When the Covid-19 pandemic forced North Bay residents to shelter-in-place in mid-March, Sonoma County Pride was one of the first organizations that made the difficult decision to cancel its planned summer event, namely the 2020 Pride Festival & Parade scheduled for June 6.

This development does not mean that Pride Month 2020 is canceled, but several planned get-togethers have been delayed or updated to accommodate the social distancing that is required to stop the spread of Covid-19. Now, as June reaches its final week, Sonoma County Pride and other North Bay LGBTQI+ groups are hosting events to celebrate Pride Month while remaining safe and healthy.

On Thursday, June 25, the Museum of Sonoma County invites everyone to get an interactive history lesson during an online look back on “The Lesbian History of Sonoma County” with  presenters Tina Dungan and Shad Reinstein, creators of the Sonoma County LGTBQI Timeline.

For those who don’t know, Sonoma County found itself at the intersection of the women’s movement and gay rights movement in the 1970s when a confluence of lesbian women moved to the area. These women opened businesses, produced theater and musical events, created Women’s Studies programs at Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College–two of the first such programs in California–and helped lead political fights that such as the defeat of Prop 6 in 1978, which sought to ban gay and lesbian people from working in public schools.

“The Lesbian History of Sonoma County” presenters Tina Dungan and Shad Reinstein are longtime lesbian activists, historians and educators. Dungan is a lifelong Sonoma County resident who came out as a lesbian in the early 1970s while a student at SSU. Since 2007, she has been working with others through the Lesbian Archives of Sonoma County and she teaches through the Older Adults Program at SRJC.

Reinstein has been involved in local and national LGBTQI culture and politics since coming out after the Stonewall riots, most notably co-producing the documentary film, Mom’s Apple Pie: The History of the Lesbian Mothers’ Custody Movement.

Dungan and Reinstein first collaborated to create the Sonoma County LGBTQI Timeline in 2018, and they have also co-created a talk on “The LGBTQI History of Sonoma County,” 

“The Lesbian History of Sonoma County” is presented over Zoom on Thursday, June 25, at 7pm. The online program is free, though pre-registration is required at Museumsc.org.

After learning about the past, get involved in a discussion of the present on Friday, June 26, as The California Census Office hosts a moderated panel talk on “Including the LGBTQ + Community in the Census” over Facebook Live.

The California Census Office’s Mignonne Pollard will be moderating the conversation, which features input from Meghan Maury, Policy Director at the National LGBTQ Task Force, Jeremy Payne from the Equality California Institute, and Eddie Martinez and Yesenia Mendoza from the Latino Equality Alliance & Mi Centro.

In addition to celebrating Pride, the discussion will answer questions on intersectionality in terms of the census as well as the impact of Covid-19 and how everyone can help lift up the LGBTQ+ community in 2020. Tune in on June 26 at 1:30pm on Facebook.

Saturday, June 27, features two of the biggest Pride events of the month in the North Bay. First up, “Unmask Your Pride” brings Sonoma County Pride to your computer with a virtual event. Local performers and artists will offer an evening of live music, comedy, drag queen and drag king performances and more that is meant to spread some much-needed love and showcase Sonoma County’s vibrant LGBTQI+ community. “Unmask Your Pride” live streams June 27 at 6pm. The virtual show is free, though registration is required on Eventbrite.

Also on Saturday, June 27, Napa Valley’s LGBTQI+ Pride movement gets moving, quite literally, with the Pride Night Cruise in downtown Napa. This socially-distant event invites folks to decorate their cars with Pride and drive up and down Jefferson, where Pride banners and other festive decorations will be on display. KVYN 99.3 FM The Vine will broadcast a specially curated playlist of Pride music for cars to blast as they cruise, and prizes will be awarded for best decorated cars.

“While it’s unfortunate that we can’t be together in person this year, we are happy to be able to provide a fun night in celebration of Napa Valley Pride,” said cruise organizer Rob Doughty in a statement. “We are hoping our LGBTQ+ community and all of our allies will join us.”

The Pride Night Cruise begins at 7pm on June 27. In addition to the cruise, attendees can join the official after party at Napa Valley Distillery, beginning at 9pm. Masks and social distancing will be in effect. The event benefits North Bay initiative LGBTQ Connection.

For more information on these and other events, visit SonomaCountyPride.org.

Juneteenth may not be an official national holiday in the United States, though it is one of the country’s longest-running celebrations.

Since 1866, June 19 has marked the end of slavery in the country, as that was the date in 1865 that Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended and federal orders to free the enslaved. Today, 49 of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia recognize Juneteenth as either a state holiday or a day of observance. The only state that does not recognize Juneteenth is Hawaii.

Juneteenth is often a local community celebration that honors Black freedom and Black people’s unique contribution to the struggle for justice in the US, though the day is taking on new meaning in 2020 as the movement for Black Lives Matter and the protests against police brutality gain strength in every state, even as the Covid-19 pandemic is turning many in-person events into virtual gatherings.

In the North Bay, today, June 19, is a chance to address systematic racism and lift up black voices, and local group Uplifting Black Leaders of Sonoma County opens the day with a Juneteenth Festival at Pioneer Park in Northeast Santa Rosa from noon to 6pm.

Uplifting Black Leaders is the same group that has organized recent protest marches at the Santa Rosa Junior College, and today’s Juneteenth Celebration will have food vendors, black owned business vendors, games, kids activities, music, performances and speakers coming together to celebrate the emancipation of slaves. The free, family-friendly event is open to all, and organizers ask participants to wear face coverings.

In Petaluma, a Defend Black Lives event will converge at 208 Petaluma Blvd North, on the corner of Petaluma Boulevard and Washington Street today, June 19. The event is part of Six Nineteen, a nationwide series of events organized by the Movement For Black Lives (M4BL).

Six Nineteen will see major marches in cities across the US, and Petaluma’s event, beginning at 1pm, will begin with participants taking a knee in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in memory of George Floyd, who died in police custody after a Minneapolis officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for that length of time.

After the initial remembrance, Petaluma’s event encourages people to stay and display signs as long as they want, and organizers ask that all participants wear masks and observe social distancing.

In Napa County, Calistoga’s Pioneer Park has seen several Black Lives Matter demonstrations over the last month, and local group Calistogans for Change is hosting a Juneteenth Peaceful Protest today, June 19, at 3pm. Masks are required and social distancing rules are encouraged.

On the Calistogans for Change Facebook page, organizer Nicole Sierra Drawsky writes, “The goal of this demonstration is to show ongoing support and solidarity for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Our end goal is to support the changing of systems that allow for brutality and racism, and to raise awareness for those who have been harmed or killed every day because of institutionalized racism.”

Marin City has been the epicenter of Marin County’s Black Lives Matter movement, and today’s Juneteenth Rally in Marin City’s Rocky Graham Park continues to bring the community together. Today’s event, beginning at 3pm, is all in on spreading knowledge and power, and the rally’s highlights include guest speakers, black-owned business vendors and more.

San Geronimo Valley is the scene of another Marin County gathering this weekend in support of Black lives. On Saturday, June 20, the Rally in the Valley meets up at the intersection of Nicasio Valley Road and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at 1pm. Organizers suggest bringing signs supporting Black lives and calling for an end to police brutality, and masks and social distancing will be required.

One of the biggest Juneteenth events in the North Bay this year will be held on Zoom, as the Sonoma County Juneteenth Celebration goes online due to Covid-19.

Mrs. Marteal Perry originally founded the Sonoma County Juneteenth Celebration as Santa Rosa’s Juneteenth Celebration in 1954. A staple in the Santa Rosa community, Perry worked tirelessly for the local underserved community, heralding social causes like clean water issues, child welfare and many more.

This year’s virtual Sonoma County Juneteenth celebration, taking place Saturday, June 20 at 1pm, will feature a program of diverse and inclusive entertainment and education led by Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow Foundation. Formed in 2006, the foundation works toward improving the education of students surrounding Sonoma County and the North Bay.

Last year, on August 26, 2019, the music community lost Neal Casal, a multi-dimensional songwriter, singer and guitarist who was both beloved as a solo artist and a band member of several acclaimed ensembles.

In the North Bay, Casal was best known for his involvement in the Chris Robinson Brotherhood as well as his many appearances on stage and in studio with the likes of Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Vetiver and the Skiffle Players.

Heavily influenced by bands like the Grateful Dead and The Rolling Stones, Casal was also a member of bands Hazy Malaze, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, GospelBeacH, Hard Working Americans and Circles Around The Sun. Casal’s extensive body of solo work, features more than a dozen albums, and Casal was also a record producer and an avid photographer.

Now, the newly formed Neal Casal Music Foundation is officially launching as a nonprofit organization and is hosting a Kickstarter campaign online to raise funds for the purpose of honoring Casal’s memory and sharing his musical legacy and the body of work he left behind, including an extensive archive of unreleased material.

The nonprofit foundation is also funding a series of charitable initiatives, beginning with a program to provide instruments and music lessons to students in New Jersey and New York state schools where Casal was born and raised.The organization will also be making donations to mental health organizations such as MusiCares, Backline and others that support musicians in need. In fact, the foundation has already donated over $25,000 to MusiCares from it’s preliminary tribute concert fundraiser that took place at the Capitol Theatre in New York on September 25, 2019; one month after Casal died by suicide.

Casal’s longtime manager Gary Waldman, along with a team of Casal’s closest friends is spearheading the foundation.

“In a note left behind, Neal told the story of how he got his first guitar when he was 13,” Waldman says in a statement. “As he explained it, ‘I remember the day on one of those drives where dad asked what I wanted for Christmas and I said an Atari, and he said ‘c’mon Neal, you can do better than that. I always see you with your radio playing music; do you want more records? Do you want to play an instrument? I want to get you something useful. I sheepishly said I like guitar, and his eyes lit up and he said, sure I’ll get you a guitar, at least you’ll be learning something.’”

With that idea in mind, the foundation’s concept is to shine a light on Casal’s artistry and provide resources to raise money for positive change though music. For the foundation’s Kickstarter fundraising campaign, donors can choose to pledge $10 to $1500 or more, and the campaign is providing two primary donation packages as a reward for donating; a tribute album, Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal, and a coffee table photography book, Tomorrow’s Sky: Photographs by Neal Casal.

The double CD/triple vinyl tribute album, featuring more than 30 of Casal’s songs, is being co-produced by Dave Schools of Widespread Panic and Grammy-winning producer and engineer Jim Scott.

Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal features almost 30 artists and bands, including Billy Strings, Jaime Wyatt, Circles Around the Sun, Vetiver, Cass McCombs, Shooter Jennings, Leslie Mendelson, Warren Haynes, Phil Lesh & The Terrapin Family Band, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Jason Crosby, Beachwood Sparks and many others.

The photography book, available now for pre-order on the Kickstarter campaign, comes from one of Casal’s last wishes; that a book be made of the photographs he took over the last 20-plus years while on the road as a musician and global explorer.

Tomorrow’s Sky is a stunning hard cover book that features over 250 of Casal’s beautiful photographs. Broken up into six sections covering travel, surfing, music and more, the book is essentially a biographical document of where Casal was at various points in his life, with photos of him backstage with his bands, in a recording studio with Willie Nelson, on an empty stretch of highway, or on the beach with a surfboard.

Photographer Jay Blakesberg is producing the book, and photo archivist and editor Ricki Blakesberg is curating the images using Casal’s Instagram, Tumblr and photo albums as a creative guide.

On the Kickstarter site, the Foundation writes, “These projects are intended to continue expanding Neal’s artistry and to give the Neal Casal Music Foundation a proper kick-off. Our hope is that the foundation will inspire future musicians and also provide access to mental health support for musicians already on the path. And let these projects bring comfort to the many fans of Neal who miss him every day!”