Best Bets for the Weekend, 9/19 – 9/20

GLENDI Enjoy foods from Middle Eastern, Eritrean, Kenyan, Russian, Greek, Balkan, Romanian, & American cultures, dancing to live Balkan music, and let the kids play in the Children’s Craft & Play Area, complete with a moon bounce and other children’s game booths. Proceeds benefit the St. Seraphim Orthodox Christian Church.
St. Seraphim Orthodox Christian Church, 90 Mountain View Ave.
Saturday, 11 am – 9 PM, Sunday, Noon – 6 PM
$10 for adults and teens, children under 12 free, $6 for seniors.

Sonoma County Book Festival For the past decade, the Sonoma County Book Festival has provided a free day of locally treasured and nationally recognized poets, novelists, essayists, reporters, children’s writers, aspiring writers, book group experts, publishers, bookstores, and other delightful and instructive displays on Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa. This year the tradition continues by bringing the literary arts to the public connecting authors, readers, and publishers.
Saturday, 10 am – 4 pm.
Free
Old Courthouse Square

Build for Veterans HobbyTown is hosting a special event to raise money to support the Petaluma Veteran’s Day parade. You can bring your child to HobbyTown USA to build a free snap together model with help from local model club members and members of the Petaluma American Legion. Parents are encouraged to make a donation to the parade while they are there.
(Models for the event have been donated by Great Planes Model Distributors and Revell USA.)
Saturday – Sunday during store hours
Donation
HobbyTown USA, 171 N. McDowell Blvd. Petaluma, CA 94954 (in the Petaluma Plaza, next to Trader Joe’s)

Wild Cat Adventure The Wild Cat Adventure presentation features 5 live wild cats. You may see a cougar, African leopard, cheetah, snow leopard, ocelot, Siberian lynx, Canada lynx, serval, caracal or an extremely rare king cheetah. Each cat is shown on the stage as information about its habits, habitat and threats is shared with the audience. While not a circus act, natural behaviors like climbing, leaping and hunting are demonstrated in a safe and exciting manner. The audience, from preschool age children to grandparents, learns, first hand, about these amazing cats that share our planet with us and what all of us can do to help save these magnificent animals from moving toward extinction.
Sunday, 3 PM
Sebastopol Community Center, 390 Morris Street, Sebastopol
$10 for adults and $5 for children under 12.

Sonoma County CHANGE Program is having their 2nd annual BBQ & Fundraiser. Proceeds go to care of horses rescued by Animal Control in Sonoma County! Equestrian entertainment, wine tasting, door prizes, silent Auction and lunch catered by “Blazing Saddles!” Tickets at http://www.sonomachangeprogram.com or call Betsy @ 707-479-5639. Tickets also available at S.R. Saddlery and Dave’s Hay Barn.
Sunday, 11 am – 3 pm
New Santa Rosa Junior College off River Road, Healdsburg
$35 adults/kids $15.

Human Chess In cooperation with the Sonoma County Arts Council, 8-Track Minds Productions present “LORDS of the BOARD!” a chess tournament which will be played by children who are part of Chess for Kids, a local non-profit. Each child will make their move on a normal board for reference, an announcer will broadcast the move, and then the player will come and physically move each performer according to the game on a 24’ x 24’ human sized chessboard. Each piece will then perform his/her lines and interaction according to who he/she is up against on the opposing team, so it is a different performance EACH GAME! There will be three games on each performance day. There will be a 10 minute break between games for photo opportunities with the costumed characters.
P.S. Look for SantaRosaMom Crissi Dillon, aka WineCountryMom, in the crowd.
Sunday, 12 noon – 4 pm
Courthouse Square
Free