Join the Friends of Fremont Park, Councilman Rob Fong, the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC), CADA, and artist Stephanie Taylor this Saturday, May 12th, for a day of family fun at Fremont Park. The festivities will kick off at 5:30 p.m. with the dedication of Confluence, the 8-foot sculptures recently added to Fremont Park through public art grants provided by SMAC and CADA. The sculptures depict aspects of the famous explorations of the 19th century “Pathfinder,” John C. Fremont. Although the event is free to the public, visitors might want to bring some extra cash for the food truck vendors who will be selling a variety of cuisines beginning at 6 p.m. Participating vendors include Drewski’s, Heavenly Dog’s, and Volkswaffe.
Stay to enjoy woodworking classes for children provided by Willies Woodshop and the grand finale – a star-filled sky and DreamWorks Animation’s, “Kung Fu Panda 2” which will begin at around 7:45 p.m. So break out your best viewing blanket and get the kiddies to Fremont Park, located at 1515 Q Street (corner of 16th and Q Streets) in Downtown Sacramento!
Now more about the movie…the Furious Five – Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross) and Viper (Lucy Liu) are reunited in this sequel of chopsocky action. Po is older now, a Dragon Warrior, and a custodian of the Valley of Peace, but he still loves to eating, chowing down and impressive 38 bean buns without breaking a sweat.
Soon trouble enters as soldiers arrive to take away every bit of household metal they can lay their hands on. They’ve been sent by Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a bad-seed peacock who years before had fallen out with his parents and who, as part of his plan to rule all of China, is bent on getting hold of the materials he needs to build murderous cannons. Worse, having been told by a soothsayer that a black-and-white creature will be his nemesis, he has sought to exterminate all pandas.
Po must save his community, stop gunpowder from becoming the replacement for kung fu, and take out the seemingly indestructible Lord Shen. He is on also on a self-discovery mission. Plagued by fuzzy dreams about his childhood and told by his goose-father that he was adopted as a young panda, Po wants to find out what happened to his birth parents.
Children will be enchanted and parents will be lost in the wonderment of the animator’s gorgeous depictions of rural mountains and lakes and may even catch some references to history in its sub-plot about plundering villagers’ metal that draws on memories of Mao’s policies during the Great Leap Forward of 1958-61.
