Events & Activities

An all new Sherlock mystery! In the year following the assumed death of the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes at the falls of Reichenbach, his most trusted companion, Dr. Watson is called upon to discredit a number of “false sightings.” With each call, Watson must travel to expose them as fakes until one day when he is summoned to an insane asylum on an island, in the middle of a storm, where there is not one man claiming to be Sherlock Holmes, but three!

With the shocks and surprises that we expect from a Sherlock Holmes story, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher puts us on the edge of our seats until the final moment. Don’t give away the ending!

To the delight of shoppers and local artisans near and far, California State Parks, Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park (SHP) and Friends of Sutter’s Fort are proud to present a vibrant, high-energy and fun three-day event, Shop Traders’ Faire!

Designed as a maker’s mart and offered just once a year, each day offers a unique shopping bazaar where visitors can purchase a wide variety of locally crafted goods.

Visitors to Sutter’s Fort can expect to browse and shop hand-crafted goods from many the talented local artisans, including:
-Basket Tree: Jewelry crafted from traditional materials from the Pit River Tribe and more
-Beaded Hats by Leanne Snow Bear: Traditional Native American beadwork
-Bigelow Leathers: Handmade leather journals
-Biscuits the Blacksmith: Hand-forged metal goods
-Bubbling Goat Soaps: Soaps and lotions
-Bull Hat Company: Palm leaf hats shaped on-site
-Crooked Creek Trader: Leather bags, wooden canteen, knifes and more
-Debbie’s Novelties: Supplies, soap stone, dolls, beadwork, dream catchers, sun catchers, ornaments, abalone work and more
-E & D Beads: Trade beads, old tools, pottery and beadwork
-Hippocampus Forge: Metal goods
-Indigenous American Art: Airbrushed Native American Art prints, Southern Plain style Jewelry and apparel
-Native Three Feathers: Handmade dolls, necklaces and earrings
-Needlin’ Women: Fabric, patterns and artwork
-Phoenix Obsidian Designs: Flint knapped items, stone tools, furs, leather and more
-Roquero Gems and Medicine Bags: Gems, medicine bags and more
-Stone Rose Designs: Handcrafted jewelry
-Talbott & Co. Heritage Goods: Clothing, hats, toiletries and accessories

As background, Sutter’s Fort once served as a thriving commercial center in the early days of the Gold Rush. In fact, it was the only trading center on the way to the gold fields and literally thousands of gold miners passed through the Fort to purchase needed supplies from vendors hawking a variety of goods.

You could say that this month's stories were "ripped from the headlines," but that wouldn't begin to describe the power and contemporary impact that these two authors have captured in the novels presented in April at the auditorium at CLARA.

Imagine you're a mother, living in North Carolina, and without warning, or reason, your home is subjected to a police raid. This actually happened to poet and novelist Devi Laskar, who fictionalized the event in her debut novel The Atlas of Reds and Blues. The mother in Laskar's novel takes it one step further: she resists, with horrific consequences.

Poet, novelist and playwright Fred D'Aguiar also uses fact as the springboard for fiction in Children of Paradise, a re-imagining of the Jonestown horror of 1978, where nine hundred people, many of them from Oakland, died after drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid as directed by their leader, James Jones.

Excerpts from these two searingly powerful novels will be read by Sacramento actors Angel Rodriguez and Bridggett Bess.

Short Cuts is a fast-paced, game-based improv show similar to Whose Line is it Anyway?. Fun, short-form improv games and a great cast of performers will ensure that this is one show that you won’t want to miss!

Don Carlos was born and raised in one of the most deprived regions of Western Kingston, Jamaica, an area notoriously known as Waterhouse, which incidentally is also the musical spawning ground for many of Reggae's greatest ever talents, such as King Tubby, Black Uhuru, The Jays, Junior Reid, and King Jammy.

YOU! The Musical is a completely improvised musical inspired by your suggestion of a title. Everything in the show is made up on the spot—lyrics, music, dancing…everything. Each 60-minute performance features a full story with heroes and villains, sidekicks and allies.

Hosted by the Midtown Association and managed by Unseen Heroes, this free, family-friendly market takes place year-round, every Saturday, on 20th street between J and L streets.

The Midtown Farmers Market showcases local agriculture, prepared foods, artisans and crafters, while providing an opportunity for Midtown residents and business owners to discover regionally grown foods. Anchored in the heart of Midtown, the market serves as a lively and fun gathering place where Sacramentans can come together to shop and enjoy the community with neighbors and visitors alike.

MRI (Masters of Rap Improv) is Sacramento Comedy Spot’s only freestyle rap improv show. The cast of MRI gets a one-word suggestion from an audience member to inspire a freestyle rap, then performs improvised scenes based on the rap. If you like hip hop and improv, this is the show for you!

Over the course of his extensive career as an influential songwriter, record producer, and studio owner, John Vanderslice has carved out a singular place for himself in the landscape of American indie rock. Raised in rural North Florida, Vanderslice was forced into piano lessons as a young child, and eventually picked up the guitar and started writing songs as a teen. His relationship to songwriting transformed at 14 when he was given a Tascam 424 tape recorder -- the process of using the tape deck as an instrument was a revelation for him, and he began to channel his early influences (Led Zeppelin, the Kinks, David Bowie) into freewheeling, intuitive explorations of song.

Openers Meernaa and Christopher Fairman also perform.

The Tough Old Broads are a quartet of Sacramento poets and longtime friends -- Annie Menebroker, Victoria Dalkey, Kathryn Hohlwein, and former Sacramento poet laureate Viola Weinberg. They will present a poetry reading and book signing at Harlow's.

The rapper comes to Harlow's with his self-titled album ¿Téo?

The Midtown Association and Yoga Moves Us are pleased to offer a one hour free yoga class each Tuesday and Thursday evening, April through September on the north lawn of Fremont Park. Rotating Yoga professionals will guide you through an hour long class where you can build your yoga skills.

Midtown’s yoga classes are free and open to guests of all ages and ability levels. Attendees are encouraged to bring yoga mats, water bottles and a friend or two if they choose.

California Groundbreakers will talk with Sacramento's top chefs Rick Mahan of The Waterboy and Patrick Mulvaney of Mulvaney's B&L at this event!

Join in for a great conversation with these two seasoned veterans of the city's ever-changing, often-challenging restaurant scene as we talk with them about Michelin stars, minimum wage hikes, the mental health movement, farmers markets, and other things that are shaping their menus today.

Join the Wildflower Women's Ensemble during Big Day of Giving 2019 in a stroll around Fremont Park and it's environs, searching for clues in a Shakespeare hunt. Seek out the actors in each location to gain the clue to the next location. Grab a drink or nosh on the way, and join together at the end for a celebration!

Walks will begin every 10 minutes or so in groups of 10. Last walk will leave at 1:20pm and 7pm, respectively.

Meet in Fremont Park to join your group and see what Shakespeare and Wildflower has in store for you.

Bring your friends and join the B Street Theatre to party the day away and bury a time capsule! Help celebrate their history on B Street and their future at The Sofia during Big Day of Giving 2019. There will be food trucks, a no-host bar, music, karaoke and more, along with donation stations and fun prizes each hour. Don't miss this chance to laugh, remember, celebrate, and keep the dream going!

To make Certainty Waves, their seventh album as The Dodos, guitarist Meric Long and percussionist Logan Kroeber had to forget everything they knew about what it meant to be The Dodos. What began to emerge from the band’s rehearsals was a quasi post-punk sound that Long immediately gravitated toward. It felt new and different, yet somehow still fundamentally “Dodos.”

First Friday Fun Flow Yoga presented by Sutter Health is open to all skill levels and is a great way to welcome the weekend.  On the first Friday of each month, April through September, a Yoga Moves Us instructor will lead participants through poses set to a background soundtrack, on the southwest lawn of Sutter's Fort Park, near the corner of 26th & L Street.

Midtown’s yoga classes are free and open to guests of all ages and ability levels. Attendees are encouraged to bring yoga mats, water bottles and a friend or two if they choose.

Dark. Literate. Mildly classy. Plus lasers. And swearing. Squad Patrol is Comedy Spot’s live, main-stage sketch comedy show, similar to Saturday Night Live and Key and Peele.

Enter a world of stories told through jokes: cat detectives; sexual tension on construction job sites; the horror of bats and banana slugs; Casio keyboards; bears and lady boys; time machines; Mr. Trollywhiskers; judicious use of nerd references; Chuck E. Cheese flashbacks; the pathos of good grammar; space hamsters. All theatrically expressed through flamboyant costumes, cardboard props, original songs and videos, sound effects and gratuitous spot-lighting, and of course, verbose language replete with the swears.

Dive into history and connect with your past! Activities vary on Demonstration Days, but may include blacksmithing, carpentry, cooperage, candle dipping, cooking, baking, weaving, scavenger hunts, and more.

Flowers add life and beauty to their surroundings and the people who view them. Painting them is a practice that many artists crave, yet it can be a challenge if you're not sure how to approach them. You'll gain confidence in your petal power and learn about how to arrange a big bouquet of blooms!

You'll learn:
-Mix and blend colors to avoid muddy paintings.
-Achieve rich shadows and brilliant highlights to create a 3-D look.
-Layer acrylic paint to create free, loose brush strokes and depth.
-Create the right proportions so that you don't wind up with awkward blooms.
-Familiarize yourself with the feel and properties of acrylic paint -- a wonderful entry-level medium that you can grow with.

Beginner and intermediate artists welcome! During this workshop, you'll enjoy painting demonstrations, personalized coaching, group discussions, and plenty of painting time to create magical blossoms. You've been meaning to learn, now's your chance!