Sonoma
Planting Ahead
Green thumbs can stock up for the cooler months at the Valley of the Moon Garden Club annual Fall Plant Sale. The morning sale features fall vegetables, flowering plants, ornamentals, California natives, succulents and more, along with bulbs, cuttings and starts contributed from club members’ own gardens. Garden club members—including a master gardener—will be on hand to offer advice and help haul purchases to the car. Proceeds support the club’s community work, including horticultural programs, school gardens, public pollinator gardens and care of the roses on Sonoma Plaza. Early birds get the best pick of the plants, so one can set the alarm and leave some room in the trunk. 9am–noon, Saturday, Oct. 10, at Sonoma Middle School, 17805 Arnold Dr., Sonoma. Cash, checks and credit cards accepted.
Cotati
Prost with the Most
It’s time to break out the lederhosen and limber up the yodeling voice: Cotati Oktoberfest returns to La Plaza Park for an afternoon of Bavarian-style revelry. Presented by the Cotati Chamber of Commerce and Cotati Accordion Festival, the free celebration features live music from Polka Casserole, German-style food and a healthy selection of beer and other beverages for purchase. Competitive types can test their mettle in the stein-holding and yodeling contests, while sartorial glory awaits in the costume competition. And because this is Cotati, naturally there’s a wiener dog race—perhaps the only athletic event improved by having exceptionally short legs. 1–5pm, Saturday, Oct. 10, at La Plaza Park, Old Redwood Highway and West Sierra Avenue, Cotati. Free admission.
San Rafael
Perfect Harmony
No instruments, no problem. The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival returns for its National Finals, bringing regional champions together to compete using nothing more than the human voice. Born from a sing-along at San Rafael’s Mayflower pub, the festival now encompasses vocal groups working in pop, jazz, barbershop, doo wop and world music. This year’s international contender is Bookmarks, a group from the Republic of Georgia blending traditional Georgian polyphony with modern jazz. Hosting are reigning champions Smoke Ring, a queer, mixed-voice barbershop quartet whose colorful take on a decidedly traditional form helped land them in the top 10 at a major barbershop competition. 7:30pm, Saturday, Oct. 17, at Marin Center Exhibit Hall, San Rafael. harmony-sweepstakes.com.
Sausalito
Garlic and Roses
West Marin author and visual artist Carol Duchamp brings words and paintings together for the launch of her new novella, Garlic and Roses. Set against the intellectual and cultural landscape of pre-1968 France, the book is a mnemonic journey through European philosophy, literature and poetry, populated by figures including French philosopher Gaston Bachelard. Duchamp will read from the novella and discuss her work at Sausalito Books by the Bay, where six of her paintings will also be exhibited. An intuitive painter, Duchamp embraces improvisation and the unplanned, making the afternoon a fitting encounter between two sides of an artist interested in memory, consciousness and the mysteries of the creative process. 4pm, Saturday, Oct. 3, at Sausalito Books by the Bay, 100 Bay St. Reception, artist talk and reading.
