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Year of the Fire Horse, Chinese Lunar New Year Begins

Feb 10, 2026

Year of the Fire Horse, Chinese Lunar New Year Begins

Feb. 17 ushers in the Chinese Lunar New Year, and this one is coming hot. The Year of the Fire Horse is a rare beast—traditionally associated with momentum, bold moves and a kind of kinetic charge (not to mention flames galore).

Here in the North Bay, where Chinese history and culture have long been woven into the fabric of the region (sometimes with a complicated yet vibrant history), the Lunar New Year brings a variety of community rituals, embodied practices, performances, food and fun.

The Fire Horse doesn’t ask for restraint so much as awareness. And fittingly, the North Bay answers with a slate of celebrations that harness that energy. What follows is a curated selection for one’s unbridled enjoyment.

Year of the Horse: Chinese New Year Sound Healing Journey

One may join host Chris Young-Ginzburg of Grove Circle Healing and her co-host, Heather Star, to celebrate the Chinese New Year with sound, intention and renewal.

6–8pm, Tuesday, Feb. 17, Energy Wave Center, 120 Pleasant Hill Ave. N., Ste. 330, Sebastopol. Tickets $40; attendance is very limited. More information at energywavecenter.com/horse.

City of Fairfax Lion Dance Performance

The Marin Chinese Cultural Association presents a Lion Dance Performance, free and open to the public. The Lion Dance is typically performed to celebrate the Lunar New Year as a way to ward off evil spirits while bringing good luck, joy and prosperity, all things we are in definite need of these days.

11am–noon, Saturday, Feb. 21, Town Hall Plaza, 525 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo. Free and open to the public. More information at mcca.blog.

Chinese New Year Lion Dance at Larkspur Library

Not ones to let the Fairfax Library have all the fun, the Larkspur Library will also be having a celebratory Lion Dance on Saturday, Feb. 21. The Lion Dance is a combination of martial arts and dance movements and typically begins with a cai qing (plucking the greens) ceremony, where the lion “eats” green vegetables representing wealth, and then spits them out to symbolize spreading good fortune.

1:30–2pm, Saturday, Feb. 21, Larkspur Library, 400 Magnolia Ave. All ages welcome. bit.ly/larkspur-firehorse.

Lunar New Year 2026, Napa Valley Wine

Of course, Napa Valley will be adding wine to their festivities with a Lunar New Year 2026 Celebration. This occasion, or Tết (short for Tết Nguyên Đán), marks the most important, sacred and widely celebrated holiday in Vietnam and for its diaspora. The event is open to all ages and will feature food, wine and revelry.

4–7pm, Saturday, Feb. 21, RD Winery, 3 Executive Way, Napa. Open to all ages. More information at napavalley.wine.

Chinese New Year: Heritage Ritual

Sebastopol’s Soft Medicine will celebrate the Lunar New Year with Qigong, Chinese Astrology, Gong Fu Cha tea service and more body movement with traditional dance performances with Cat and Ember Luna, a sound bath by Xuun and a bass and Guzheng set courtesy of Shelajit.

7–10pm, Thursday, Feb. 19, Soft Medicine, 186 N. Main St., Ste. 120, Sebastopol. More information at softmedicinesebastopol.com.

Celebrate Chinese New Year at Empress M

Foodies may rejoice and fuel up for the New Year at Napa’s Empress M. The restaurant celebrates the Year of the Fire Horse with a “Fun & Feast Lunch Menu” featuring premium dishes such as fish maw soup, special royal chicken, abalone with mustard greens, dim sum and golden egg tart for dessert. Plus, there will be dancing and an appearance by chef Marin Yan. Noon–2:30pm, Saturday, Feb. 22, Empress M, 221 Silverado Trail, Napa. Limited tickets available. For more information and tickets, head to empressm.us.

Black Pacific History, Literary Twist and Fly Story Slam

Weeklys Staff

Feb 10, 2026

Santa Rosa

Black Pacific

African American History Month is marked at the Museum of Sonoma County with a Feb. 21 evening of readings and conversation featuring African American writers from across Sonoma County, reflecting on the museum’s exhibit, “Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific.” Hosted by Kwasi Turner, the program features Joanna Wheeldin, Enid Pickett, Dr. Andrea Hall, Morris “Abashe’” Turner and N’game’ Gray—many of whom are descendants of families who made the historic westward migration explored in the exhibition. It’s a rare chance to hear local voices in direct dialogue with regional history, culture and memory. 5pm, Saturday, Feb. 21, Museum of Sonoma County, 425 7th St., Santa Rosa. Free; registration requested at museumsc.org/events.

Mill Valley

Dream Logic

Carol Duchamp’s large-format acrylic and watercolor paintings currently animate the lobby and stairwell at Thompson/Dorfman with a sense of looseness, luminosity and trust in the unplanned. An intuitive painter, Duchamp works from feeling-tone rather than fixed destination, allowing color, ink and gesture to arrive where they may. The result is a series of inner landscapes shaped by encounters with nature, travel, emotional and spiritual states, and the lived experience of being human. Now through March 25, Thompson/Dorfman, 39 Forrest St., Mill Valley. 8am–5pm, Monday–Friday.

Geyserville

Sips & Stories

Dutcher Crossing Winery adds a literary twist to wine country with the debut of Sips & Stories, a new quarterly book club that pairs thoughtful conversation with small-lot wines and thematically inspired bites. The inaugural gathering, on Feb. 26, centers on The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, an engaging look at the woman behind one of the world’s most iconic Champagne houses. Participants who buy the featured book at Copperfield’s in Healdsburg and mention Sips & Stories receive a special discount. 5–7pm, Thursday, Feb. 26, Dutcher Crossing Winery, 8533 Dry Creek Rd., Geyserville. Free for wine club members; wines by the glass available for non-members. RSVP by Feb. 20 to la****@*******************ry.com.

Mill Valley

Fly Story Slam

Love gets the mic at a special Valentine’s edition of Fly Story Slam, the local, live-wire storytelling night modeled after The Moth. Now in its 21st show, Fly Story Slam invites Bay Area storytellers to take the stage at Boomerang Lounge on Feb. 13 and share true, personal stories told straight from lived experience. February’s theme, Connections, is tailor-made for a Valentine’s crowd. Expect laughter, tenderness, the occasional gut punch and the communal thrill that comes from hearing real people tell real stories in real time. Doors 7pm, show 7:30pm, Friday, Feb. 13, Boomerang Lounge, Mill Valley. More info (including sign-ups for storytellers) at theflystoryslam.com. $23.18.

Placing Pets: Local Humane Society Services

Locals

Weeklys Staff

Feb 10, 2026

Placing Pets: Local Humane Society Services

When it comes to pets, the Humane Society is usually the first call. The 95-year-old nonprofit organization, founded locally in 1931, has a long and storied record in pet rescue and adoption.

Then as now, the services they offer are focused on pet welfare, health and adoption. Cynthia King, their new executive director, has a lengthy local career in community nonprofits and only came to the Humane Society of Sonoma County six months ago.

“I’ve always loved animals. I thought I wanted to be a vet when I was younger,” she told Weeklys last week. “I was drawn to the Humane Society for what they do and how well they do it.”

No surprise here, but King has pets. Two dogs. “I have a Covid puppy who is a mix, and then a neighbor rehomed their dog with us; she’s a chocolate lab,” she said. “I always feel like I have to explain that because I wouldn’t have bought a pure-bred dog that hasn’t been given to me.”

Rehoming of pets is one of the main services the Humane Society performs. But there are others: clinics for spaying or neutering pets (and other veterinarian services, including vaccinations), an Animal Adventure Camp for primary school children (registration starts March 3), licensing, plus pet microchipping and euthanasia.

There’s even a “dog’s day out” program where pet-lovers can pick up a dog to take out for the day. “It could be people who are visiting or people who live here; they can take them to the beach, take them to a winery, take them to a dog park,” said King. “Different things are great for the dogs to get out and experience,” especially for the larger dogs that can use the exercise and variety.

Adoption is of course a key mission of the Humane Society. They begin the process with an interview of the applicant to get a clear idea of what kind of pet they’re looking for, and if they’re looking for the right kind of pet.

King outlined the process when an animal comes in, whether a stray or a “surrender” from a previous owner. “When an animal is brought in, ideally it’s within 24 hours that we’ve done medical assessment, updated vaccines, checked their microchip and made sure they don’t have any infectious disease,” she explained.

Most of the pets pass through in a matter of days—some don’t even make it out of evaluation for health, behavior, etc., before one of the volunteers takes the animal home. Many stay less than 24 hours.

The society’s secret weapon in the adoption process might be Gabe Rathmann, who is coming up on his 30th year with the organization. “He’s very good at pairing people with the right pet. So if people can come with an open mind as to the animal that might be the best fit for them, we actually are quite good at creating that match,” King noted.

Whether or not Rathmann is a “dog whisperer” or a “people whisperer” depends on who’s asking, pet or person. “I would say a little of both. I came into this with the compassion and understanding of people, and then learned the animal component here. It then became a marriage of the two,” he said.

More than 1,800 pets went through the Humane Society of Sonoma County in 2025, about a third of which were dogs, and 63% were cats. Most of the felines pass through in “kitten season,” from March through September. The “other” category was 4%, said King. “That’s Guinea pigs, rabbits, the occasional rat, things like that.”

More information about adoptions and other services is available at humanesocietysoco.org.

Guerneville’s Two-Day Fungi Fest Celebrates Our Mycelium

Michael Giotis

Feb 10, 2026

Guerneville’s Two-Day Fungi Fest Celebrates Our Mycelium

Feb. 21 and 22 is the weekend of the inaugural Russian River Fungi Fest, a free celebration of West Sonoma County’s exceptional fungal ecosystem.

The trees will sway under the sun and clouds; the river will trickle and slosh nearby. But more quietly, underneath, the mushrooms will find their own way to enjoy the party.

“A lot of people think it’s dead in the winter up here in West Sonoma County, but it’s actually one of the most beautiful times to visit our forests,” said Spencer Scott, one half of the husband-husband power couple that founded Solar Punk Farms, the organization behind the Fungi Fest. “Winter is mushroom season, and fungi are one of the most underappreciated and wonderful aspects of our local ecology.”

As I sit here sipping my adaptogenic mushroom coffee to write this article on a perfect Northern California day, I think the mushroom’s time has come. Too long left out of the life-on-Earth dyad, animals and plants, fungi are—as all school kids now know, but maybe few of us really understand—truly a different kind of being, one ancient and essential to the rest of life.

It excites the imagination. A whole other kingdom of life bustling through the ground and materials all around. And their way of being, the mushroom way to interact with the world, with the other beings living around it, might offer us some wisdom.

“We have the plant kingdom that brings the ultimate source of energy [through] photosynthesis, and the animal kingdom is all about productivity and mobility,” noted Nick Schwanz, the right brain of the Solar Punk Farms duo and president of the Russian River Chamber of Commerce. “It’s the thing that closes the loop of those two kingdoms. Mycelium is the connector and the recycler.”

That is where we can learn from them. Zen Buddhism venerates the flexibility of the bamboo reed, and Taoism follows the lessons of water. What wisdom can we gain from listening to the mushroom?

“The fungal kingdom really is the one that makes that whole system into a loop,” said Schwanz. “They are decomposing and moving things around and making sure all of it is connected.”

“One of the reasons we wanted to host Fungi Fest was to show our love for our subterranean friends who transform decaying matter into delicious treats,” added Schwanz. “What little magicians.”

Safety, More Than Ever

At the Fungi Fest, the focus will be on safety. The rate of mushroom poisoning among foragers has reached historic levels this season, with a recent death in Sonoma County.

“No one should ever consume any mushroom that they aren’t 100% sure is safe,” advised Schwanz. “All our walks and foraging parties are led by experts who can identify and share safety protocols.”

Wait, by gathering together, we can share safety information across groups and individuals? So mycological.

“It is important to gather community around mushrooms so [we] can be safely curious with what mushrooms pop up after it rains,” said local mushroom maven Brandi Kowalski. She noted that her contribution at the event will be to “showcase all of the benefits mushrooms can bring to our lives medicinally, culinarily, scientifically.”

“Be sure to stop by the Mushroom ID display table” at Mushroom Market, she added. “Please bring whatever mushrooms you’d like to be identified, and we will do our best.”

A Movement?

Why “solar punk,” the optimism optimizing movement bubbling among creatives around the globe from which the farm took its name?

Scott calls solar punk “a genre of hopeful storytelling that imagines how we might use technology in service of ecological health and a political movement dedicated to turning our optimistic visions into reality.” That is why the festival was a fit. “We love that solar punk can both capture the imagination and get people motivated to take action,” Scott continued.

The Russian River Fungi Fest is being held at venues across Guerneville and the Russian River. Expect guided tours, mushroom talks, food, hyper-local craft products and artsy workshops on everything mushroom, from poetry and painting, to cooking and gardening and more.

First Annual Russian River Fungi Fest, Feb. 21-22, across multiple venues in Guerneville and West County. RSVP for specific events. Suggested donation of $15 (accessible to everyone). For more information and tickets, visit RussianRiverFungiFest.com.

Fire, Fire: ‘Red Flag Warning’ Event at OCA

Jonah Raskin

Feb 10, 2026

Fire, Fire: ‘Red Flag Warning’ Event at OCA

Growing up, I listened to a folk song with the chorus, “Fire, fire, from every rooftop, I heard the cry.” But I didn’t shout “fire, fire” until I arrived in California and began to survive fire seasons that traditionally began when the rains stopped and ended when they started again.

Now of course, fire season can be anytime of the year and “fire country” can be anywhere and everywhere in the state, as the January 2025 fires in Los Angeles and San Diego County—which caused $61. 2 billion in damages—made abundantly clear.

“Why do you want to go to California?” a friend asked me when I went on the road and headed west. She added, “They have earthquakes there.”

She didn’t know and neither did I about fire, smoke and drought, too. In Sonoma County, I watched a wild fire leap across the 101, devour million dollar homes, incinerate Coffey Park, fill the air with smoke and force residents to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere. I learned that Native Americans used fire as a tool and in beneficial ways, and that fire was an essential and necessary part of the landscape that made for rebirth and rejuvenation.

“It’s not a foe but a friend,” a woman at the Sonoma Ecology Center told me as we walked across a blackened landscape where green growth emerged.

Most of the 12 contributors to the book Red Flag Warning (AK Press; $18) emphasize the sense of community and fellowship that has emerged in the wake of wildfires, though some of them don’t ignore the hardship, the sadness and the destruction.

Sunday, Feb. 15, the Occidental Center for the Arts Literary Series hosts collection contributors Manjula Martin, Hiya Swanhuyser, Beatrice Camacho and Amy Elizabeth Robinson.

As Canadian born author Naomi Klein observed in The Shock Doctrine and The Battle for Paradise—which can read like rejoinders to Rebecca Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster and Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities—capitalism has a way of seizing on misery and squeezing profits from fires, earthquakes, tornados, droughts and more.

In Parenting in Fire Country, Dani Burlison, the co-editor of Red Flag Warning, interviews Kailea Loften, an African American citizen of Liard First Nation and a member of the Tsesk’ye clan who has served as the climate commissioner for the City of Petaluma. That the contributors to this volume come from diverse cultures and backgrounds is probably its strongest recommendation.

Loften seems to stand with Klein and not Solnit, but maybe I’m reading too much into her comments. Still, she says, “We are in compounding crises.” She finds fault with people who say, “I’m an optimist” and who think that “if they just keep hoping or keep wishing, it’ll be okay.” Loften complains about the “space of toxic positivity” and adds, “We’re being constantly gaslit.”

I’ve long stood with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has jousted with people who harp on hope. Warren insists that hope is largely meaningless unless it’s joined to meaningful political action.

Fortunately, Burlison, whose name and essays ought to be familiar to readers of the Bohemian and Pacific Sun, writes about what might be called the psychology of fire in “What Wildfires Do To Our Minds.” Her essay is based in part on a conversation with Mary Good, a therapist, ecopsychologist and California naturalist who took on as patients, pro bono, “fire survivors” to help them navigate the “aftermath of disaster.” Good tells Burlison, “It was an absolute trauma for everybody involved.” She adds, “The fire is over, but the grief may last a long time.” There’s no sugar coating trauma and no shortcut through the stages of grief.

Burlison reminds readers that “Low income and other marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by climate disasters like the frequent firestorms we experience here in Northern California.” She suggests that marginalized individuals need “mental health services” as well as “community support and mutual aid.” Hell, they need homes, jobs, child care and more.

Another section of the book that I read and reread and that I love is an interview Burlison conducted with Brandon Smith, a formerly incarcerated firefighter with the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program who earned $2-5 per day with an additional $1-2 per hour while serving on an active fire.

Smith walked the walk and talks the talk. No obfuscation from him. “There’s something that’s very cleansing about fire,” he says. By fighting fire, he learned about fire and fire fighters like himself. “A fire camp is a half prison, half fire station where currently incarcerated people work as firefighters,” he says.

I enjoyed his candor, and Jane Braxton Little’s description of throwing the I Ching the night her town burned down and the community lost its post office, drug and hardware stores, library and 1,000 homes. “Climate disaster is the disaster lurking for all of us,” she says. “Fire delivers it to some, floods, drought and famine to others.” All those things no one warned me about when I left New York and came to California.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the first essay in the book, which has the catchy title, “Solidarity, Not Charity,” by Weeklys contributor Hiya Swanhuyser. The word disaster, she explains, means “no stars,” in other words, a world in darkness. She also informs readers that the phrase “mutual aid” comes from Peter Kropotkin, the 19th- and 20th-century Russian anarchist and scientist. Swanhuyser plugs Rebecca’s Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell, but ends her essay with the sobering thought, “We are headed for disaster.”

On the way to a dark world, read Swanhuyser’s essay and all the other illuminating words that light up Red Flag Warning.

The ‘Red Flag Warning’ literary event begins at 2pm, Sunday, Feb. 15, at the Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Free. More info at bit.ly/red-flag-oca.