2018 has arrived … and we were just getting used to 2017! We always enjoy this time of year: the dead of winter in Northern California. Just cold enough to need a jacket, but not so cold that you want to stay in all day. We also enjoy the ever-increasing daylight that comes with each passing day this season. Before you know it, we will “spring” forward with our clocks, and then we’ll be dusting off our swimsuits! (UGH!) Perhaps not that fast, but sooner than later! So, if you are a winter sports fan and enjoy going up to Tahoe, make sure to start planning now before the snow melts away. Hopefully, we get a few more winter storms so that we can have plenty of snow, and plenty of water so that our gardens can prepare for the summer as well.
With the cold requiring us to bundle up in our jackets, whatever could there be for us to do? You may be surprised…We’re always amazed by the array of events, festivals, theatre performances, music, and other fantastical things to do that fills our calendar each week. Our only wish is that we had more time to enjoy them all. So, don’t feel trapped in your house this wintery season, as there is still plenty to do! Our calendar, within these pages, is just the start. There are literally thousands of local events listed on our online calendar that are located all around the Bay Area—most just a short drive away—for you to enjoy. You can also filter your search by event type, date, and location!
As our cover implies, this issue also contains our 7th Annual Local’s Choice Awards! We began these awards during our second year of publishing Local Happenings Magazine, in case you were wondering how long we’ve been around. We’re pleased to have been able to present a Local’s Choice Award to so many wonderful people and companies over these past seven years. Thousands of you have voted year after year, which has been wonderful for us to see so much interaction. Flip the pages and see who won this year! We have 36 winners in 12 categories and three counties. As always, if your favorite did not win, make sure to vote in the fall when our polls open up again for our eighth annual awards.
Here are some birthday wishes for the coming months. We would like to start with our oldest brother Larry: we wish you a very happy birthday! And we offer even more birthday cheer to Stephen, Megan, Jo Ann, Mars, Marco, Tracey, Johnny, Myrna, Judy, Askari, John, Gary, Marc, Socorro, John Troupe, Louise, Betsey, Tim, Erin, Shane, Rafaela, Christina, Patti, Dennis, Elizabeth, Judi, Dalia, Uncle Gabe, Frank, Francis, Raymond, Judi, Dennis, Louise, Reyna, Judy, Liz, Eric, and Juanita.
We hope all of you enjoy our upcoming spring season to the fullest. Cheers!
Robert Briseño & Deanna Troupe
The year 2017 is quickly fading from view. How time flies when you’re having fun! Every year seems to melt away just a bit faster than the last. As most people do, we like to reflect on the past year as the new one approaches, and on what we have accomplished or failed to do. This year has certainly had its ups and downs. We have faced new challenges, some of them exciting and some of them scary, but we have persevered, pushed on, and survived once more. We would like to think we are just a tad bit wiser (which helps to compensate for the fact that we are also a tad bit slower) and hopefully, we are exiting the year a bit better as people as well.
The fires that struck this year certainly had a tremendous impact to the region. The loss of lives, homes, and businesses were just horrific. The thick smoke that blanketed the region was a painful reminder of just how quickly our lives can change. Out of that destruction and loss of life though, there were many stories of our communities coming together to help one another. We would like to remind our readers that though the smoke has cleared, many of our family and friends are still struggling to return some normalcy to their lives. Let us also remember that tragedy was not isolated to this region, or even this state. Across our great country, people have suffered and are still recovering from natural and manmade disasters and events.
One might conclude that it is trivial to think about going out to fun events and happenings in light of such challenges, both locally and globally. We would encourage our readers to think about how those very trivial things help people move away from tragedy, allowing them to come back to reality feeling a bit more refreshed and better able to address tragic events in their lives. Going out and having fun is an important way to help our minds and bodies relax and reset, just as sleep is. In many ways, the challenges people have faced in 2017 will leave lasting impressions, scars, and opportunities. We hope our little magazine will help some with the healing and allow people a bit of reprieve so that they can move forward. We encourage you all to go out and still enjoy our wonderful region. It helps not only for you to regain your mental footing, but also supports thousands of businesses and jobs in the area. The new year will bring fresh challenges, but we should all enjoy our family, friends, and community as much as we can.
The year’s end also provides us the opportunity to thank you for spending time with us here at Local Happenings Magazine, as we conclude our 8th year bringing you this magazine. We have also wrapped up our voting for our Local’s Choice Awards. We will reveal our winners in our February/March edition. It is always interesting to see which business, charities, and community leaders our readers voted for each year. We look forward to sharing the results with each of you.
As always, we wish to extend birthday greetings to our family and friends. We will open with our brother-in-law, Ken, as well as Steven M., Marla, Rod, Joanne, Tony, Jill, Rob, Michael, Jose, Bobby, Rosemarie, Vrej, Vijay, Pancho, Margaret, Stacey, Gary, Momma Hand, Monique, Connie, Lucy, Kathleen, Leslie, Jim, Elissa, Ginger, Bonnie, Linda, Bobbie, our brother Gregory B., Sid, John, Rick, Stephanie, Roman, John, Adrianna, Peggy, Samantha, and Steve. To any and all whom we might have missed, we are thinking of you as well!
Cheers to the Holidays and to the New Year!
Robert Briseño & Deanna Troupe
WOW, the last quarter of the year is upon us — and there are now less than 90 days until Christmas! Is it just us, or does it seem like the years are getting much shorter than they used to be? We think someone should look into this short-year phenomenon so that we can get back to the long years of our youth. Remember when years seemed to drag on like eons as we waited for events like vacations, birthdays, Halloween, and Christmas? Now, it seems like the year starts off with the Super Bowl on the first weekend, followed by Memorial Day a month later, six weeks after that it’s Labor Day, followed by Thanksgiving a month later and the next week is Christmas. Don’t get us started on the retail calendar either. We saw bathing suit sales in February, back-to-school sales kicked up in June, Halloween costumes are now on sale in August, and they have started to combine the Labor Day BBQ sales with “Get an early jump on Christmas!” this year. We all need to slow down and enjoy life a bit more.
In an effort to encourage you to take a step back and give some thought to the things around us, we are encouraging you to nominate and vote for your favorite business and people in our Local’s Choice Awards. The voting and nominations are open now at our website, and they will close on December 10th — so make sure to vote. Remember that you can vote as often as once a day in each category and you can nominate as many as you would like. By voting each day and being mindful of all the wonderful things around you, we think that you will savor each day more; thereby, the days will seem to slow down. By doing this every day, it will make the next two months seem more like four months — just think what you can do with all that extra time!
We have a suggestion on what to do with all that extra time that you just found: you can stay on our website after you vote in the Local’s Choice Awards and go to our calendar, so you can learn about all the great events that will be going on before (and after) the year’s end. Our calendar has been greatly expanded and we have more events than ever. Keep in mind that you can narrow down your search to a certain area or type of event as well. The best part is that you can do that on your smartphone as well, so that you can keep up with all that is going on while out and about.
Also, this time of the year is when we celebrate the birth of Local Happenings, and the birth of helping you to discover more events and happenings all around you. It’s now been eight years—almost a decade! We want to thank you, our readers, for allowing us to be a part of your life. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about what is going on as much as we enjoy writing about it. More importantly, we hope that you have found something new to enjoy right around you from our magazine. That reason is why we created this magazine and website, and why we keep doing it. It’s great fun and very exciting to explore an area that you have known all your life and still discover something new about it. We have so many great things to do in this area of the country, and we aren’t even close to discovering them all.
Along with our publication’s birthday, there are so many of our family and friends that are also celebrating their birthday over this time as well. We would like to wish Christopher, Clara, Rory, Tim, Michelle, Susan, Jeannie, Bea, Monica, Jon, Liz, Mark, Cristina, Curt, Lori, Shawna, Kathy, Candy, Luis, Nico, Emily, Hermie, Xavier, Reagan, Ben, Norb, Jennifer, Shawna, LeeAnn, Ken, Amy, Ali, Julia, Connie, Tony, Kevin, Josette, Linda, Cera, John, Angelita, Larry, Paula, Alyssa, Kevin, Teena, Billie, and all the rest whom we haven’t mentioned here!
And we always have room to print a special shout out to Mom and Dad Briseño on their 64th wedding anniversary! We hope their day is as special as they are!
Until next time . . .
Robert Briseño
& Deanna Troupe
Welcome to our August/September edition of Local Happenings Magazine. We would like to start off with a message about one of our close business partners, the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. If you did not know, their offices burned to the ground in mid-July. Because it happened overnight, nobody was injured, thankfully; regardless, it is a devastating loss to them and to the community, and it will be a challenge to recover quickly and march on with their endeavors. We wish them well and hope they get up and running quickly.
We at Local Happenings have also had a recent health scare within our team. Fortunately, they are on the mend and should be back in full force very soon. For all of us, it is a reminder that tragedy and complications in life strikes quickly and we should all be more prepared for these bumps and curves that life will put on the road in front of us. While we never like to think the worst, we should still prepare for it.
With that said, summer is in full swing, but we need to enjoy it before it is gone. Something that has always been bittersweet about summer is that once it begins, the days start to grow shorter. Yes, the start of summer is marked by the Summer Solstice in June, which is also the longest day of the year. Every day from that point keeps getting a little bit shorter until the Winter Solstice, when they start to get a little bit longer again. By the time our next issue comes out in October, we will have passed the fall equinox (on September 22nd this year), and the nights will then be longer than the days.
Every day we have a little less time to enjoy the sunshine, which means that we should get out and enjoy all we have here before it fades into fall. Fortunately, we live in a wonderful part of the country where some of the best weather is in late September through October. Some parts of our country (and I am not talking about Alaska) can have its first snowfall as early as late September! As with life, each day is certainly something that we should not take for granted, which is why we are always striving to help our readers plan their days better. Make sure to stop by our calendar section, not just in the print magazine but online as well. We are constantly adding new events, and there are so many that we just cannot list them all in the magazine.
More excitement that is getting ready to get underway is our annual Local’s Choice awards. Readers have a chance to share what they think are the best retailers, people, events, and more within the three counties that we cover: Contra Costa, Napa, and Solano. You will find all the details in the magazine.
As we always do, we want to send out some birthday wishes to some of our readers and faithful friends: Robert Briseño, one of the magazine’s creators, and his wife, Regina, are celebrating not only another year in the planet but also their 11th wedding anniversary (WOW! Time is flying by! ) Other birthday shout-outs go to Karen, Barbara, John, Kenny, Joe, Catherine, Christopher, Clara, Krystle, Jeff, Bob, Pippen, Yvonne, Michael, Duane, Christine, Wendy, Lou, Emily, Debbie, Dora, Therese, Freda, Cindy, Patty, Tricia, Harry, Joanne, Patrick, Cindy, Don, Mel, Derrick, Rich, Diane, Dan, Roberta, Holly, JoEllen, Jim, Eric, Caroline, Bea, Shannon, and everyone else whom we know and love who are celebrating in August and September!
Cheers!
Robert Briseño
Deanna Baillie
& Deanna Troupe
Well, 2017 definitely seems to be chugging along more quickly than 2016 did. Perhaps it’s just because we’re getting older, but doesn’t it seem like time is just zipping by? Maybe the nonstop news cycle of today’s political world is also rushing the year, or maybe the first serious rains for the last few years have made the days seem to slip by more rapidly? However, we do know that the world is not moving any faster, so maybe we just need to slow down and enjoy the days just a bit more so that we can savor them and enjoy them to their fullest. I think we need to schedule more fun breaks so that we can seize the day and not just endure it.
In addition to the world not spinning any faster, we also know that our calendar is filling up even more. We partnered with CitySpark last year to help with redesigning our calendar section and to help bring in more event information from all around the Bay Area and beyond. If you are not using our online calendar, please take the time explore it either at home or on your smartphone so that you can discover all of its features. You can look for an event near you or in a specific city. You can also look for specific types of events near and far from you on a specific day, week, month, or longer period of time. The search feature helps you to find just what you are looking for, faster than before. Of course, we are eager to hear from you, to learn how you like it and how we can make it even better. If you have only used the calendar in our print magazine in the past, you are missing out on thousands of additional events that we do not have the room to print.
It is also the height of the outdoor event season. If you enjoy going outside and seeing a movie, listening to a music concert, shopping at a farmers market or taking in some arts and/or jazz, or attending the Pirate Festival—June and July are your months! Every weekend and many weekday evenings can be filled with one of those endeavors and more if you are so inclined—not to mention things like baseball, the local fairs, or your local 4th of July parades. There is literally too much to do each and every weekend day, and perhaps after a solid two months of events, you might yearn for the slower pace between Halloween and Thanksgiving (or not!). While you may not plan to attend an event every weekend, there is certainly no excuse to not take in a few.
Just a quick plug for our annual Local’s Choice Awards, our voting will be opening up in September, so think about whom you may want to nominate and vote for in each of the categories.
To all of our friends and family that are marking their annual journey around the sun, we say, “Happy birthday!!” Here are but a few of them: our mother, Genevieve, Robert’s daughter Veronica as well as our niece, Danielle, along with Julie, Jim, Lisa, Donna, Christine, Victor, Kyle, Sam, Ken, Maureen, Marc, Faith, Ann, Lynn, Karen, Juan, Jodi, Julie, Gigi, Sherry, Kenny, Jack, Jay, Tom, Matt, Jennifer, Clint, Ken, Phil, Amelia, Tina, Doug, Krystal, Bob, Pippen, and all the rest of our friends, family, and readers—seize your day!
Cheers!
Robert Briseño
& Deanna Troupe
We are well into 2017 now and on the second quarter of the year. We trust all of you are sticking faithfully to your New Year’s resolution … and if not there’s always 2018! The rain has certainly been a factor this season, and we hope that all our readers have come through this rainy season without any damage from flooding. We love the water, just not when it’s knee deep in the kitchen.
The abundant amount of rain has made for a wonderful wildflower season. Make sure to take a hike or two before the season ends to take in all their beauty. Keep in mind that the extra vegetation also means a higher risk of fires in the summertime, so stay vigilant and safe.
We know the political scene has stayed active this year—and will probably remain so. The best way to handle it, we have found, is to ignore all the news and hype that is going to stay constant and to just get out and enjoy yourself. With daylight savings in place and warmer days ahead, there is plenty of time to enjoy the outdoors with so many things to do. Our calendar has more and more great events in it since we partnered with CitySpark to help us highlight all there is to do in this wonderful area that we call home. It’s now even easier to narrow down the choices based on where you live and what you want to do. The best part is that you can do it while you’re out with your smartphone.
April is a busy birthday month for us over here at Local Happenings Magazine. We celebrate our father’s birthday (we: Deanna & Robert, we are brother and sister as well as business partners and creators of this “Happening” publication) as well as Deanna’s, and Robert’s eldest son, Ramon’s, all in April! To our friends and family, Happy Birthday! Which includes, but isn’t limited to: Jackson, Debbie, Lindsay, Judy, Bonnie, John, Eric, Ronda, Juanita, Dennis, Shawn, Donna, Greg, Stacey, Dave, Carol, Sherri, George, Jim, Adam, Jimmie, David, Norman, Leeann, JD, Michael, Dan, Mike, Leonard, Amber, Benny, Steve, Joey, Tom, Scott, Renee, Kelly, Leah, Cathy, Jonathan, John, Leanne, Russ, Colleen, Leslie, Kathy, Wanda, Kim, Jeanne, Miguel, LaGuan, Marc and all the rest of you wonderful people out there that make our community so amazing. We hope each of you has a fabulous birthday and great year!!
Until next issue, cheers!
Robert Briseño
& Deanna Troupe
Editor’s Note: Yes, a name change for Deanna after her February nuptials – enjoy some pictures of the very casual event in the calendar section!
