RssFacebookTwitterInstagramYouTube

Berkeley Community Events

Berkeley Kite Festival Animates the Skies Down at the Marina

Don’t miss the Berkeley Kite Festival – a FREE family event that will paint the skies over Berkeley this weekend.

WHEN: Sat/Sun, July 29/30 from 10am-6pm.

WHERE: Cesar E. Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina. Parking at the Marina or at

Sarah McAlister at her first Berkeley Kite Fest

Golden Gate Fields is $15, but the shuttle is FREE.

WHAT: 31st Annual Berkeley Kite Festival & West Coast Kite Championships

  • Fun Activities both days:
    Free Kite Flying Lessons
    Free Kite Making, 11am-2pm
    Free Candy Drop, 3:30pm (According to this year’s sponso, Hills Physicians Medical Group, healthy treats will be mixed with the candy!)
    Free Rokkaku Battle, 1:30 & 4:15
  • Worlds Largest Octopus Kite
  • Humongous Kites: Bigger than a house and longer than a train!
  • Sodo-Cho Kite Team from Hamamatsu, Japan. Amazingly, their kites are made from fine paper and bamboo.
  • Berkeley Kite Wranglers & Friends
  • Brian Champie’s King of the Hill Gang
  • Bay Area Sport Kite League 
  • West Coast Kite Championship competition presented by BASKL

    Japan Sodo-Cho Kite Team

  • 20,000 sq. ft. of Giant Creature Kites from New Zealand!
  • Great Food & Music!

KITE FLYING: Kites are for everyone – for artists, adventurists, animation fans, dreamers and those with a love of modern kite flying. 

“ I love kites,” says Tom McAlister, owner of Highline Kites in Berkeley and founder of the Berkeley Kite Fest.”The physical act of looking up while flying kites makes you healthy. Become part of our Berkeley Kite Festival where the earth, wind, and sky combine to create an unequaled festival experience.“

If you think about it, when you are flying a kite and looking up, your thoughts soar up into the blissful beauty and freedom of colors and shapes flapping in the wind, touching the clouds and the blue sky. You almost experience the art of flying.

NOTE: The Kite Festival is FREE, but parking at the marina or at a shuttle stop (Golden Gate Fields) costs $15.  Shuttles from GGF are freee.Valet parking for bikes is also available for free.

Highline Kites is located at 11 Spinnaker Way in the Berkeley Marina.

Kite Wranglers, John Khan with 50 foot Cat

 

 

By |2017-07-28T09:37:24-07:00July 28th, 2017|Tags: , , |0 Comments
Read More

Cocktails for La Causa Today on Cinco de Mayo!

On Fri., May 5, Cinco de Mayo, restaurants throughout Berkeley (and other Bay Area sanctuary cities) will take part in Cocktails for La Causa as they celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  Funds collected from the sale of food or drink specifically created for this event will be donated equally between Centro Legal de la Raza, the East Bay Community Law Center and the Multicultural Institute in Berkeley. The intent is to raise awareness of deportation and immigration issues and support local organizations providing legal defense.

Berkeley is now leading efforts in the Bay Area to support its undocumented residents. Sponsors of Cocktails for La Causa include the City of Berkeley, Fourth Street Merchants, Minuteman Press, the Express Newspaper and participating restaurants and bars.
 
Gilman Brewing Co. (912 Gilman St.) offers up Green Chile Beer,  Revival Bar + Kitchen (2021 Shattuck Ave.) concocted the Bad Hombre Cocktail for this event and The Starry Plow (3101 Shattuck) offers a 10% donation to La Causa on all food and drink purchases. View a list of all Berkeley locations here. Keep checking back as more locations sign up.

About the recipients of the La Causa funds:

  • Centro Legal de la Raza is the largest legal service provider in Northern and Central California representing immigrants facing deportation. It is the lead legal organization for Alameda County’s 24-hour hotline for immediate response to I.C.E. enforcement actions.
  • The East Bay Community Law Center provides legal services and policy advocacy to low-income clients and communities, and law training that prepares future attorneys to be skilled and principled advocates.
  • For the last 25 years the Multicultural Institute has worked in accompanying immigrant families in their transition from poverty and isolation to prosperity and participation.  
By |2017-05-05T11:40:09-07:00May 5th, 2017|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Learn to Sail at Berkeley Bay Festival!

The City of Berkeley Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department and the Marina Experience Program present the Bay Festival, at the Berkeley Marina on Sat., Apr. 8.

This FREE event was initiated 80 years ago when  the Marina opened in 1937. The Bay Festival showcases activities and environmental education that are available at the Marina and all around the region. The City of Berkeley invites you to celebrate the Earth and Our Bay by listening to music, eating wonderful food, and enjoying a day by the Bay.  

WHEN:

Sat., Apr. 8 – 11am – 4pm

WHERE:

Shorebird Park, 160 University Ave. in Berkeley

WHAT:

Have Fun Learning about our Environment

  • Interactive Passport to the Bay – educational games & discoveries
  • E.B.R.P.D. mobile fresh water fish exhibit. The classroom has 200 gallon salt water native fish tanks and fresh water native fish tanks.
  • Straw bale “green” building – info on solar products and insulated windows from the exhibitors.
  • Food Vendors: Fist Full of Flour-Pizza and Endless Summer Sweets.

On the Stage

  • 11-11:45am: Gary Lapow – Children’s Music
  • 12-12:45pm: Street Theater – Circus Arts by Dana Smith
  • 1-1:45pm: Lee Waterman Trio

Water Sports

  • 11am – 3:30pm: Paddling lessons in a dragon boat, sign-up with the Berkeley Dragon Boat group in the main festival area. Life jackets will be provided.
  • 1-3pm:  Free sailboat rides in small boats off the South Sailing Basin dock, there will. To ride in the larger Keel boats, sign up in the main field for your turn, offered by the Cal Sailing Club.

Adventure Playground
Kids of all ages are encouraged to build, paint, climb, and ride the zip line. Parents must supervise their children in the park and sign the waiver as they enter.

  • 1:30-3pm: See the Berkeley Fire truck in the lot in front of Adventure Playground and talk to the firemen.

By |2017-04-07T09:05:46-07:00April 7th, 2017|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Lots of Music with Celebrity Drop-ins at The Back Room in Berkeley

Local legend, songwriter, singer and guitarist Boz Scaggs dropped in to hear Faye Carol last Sunday. Who will it be this weekend?

Fri., Mar. 3  –  Maivish. Grounded in traditional folk music, Maivish reveals the migration of traditional folk music, from the Old Country to the New World. Their performances are infused with distinct vocal harmonies and a captivating spirit, featuring Jaige Trudel on fiddle, Adam Broome on guitar and Matthew Olwell on percussion, flutes and percussive dance! According to the Back Room owner Sam Rudin, “It’s British and American folk music in three dimensions!”

Sat., Mar. 4  –   Kyle Alden, singer/songwriter, is joined by a trio of mandolin, pedal steel and bass, and will express his multi-instrumental virtuosity on poetic, award-winning songs with rich vocal harmonies.

Maya Dorn

Sun., Mar. 5   –   1:30pm  Singer/guitarist Maya Dorn opens up, playing international songs and rhythms followed by Blackbird and the Storm – a birdsong-inspired project, in collaboration with the Audubon Society, which incorporates the elements of nature, using field recordings along with music and vocals.

5:00pm  –   the Dynamic Miss Faye Carol will be starting her 9th week in residence at The Back Room. Boz Scaggs attended last Sunday joining all the fans who think Faye Carol is the greatest entertaining, jazz and blues singer performing today.  Joe Warner accompanying her on piano.


Tickets are are available in advance online, or at the door the day of the show. Doors open one half hour before show time. We accept cash only at the door (ATMs are nearby). The Back Room is an all-ages, BYOB (for those 21+) space, dedicated to (mostly) acoustic music of all kinds. You are welcome to bring your own adult beverage with no additional corkage fee. More info.: 510-654-3808.

the back room is located at 1984 Bonita Ave. in Berkeley

More music and events around the Bay

By |2017-03-03T13:39:40-08:00March 3rd, 2017|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

New Coffee, Songwriters & Grateful Dead Night Ignite Berkeley

Grand Opening @ 1951 Coffee Company8978b081-8341-49fe-95fc-2c81c17f06ca
Fri., Feb. 3, 4pm-5pm

Join local officials and the community as they welcome 1951 Coffee Company to the Telegraph district!

1951 Coffee is a new Berkeley nonprofit that supports recently arrived refugees through job training and employment opportunities in the coffee industry.

Your patronage at 1951 will directly help create a welcoming community for refugees while you enjoyone of the best new cups of coffee in town. Cafe hours: Mon. – Fri. 7am-7pm; Sat. & Sun. 8am-7pm.

1951 Coffee Company, 2410 Channing Way in Berkeley
between Telegraph Avenue and Dana Street

Stu Allen’s Grateful Dead Night @ Ashkenaz

Fri. Feb. 3, 9pm

A tradition started back in the 20th century, Ashkenaz’s Grateful

Stu Allen Photo/ashkenaz.com

Stu Allen Photo/ashkenaz.com

Dead Night is always evolving and reaching new heights since Stu Allen & Mars Hotel launched a weekly residency in late 2011. Led by acclaimed guitarist-singer Allen (of Phil Lesh & Friends, Melvin Seals & JGB, Ghosts of Electricity), a revolving cast of incredibly talented musicians inhabits Mars Hotel, drawing from the Grateful Dead’s vast catalog to delight Deadheads and dancers of all generations. A Mars Hotel show is always an energetic evening of good vibes, good music, and good community.

When it became apparent that Jerry Garcia had played his final show in 1995, Stu Allen began working to keep Garcia’s music, sound, and spirit alive in the concert setting. He regularly works with Phil Lesh and has also played sets with Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann.

Mars Hotel takes this idea a step further by presenting a new band at each performance. Drawing from the rich music scene of the Bay Area, Allen has assembled a broad and ever-rotating group of musicians that makes each concert a once-only experience.

Tickets: $16-18 Advance tickets

Ashkenaz 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley

Peter Case @ the backroom

Sat., Feb. 4, 8pm

Peter Case will return to The Back Room with his special guest Bob Hillman. Both are superior singer/songwriters. According to the backroom, Peter is earthy, bluesy, passionate and Bob is cool and cerebral, with a dry wit. Also one of them is a famous rock star who once fronted the Plimsouls and the Nerves.

-1Peter Case is an artist whose eclectic body of work embraces rock & roll, contemporary folk, blues, and a number of points in between. As a songwriter, Case is a master storyteller with a special understanding of underdogs and lost souls.

On his most recent release, Peter put his focus back on acoustic music for his album, HWY 62, which features guitar work from Ben Harper.

After over a decade away from the stage and studio, Bob Hillman returns with the full-length album Lost Soul. With his longtime musical mentor ex-Plimsoul Peter Case at the helm, the San Francisco-based singer/songwriter taps back into literate, tuneful songwriting that defined his earlier material and embraces a contemporary sonic landscape. The result is a less crafted, more visceral album.

The Backroom, 1984 Bonita Ave in Downtown Berkeley

About the backroom

The Backroom books all acoustically-based genres, including Jazz, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass, Americana and more. It’s an intimate, comfortable venue with no food or drink other than water or soft drinks. Adults can BYOB. Local musician Sam Rudin wants to keep the music venue small and comfy with a Steinway grand piano on stage and thrift shop overstuffed chairs below. Tickets are $20 and may be purchased in advance or you may buy at the door the day of the show with no service fee.

By |2017-02-03T13:50:49-08:00February 3rd, 2017|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments
Read More

Title


SF on the Bay Powered by Communications Team
Go to Top