Office, or the offices of Access Sacramento

Norcal Noisefest 2011, Sacramento's fifteenth annual gathering of experimental musicians and noise artists, returns this week for a six-day noise marathon featuring over 50 performers from across the continent. Starting on Wednesday September 28 and running every day until Monday October 3, this year's Noisefest has expanded in both time and space: on Thursday night, simultaneous shows will occur in both Sacramento and San Francisco, followed by an on-air Noisefest performance on KDVS, 90.3 FM, in Davis. All other performances take place in Sacramento--at the Naked Lounge downtown, the Geery Theatre in Midtown, Luna's Cafe, and Sol Collective at the edge of Curtis Park. Noise is difficul

On Saturday, October 1, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson is hosting a free community festival, Celebrate Sacramento, at the Florin Light Rail Station. The diverse festival will feature performances from local children’s groups and cultural and musical talent from the southern region of Sacramento, kids’ activities including bounce houses, and carnival games. Visitors will learn about all that Sacramento has to offer from over 100 informational booths. The arts, entertainment and cuisine available at the festival will showcase the diversity that makes the southern region of Sacramento special for the whole family. Attendees can mingle with their neighbors while enjoying delicious local food

This weekend, Fairytale Town was transformed into a menagerie of creative writing and reading. Fairytale Town hosted the 11th Annual ScholarShare Children's Book Festival this past Saturday and Sunday. Arts and literacy organizations were on hand, most of them providing information to parents and interesting literacy activities for children. Mother Goose Stage was the centerpiece of the day. Authors and presenters sat in a giant and rather royal-looking throne at the center of the stage and the children crowded around. The weekend’s events included readings by eleven different authors including Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi. Trevor Wyatt was the MC and resident magici

Following the hot summer months of pilsners, pale ales, IPAs and golden ales, beer lovers are now preparing their palates for the tastes of fall and winter ales. This weekend, local beer enthusiasts will come together for a late summer afternoon of drinking great beer, fundraising for charity and enjoying Sacramento’s picturesque river views. From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 17, Discovery Park will host the 17th Annual California Brewers Festival. The Saturday afternoon event is the perfect way to prepare for Oktoberfest and the beautiful canopy of trees at Discovery Park will surely be the perfect setting. The day’s activities, besides beer tasting, will include food venders, l

Medical marijuana awareness will reach its peak in Sacramento and Sutter counties this weekend as the Freedom Entertainment Group presents the inaugural Hempfest Sacramento. The purpose of the event is to “promote awareness and to educate the uneducated on the purposes and benefits of cannabis,” said Kristina Wheeler, event organizer for the festival. The three-day festival will take place at the Rio Ramaza Marina, RV & Event Park in south Sutter County. The 14-acre marina is complete with an outside dance floor, misting fans and plenty of shade and is known for hosting zydeco music, pirate festivals and Louisiana-style food-and-music-themed events. The location also offers a two-night-

8 years ago I moved to Sacramento after a year of travelling around Oregon and California.  I was fortunate to connect with a small group of people learning the art of fire dance and Poi spinning.  I had been exploring the art in different communities throughout the bay area for a couple of years prior.  Never did I think at the time that the next 8 years would unfold as they have.  To my complete amazement, I still dance with the same people I met here 8 years ago, now called Obsidian Butterfly.  We have been fortunate enough to build bonds that have withstood the test of time, well at least 8 years of time and as I've learned in the Fire Dancer world, that is a relatively long time.  I s

A mainstay at children’s birthday parties, candy-filled pinatas are ornaments made to break, and for people of all ages who delight in Latin-based fanfare, the second annual Piñata Festival is coming back to Midtown Saturday. The festival will be held from noon - 9 p.m. along 23rd Street between I and J streets. People who turn out for the event can expect to find vendors serving traditional Mexican food and fusion food. Gourmet Mexican ice cream and other deserts will be made by Doña Coco of Sacramento. According to Mari Arreola, gallery owner of Spanglish Arte, local artists Chulo Baby, and Rachel Knipping and others will have art for sale. UC Davis Professor of Chicano Students Xico

What started as a small community picnic has now blossomed into a wonderful event every year at William Land Park. The International Kids Festival is held every Memorial Day weekend and it is completely free. Olga Ivannikov from Russian American Media discussed the ins and outs of the festival. Seven years ago, the festival was just a small party within the Russian community to celebrate International Children’s' Day, which is held on June 1 in Europe. They started it with a hope of helping children remember their heritage and traditions, and it grew from there with more cultures becoming interested, Ivannikov said. Ivannikov figured if they had that much interest from people in Sacramen

Charlie Gehlbach hadn’t played his trumpet for 15 years, but after his friend took him to the Sacramento Jazz Festival & Jubilee more than a decade ago, he said he went straight home and picked it up again, inspired. This weekend, Gehlbach and the band he later formed will be playing in the festival for the 11th time. “Getting the chance to play at the festival, I’d always dreamed of that,” said the 78-year-old Auburn resident who began playing the trumpet at age 7 and now leads a band called Dr. Bach and the Jazz Practitioners.  “It’s really neat to have such a fabulous, fabulous festival here,” he said. This weekend marks the 38th year of what started as a bunch of jazz enthusiasts p

The Sacramento French Film Festival will celebrate its 10th year in June 2011 and has just unveiled its exhilarating film selection and its inspired and original poster created, as were the nine previous SFFF posters, by talented Sacramento photographer Kent Lacin. See the complete poster collection here. To be held June 17-26, 2011 at the Crest Theatre in Downtown Sacramento, the 10th Sacramento French Film Festival will present nine new premieres, two Saturday Midnight Movies, three classics, and one Short Film Program. This year the SFFF is also introducing a new category, entitled "The One That Almost Got Away" and aimed to highlight recent films that the SFFF team wished to show in p

About 3,000 people and 60 breweries will converge at Miller Park Saturday afternoon and stay until the kegs are tapped dry at the 12th annual West Coast Brew Fest. “The West Coast is the home of the micro-brew, and we have over 120 brews coming this weekend,” said co-founder Matson Breakey. “We seem to have a really great following of people that come out every year and are well-behaved and represent Sacramento and other places.” He added that in addition to the region, dedicated followers arrive from as far away as Arizona and Washington. The festival is set up as a “tokenless tasting” event, where beer enthusiasts pay admission to enter and then are handed a cup and set loose to choos

Despite the rain, Sunday afternoon, the Palestinian festival to remember the Nakba occurred at The Grand. The festival, originally set to take place on the north Capitol steps, was organized to commemorate the historical events that took place on May 15, 1948 in what is now Israel. In Arabic, the word “Nakba” means catastrophe. This term is used to refer to the Israeli occupation and the displacement of the Palestinian people. Between the years of 1947 and 1948, over 750,000 Palestinians were forced to move from their homes and 531 villages were destroyed. On May 15 each year, Palestinians come together to commemorate these events and reflect upon the past. Palestinians have been observin