The Sacramento Music Festival began its Memorial Day weekend run on Friday afternoon in Old Sacramento. Previously known as the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and Festival, the Sacramento Music Festival has broadened its musical lineup to include additional genres of music. Traditional jazz enthusiasts, fear not - you still have plenty of music to choose from. Fifteen traditional jazz bands comprise the nearly 100 bands that will perform at over 20 venues for the next four days. Some of the venues are free to the public, and many require an admission badge to enter. Various ticket plans are available. For more information, check out the Sacramento Music Festival website.   Photos by Laura and

Raley Field was home to its Sixth-Annual Brewfest on Friday evening. Over 55 breweries from all over California set up tasting stations along the outfield wall of the baseball field. Patrons sat on the pristine outfield grass, tasting beer samples and enjoying barbequed food. The Raley Field Brewfest is a joint venture by Raley Field and the Northern California Brewer's Guild and drew over 2.500 prepaid admissions. Additional patrons purchased tickets during the event. VIP admissions entered an hour earlier than the general admissions, and the VIPs also received additional tasting tickets. Each patron received a souvenir four-ounce tasting mug for sampling the various ales, lagers, stouts

Sunflower Farmers Market opened a long-awaited new grocery store in the Land Park neighborhood on Wednesday morning. Over 400 people waited at the entrance for the 7:00 AM ribbon cutting ceremony. The first 200 customers in line received a canvas grocery bag filled with food products. Steve Black, Vice President of Operations for Sunflower Markets, said the earliest customer had arrived at 3:15 AM. Several customers in the line were still wrapped in blankets. Sunflower Markets is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona and has 37 stores in eight states. The Land Park store is their third store in California and the company is in the process of opening several more in the state this year. The n

The Capitol BikeFest drew several hundred cycling enthusiasts and commuters to the west steps of the State Capitol on Thursday. 40 vendors, representing bicycle shops, cycling clubs, advocacy groups, transportation providers and health awareness, kept up with the steady stream of BikeFest attendees. Bike Month T-shirts and snacks were given out to cyclists registered at the May is Bike Month website. Over 7,700 cyclists have registered and pledged to ride over 1.4 million miles in May. To date, nearly 500,000 miles have been logged. Free bicycle valet parking was provided by Park-a-Bike with over 140 bicycles securely parked in a corral at the center of the festivities. Raffle prizes i

The Sacramento River Cats dominated Wednesday's game against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox at Raley Field, winning 8-3 and taking a 2-1 series lead. The River Cats' record for day games this season is now 6-1 and their overall record is 18-9. The River Cats took the lead in the first inning and never looked back. Jermaine Mitchell scored on an infield play as Brandon Moss was thrown out at first base. Chris Carter scored from second base on a fielding error by Sky Sox third baseman Jordan Pacheco. This was the first of four innings where the River Cats would pick up two runs. The Sky Sox answered in the top of the second inning. With two outs, Brandon Wood hit a double and then scored whe

A warm day greeted hundreds of cyclists during the kickoff celebration of May is Bike Month at Fremont Park on Tuesday. May is Bike Month is sponsored by SACOG, the Sacramento Area Council on Governments. The kickoff ceremony included free bicycle check-ups, a raffle drawing, and presentations about bike safety, selecting a bike and locking it securely. Bike Month Co-Chair Joe Krovoza, the Mayor of Davis, encouraged the crowd to expand their use of bicycles for errands, commuting and recreation. Citing a top ten list of reasons to ride a bike, Krovoza peppered the audience with statistics, jokes and bicycle socks. Krovoza said, "Bicycling and walking make up 10% of the trips in Sacramento

Several hundred men strapped on women’s shoes and walked and ran on Capitol Mall on Saturday in WEAVE's Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event.  The fundraiser featured music, food and celebrities as the men stumbled, jogged, sprinted and strutted the street course. Crowds of spectators lined the curbs and cheered encouragement as the men made their way around the circuit.  

Climate change is a "low grade fever for the planet and for our environment, and it weakens the planet's immune system and makes all other environmental stresses more significant." With those words, Dan Adler, President of the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), began his keynote speech at the 2012 Green California Summit and Exposition on Thursday at the Sacramento Convention Center. Adler described a "Green Bank" for California, a funding model for clean energy initiatives that would return the benefits to Californians. He said, "There is a way that we can collectively participate in the economic development that this environmental policy will yield." In its sixth year, the Green Ca

The first of two community productions of The Vagina Monologues played to a sold-out audience at Oak Park's Guild Theater on Monday evening. The second production will be performed at the Crest Theater on Saturday, April 14 at 7:00 PM. Presented by local nonprofits Northern California Association for Women Take Back the Night and V-Day Sacramento, The Vagina Monologues is a benefit production of playwright and activist Eve Ensler’s internationally-acclaimed play based on interviews with hundreds of women. Co-directors Christine Foster and Jen Driver began the evening's performance by greeting the audience with information about V-Day, a global activist movement. Driver said, "Since 1998,

The Sacramento River Cats spent Monday afternoon chatting with members of the media at Raley Field. Players and coaching staff were available on the field for interviews and photos while the players took turns at batting practice. Conducting interviews can be hard work and the media folks didn't go hungry. River Cats' partner Ovations Food Service hosted a concession food tasting event on the concourse, featuring a variety of burgers, links, BBQ beef and ribs, pizzas, mini-corn dogs, and salads. Following the media activities, the River Cats played an exhibition game against the Class A Stockton Ports before a small invitation crowd. Compared to Saturday night's rain-shortened game again

The reputation for good luck runs strong at Lichine's Liquor and Deli on South Land Park Drive. The California Lottery website lists Lichine's as the luckiest lottery retailer in Sacramento. Inside Lichine's this morning, the lottery terminals were running at full speed, trying to keep up with the demand. A line of 120 customers wrapped around the inside of the store, stretched outside and along two sides of the neighboring vacant Hollywood Video store. The Mega Millions jackpot for tonight's drawing is estimated at $640 million.

Over 550 participants ran and walked in their underwear in today's Undy 5000 5K Run/Walk at William Land Park. Sponsored by the Colon Cancer Alliance, the event is expected to raise over $50,000 for research and treatment for colorectal cancer. March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Undy 5000 Run/Walk director Todd Setter said the Colon Cancer Alliance sponsors over 20 events across the nation and this was the first appearance in Sacramento. Setter has been coordinating Undy 5000 events since his father passed away from colon cancer several years ago. He said, "The key is for people to get screened for colon cancer." With teams named, "Oscar the Pouch," "Cancer Can Kiss My

Sacramento Beer Week officially starts today, but those who wanted an earlier start gathered last night at the Sacramento Grand Ballroom for “The Art of Beer: A Celebration of California Craft Beer and Fine Art.” Sponsored by the Northern California Brewers Guild, Bokeh Box Media, Eben Weisberg and the California Craft Brewers Association, the event drew several hundred people together to check out art exhibits and taste craft brews and food. Over 20 breweries and 10 restaurants served their beer, ale and food to an energetic crowd of beer enthusiasts. Proceeds from the Art of Beer event will help support the UC Davis MIND Institute, an international research center dedicated to studying

The City of Sacramento Transportation Department is considering a redesign of traffic lanes along Freeport Blvd between Sutterville Road and 4th Avenue. This part of the roadway is scheduled for resurfacing in 2013 and last August the city approved a Bike Lanes Project to study options for redesigning Freeport Blvd into a "complete street" as part of the resurfacing effort. From the National Complete Streets Coalition website: "...a complete streets policy ensures that transportation planners and engineers consistently design and operate the entire roadway with all users in mind - including bicyclists, public transportation vehicles and riders, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities."

Jim Brickman opened his holiday concert tour in Sacramento at the Crest Theater on Friday evening. Brickman, a Grammy nominee with several gold and platinum albums, delivered on his promise to play a lot of hits, joking, "When you have hits, you should play them in your concert." His song selections ranged from his first hit, "Rocket to the Moon," through medleys of patriotic and Disney songs, featured guest singers as well as his own voice, and culminated in a powerful romantic rendition of "My Valentine." Joining Brickman on stage during the performance were vocal guests Anne Cochran and Ben Utecht. Cochran first sang with Brickman in high school, together winning a talent competition

The California Capital Airshow brought aerial highlights to the Mather Airport on Saturday and Sunday. Thousands of specatators walked through aircraft on the ground and watched performances high above at the airshow which featured numerous patriotic tributes. The airshow opened Saturday when skydiver Kent Lane delivered a huge American flag to a group of Air Cadets on the ground during the National Anthem and Opening Ceremonies. A tribute to the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 closed the event on Sunday afternoon. Each day also included a re-enactment of the "infamous" attack on Pearl Harbor nearly 70 years ago. Numerous military and civilian aircraft flew above the crowd on both days, demonst

The Sacramento Capitals hosted the Boston Lobsters Wednesday evening in a World Team Tennis match at Sunrise Mall. Prior to the match, Sacramento was in a three-way tie for first place in the Western Conference standings, sharing the spot with the Kansas City Explorers and the St. Louis Aces. Kansas City and St. Louis were playing each other on Wednesday, so it was clear that at least one team would finish the day in second place. As Sacramento and Boston took the court, the announcer told the crowd that St. Louis had won their match. It was Sacramento's chance to hold onto a share of first place. The first four of the five events went to tiebreakers and Sacramento led the match 19-17 goi

(Click on above image for a lerger view) The 38th Annual Sacramento Jazz Festival and Jubilee opened Friday with its traditional parade around the streets of Old Sacramento. This year music will be played at 23 performance sites in Old Sacramento and the Convention Center area. Jubilee attendees can choose from a variety of music in addition to jazz, including blues, zydeco, rhythm & blues, western swing and afro-beat. The Jazz Festival is presented by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of America's own musical art form. Special events throughout the Memorial Day weekend event include a swing dance contest, salute to war vet

(click on above image to see larger view) The Sacramento River Cats held onto a third inning lead to prevail over the New Orleans Zephyrs Tuesday night at Raley Field. Recovering from Monday's record 14-1 loss to the Zephyrs, the River Cats' 3-2 win maintains a one-game lead over Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League South Division. The Zephyrs struck early, scoring two runs in the first inning. Sacramento evened the score in the second inning when Anthony Recker and Matt Carson each hit solo home runs. Josh Donaldson drove in the leading run in the third inning with a line drive to center field. Sacramento's pitching squad did their part in the win. Graham Godfrey struggled a bit in th

(click on photo above to see larger image) Hundreds of cyclists came out to celebrate Bike to Work Day on the west steps of the Capitol on Thursday. The festivities included vendors, free t-shirts, ice cream and a raffle for bicycles and other cycling-related prizes. The Sacramento and Folsom Area Bicycle Advocates hosted a free bicycle valet parking service for those who rode to the event. Cyclists who have registered on the Bike Month website were eligible for a free t-shirt and raffle prizes. Riders are encouraged to log their miles on the website in order to accomplish a goal of two million miles cycled in the month of May. More photos of the Bike to Work Day event are available her