This weekend marks the 4th Annual Sacramento Banana Festival to celebrate the many ways that cultures across the globe, and right in Sacramento, incorporate this delicious fruit into their food, culture and art. Each year, the two-day event has continued to grow and include new and fun banana attractions for attendees.
The event kicks off on Saturday at 9 a.m. with a Banana Pancake Breakfast at William Land Park, for only $3 a person. There is a long list of bands and performers that are scheduled to perform throughout both the weekend on any one of the three stages at the event.
On Saturday, banana foodies can watch a Chef Challenge featuring cooking demonstrations from some of Sacramento’s most talented chefs. Some other events include a 5K Run/Walk, a Carmen Miranda Hat Contest, a Little Miss and Mr. Banana Pageant and even Banana Limbo to list a few. Click here to see a full list of events on Saturday and Sunday.
The banana menu includes everything from Banana Cobbler and Banana Licorice to Grilled Bananas and Banana Shish Kabobs!
The event is hosted by the Sojourner Truth Museum which works to provide health, education and wellness services to at-risk youth across the Sacramento region. Proceeds from this weekend’s festival will support this local organization’s youth-benefiting programs. Click here to buy tickets to the festival.
Location:
William Land Park (the area located on the corner of Freeport Blvd and Sutterville Road)
Festival Hours:
Saturday, August 10 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, August 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tickets:
Available online and at the gate for $5
Pancake Breakfast: $3 per person
Parking:
Available at the park and at Sacramento City College for $1.50
Cooking Up Some Halloween Spookiness at Whole Foods
I don’t know about you, but when I think of eating and Halloween, it usually means inhaling copious amounts of treats and ending the night in a sugar-induced coma. Those sweets may come small and individually wrapped, but after I start indulging, there’s nothing “fun size” about it.
Thankfully, Halloween doesn’t have to be about overdoing it on the candy consumption. Whole Foods Market’s Arden Culinary Center is offering some fun hands-on Halloween cooking activities this month, starting with an Old Fashioned Halloween Candy cooking class for kids. Students will learn how to make crunchy popcorn balls, chewy caramel apples and cinnamon candy apples. Beyond working on cooking techniques, kids get to take all the recipes home. The class is $35 and takes place on Sunday, Oct. 23, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can register online here.
Adults can also take part in the fun on Saturday, Oct. 29, when the Culinary Center hosts additional hands-on Halloween activities: pumpkin painting, sugar cookie decorating and pumpkin seed roasting. This event is free and lasts from noon to 3 p.m.
And before you take your kids out for trick-or-treating on the 31st, stop by the Culinary Center as it transforms into a haunted house from 3 to 7 p.m. Kids in costumes will receive a free treat from the bakery and can walk through the “spooktacular” kitchen of horrors.
Whole Foods Market’s Arden Culinary Center
4315 Arden Way
Sacramento, CA 95864
916-488-2800
What’s Happening in Sacramento this Halloween Weekend
Looking for a festive way to celebrate Halloween? Read on to learn about a few of the exciting events happening around town this weekend.
Ghost Tours in Old Sacramento:
Whether you’ve never been to Old Sac or are a frequent visitor, here is a great excuse to go. From today through Saturday, experience a ghost tour, which will take you through centuries of history including ghost stories dating back to the Gold Rush era.
Costume Brunch at de Vere’s Irish Pub:
Looking for a place to sip on a mimosa, enjoy a tasty brunch and let your kids run around in costumes? If you answer yes to these questions, then deVere’s Irish Pub is the place to be! The kids dressed in the best costumes this Sunday can win prizes and treats, so dress to impress!
Trick or Treat in Old Sacramento:
Looking for a place where you and your kids can enjoy some good old fashioned trick or treating? Head to Old Sac this Saturday from noon until 4 p.m. Come dressed in full costume and meet at the Old Sacramento Schoolhouse to begin your candy collecting!
Old Sacramento Halloween Block Crawl:
This Sunday, check out the Halloween Block Crawl in Old Sacramento. Participating venues include: River City Saloon, Fanny Ann’s, O’Mally’s, Vega’s, Sports Corner and The Other Office. What better way to spend your Halloween but by enjoying drinks specials, fun costumes, and great bar food?
Spend Halloween in Midtown:
Bring your kids in costume and enjoy trick or treating from L Street to J Street and from 16th Street to 27th Street collecting candy from local shops and business. This event is free and fun for the whole family.
A new giveaway: Mercy’s Annual “Care Begins with Me”
In our caffeine-fueled, technology-driven, over- scheduled lives, it’s not too often that we women take time out for ourselves. I see so many of my friends running themselves ragged: Up at 5 AM, out the door by 7, drop the kids at school, head to work, play taxi driver to soccer/football/cross-country, only to race home to try and juggle dinner, homework and laundry. If this sounds all-too familiar, you owe it to yourself to register for Mercy’s Annual “Care Begins with Me” event on October 5. There’s so much to see and do (and, in keeping with our blog’s theme, to eat and drink!):
- Health information. Mercy experts will lead informative and interactive chats on health topics important to you and your family.
- Inspiration. Guest speaker (and best-selling author of Heart of the Matter, Something Borrowed and Something Blue) Emily Griffin will inspire you.
- Retail Therapy. Marketplace Expo allows you to explore unique items and vendor boutiques, get a relaxing massage and more.
- Swag! Pick up your stylish swag bag with gifts for you to take home.
- Epicurean delights. And – a SacFoodies favorite – enjoy wine, champagne and hors d’oeuvres, as well as coffee and decadent desserts.
Last year’s event sold out, so grab your favorite girlfriends, your sisters and mom and register for the event at www.carebegingswithme.org The cost is $25 and a share of the proceeds benefits Women’s Empowerment, a local program that educates and provides homeless women with the skills and confidence to get a job, maintain a healthy lifestyle and regain a home for themselves and their children. You’ll also have the chance to win a luxurious spa day for two!
Leave us a comment here or on our Facebook page by Thursday, telling us your favorite way to take care of yourself, and you could win two tickets (worth $25 each) to Mercy’s fun health and lifestyle event. We’ll choose a winner on Friday!
Sac Foodies at the 18th Annual After Hours Event at Fairytale Town
Last Friday a few of the Sac Foodies volunteered at the Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center’s (SAEHC) 18th Annual “After Hours” Event at Fairytale Town. We had the pleasure of helping staff booths and assist local restaurants and some of the various vendors including Sierra Nevada, Chef Ken of SAEHC, and Mulvaney’s. The night was a success and a lot of fun; we met other local foodies, listened to live music and feasted on food and drink from the area’s top restaurants including Tower Café, Vizcaya, Deveres, Barefoot, Zocalo and L Wine Lounge. We even got to snap a few pictures by Mother Goose and the case of The Wizard of Oz!