Weekend Jam Packed With Activities

Gosh! What ISN'T happening in Petaluma this weekend?

Highlights include The Holiday HoHoHo Down, a tree lighting at Theater Square, artist Jonny Hirschmugl’s Gallon of Black Paint show and the Brothers Comatose at the Mystic.

You might consider warming up for Saturday’s many social, cultural and holiday-inspired offerings by attending this Friday’s benefit concert for Schollenberger Park featuring the “Green String Band” at the at 40 Fourth Street. Tickets are $15.

Now, imagine it is Saturday morning and you hear a knock at your door. There I am on your front porch handing you two multi-vitamins, a thimble of fragrant wheat grass juice and a pair of red roller skates. Why? If you leave your house on Saturday, you’re going to need all three.

Have a good, warm breakfast before heading over to at 10 a.m. for a $20 workshop on seed saving with Sara McCamant. Elim is at 504 Baker St.

Also starting at 10am and running until 5pm Goltermann Gardens (at 1000 Skillman Lane) hosts which benefits Harvest Christian School. (This event also runs Friday 8am to 3pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm.

From 10:30am to 12:30pm,  is offering a beginner’s knitting class (3 sessions for $60) for those determined to wrap up only homemade gifts this year. This knitting and fiber arts destination is located at 1 Fourth Street.

From 11 a.m. check out the Holiday HoHoHo Down put on by The Petaluma Craft Mafia at the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building. Vendors will be offering hand made gift and décor items until 3 p.m. Admission is just $1 and includes a raffle ticket.

At 1 p.m. The Petaluma Arts Center hosts a free Photoshop Jam Session at 230 Lakeville St. At 2 p.m. the center will offer “Photographing Art – A Tour of Digital Grange” for $10. Although the 1:30pm author talk Charles Markee at (140 Kentucky St.) is tempting, too.

The setting sun signals The Festival of Trees tree lighting at Theater Square at 5 pm. This is an inaugural event hosted by  group and free to all.

Have you put your lights up? Well, everyone else has. Be sure to pick up a free map for Petaluma’s City of Lights Driving Tour at the at 210 Lakeville St. It’s your guide to checking out the best outdoor decorations in your neighborhood and an excuse to explore. Grab a thermos of cocoa, fill up the car and turn on the carols!

Looking for your tribe this holiday season? Be part of a Community Crawl with . A group of regulars from the creative crossroads disguised as a coffee shop plan to meet up on the dock behind the at 6:30 p.m. to welcome the flotilla of lighted vessels that comprise the

Do dress warm for the Petaluma Lighted Boat Parade, which travels on the Petaluma River from the Sheraton Hotel to the downtown turning basin near Petaluma Boulevard where Western ends in a “T” at 20 Water Street. Starts at 6:30pm, but I’ve learned you must stake out your viewing spot much earlier. Parking at Golden Eagle and standing near Dempsey’s is always good.

Also starting at 6:30pm is a free art show featuring the work of Jonny Hirschmugl at CW Gallery, 620 Petaluma Boulevard N, in Suite C2. You’ll be amazed what one man can do with one gallon of black paint. And you can meet many of Petaluma's rising art stars.

If you have any energy left at all, doors open at 8 p.m. for Brothers Comatose, Highway Poets and The Easy Leaves playing at the Mystic. Click here for ticket info.

At 8:30pm, you’ll probably find me at Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory,” which is being presented at at 143 Petaluma Blvd. N. Tickets are $12.

But Wait! There’s More on Sunday, Dec 4th  

From 5 to 6pm there’s a free Gospel concert at , which is a great pre-event for the annual Heritage Homes of Petaluma . Tickets for adults are $15, children free and available at Tuscan Gardens, Petaluma Mail Depot, Jacqueline’s High Tea and Petaluma Historical Museum.

Whem. I'm exhausted and the weekend hasn't even started yet. So sit down soon with friends and family and pick a few things to see, do and experience. Then have yourself a very merry weekend.