Happy Tuesday, Walnut Creek!
💡 Did you know: The city takes its name from Arroyo de las Nueces, "creek of the walnuts," the name Spanish settlers gave the waterway lined with native walnut trees. The creek is still there, running right through downtown.
The best thing happening this week costs nothing and requires no tickets: a blood moon rises over Mount Diablo on Thursday night. Below that, the Bedford's annual juried show is running on a pay-what-you-can basis, there's sunset yoga among the succulents, and Around Walnut Creek has three quick updates on what's changing in the city, including the housing measure headed for your November ballot.
Let’s get to it.
— Sean Casey
🌖 A Blood Moon Over Walnut Creek
Thursday night the moon slides almost entirely into Earth's shadow. This is a deep partial lunar eclipse, 96% of the moon covered at maximum, which means it will glow the same rusty red as a total one. Maximum comes at 9:12 PM, late enough to finish dinner and early enough that the kids can stay up for it.
You need nothing to watch this. No telescope, no eye protection, no ticket. Get away from streetlights, find a clear view to the southeast, and look up. Lindsay Wildlife's naturalist-led eclipse hike on Mount Diablo sold out, as did both of their neon scorpion hikes this weekend, but they run these all season and the September dates are worth watching for. There is a waitlist form if you want to try your luck.
📍 Where: Anywhere with a clear southeastern horizon
📅 When: Thursday, August 27 | Maximum eclipse 9:12 PM
💲 Price: Free
🧘♀ Sunset Yoga at Ruth Bancroft Garden
The Ruth Bancroft Garden stays open after hours Wednesday for Sunset Yoga, a beginner-friendly class held among the agaves and aloes as the light goes gold. At $15 it's one of the cheapest ways to have the garden nearly to yourself, and the setting does half the work of the savasana. Tickets are limited and this one was down to its last handful at press time. Garden members also get 20% off cacti and euphorbias in the nursery through Sunday.
📍 Where: The Ruth Bancroft Garden, 1552 Bancroft Rd.
📅 When: Wednesday, August 26 | 5:30–7:00 PM
💲 Price: $15, registration required
🎨 CALeidoscope at the Bedford Gallery
The Bedford's annual juried exhibition is on through September 13, and it is a genuinely serious show: 73 artists, selected by curators from the San José Museum of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. CALeidoscope: Evolving Reflections of California runs from Point Lobos to Lafayette BART, taking in the coast, the farmland, the redwoods and the freeway exits. Admission is pay what you can, which makes an hour inside the Lesher Center one of the better free-ish afternoons in town.
📍 Where: Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr.
📅 When: Wednesday–Sunday | 12:00–5:00 PM, through September 13
💲 Price: Pay what you can, ages 13+
🤠 Live Country Fridays at Bourbon Highway
Friday is the loudest night downtown. Bourbon Highway, the Nashville-style country bar and kitchen on N. Main, runs live country bands with line dancing and karaoke until 1 AM. The kitchen leans Southern, and downstairs hides Rosa's Fajita Cantina, a whole second Tex-Mex concept most first-timers don't know is there. Beginners are welcome on the dance floor; that is rather the point of line dancing.
📍 Where: Bourbon Highway, 1677 N. Main St.
📅 When: Friday, August 28 | 6:30 PM–1:00 AM
💲 Price: Free entry, food and drinks for purchase
🏃 The Run Club's First Sunday at Larkey
Walnut Creek Run Club has a new home base, and Sunday morning is the first run out of it. They're meeting at The Market on Larkey, and rolling out new routes from the starting line. RSVP through the link in the club's Instagram bio. Finish around nine and you're timed perfectly for the farmers' market on Locust, where it is peak tomato season.
📍 Where: The Market on Larkey, 2800 Larkey Ln.
📅 When: Sunday, August 30 | 8:00 AM
💲 Price: Free, RSVP requested
🌳 Around Walnut Creek
🗳️ Senior housing is headed to your ballot. The citizen initiative to rezone 2.4 acres across from the BART station at N. California and Ygnacio Valley for 200+ units of senior housing and mixed-use retail will go to voters November 3. The council chose the ballot route rather than adopting the measure outright, so the decision is now the city's to make. City info
🍫 Broadway Plaza got sweeter and saucier. Swiss chocolatier Läderach opened its doors at the plaza this month, and Original Joe's, the San Francisco Italian-American institution, is now serving its first East Bay location there too. Between the two, the plaza's food story keeps getting harder to skip. Broadway Plaza
🥗 The old Genova Deli space has a new tenant. California fast-casual chain MIXT is now open at 1105 S. California Blvd., serving salads, grain bowls, and sandwiches in the spot the beloved deli left behind. A different vibe than Genova, but the lunch line suggests the neighborhood has decided it'll do. MIXT
🛍 A Walnut Creek original is coming home. VICI started here in 2012, grew into a national brand largely on the strength of its Instagram feed, and is now returning downtown for good after a stint away and a well-received holiday pop-up at Broadway Plaza. The new shop is coming soon to Main Street, next door to Ananas Coffee. VICI
👀 Looking Ahead: September Warms Up
Three to put on the calendar: ØL Beercafe's Comedy Night returns Thursday, September 3 at 7:30 PM; the Ruth Bancroft Garden throws its free, family-friendly Botanical Bash celebration of plants and people on Sunday, September 13; and Oktoberfest hits Civic Park September 25–26. Fall is stacking up nicely.
📍 Where: ØL Beercafe • Ruth Bancroft Garden • Civic Park
📅 When: September 3 • September 13 • September 25–26
💲 Price: Comedy Night free • Botanical Bash free • Oktoberfest details to come
Other fun notes…
🥗 Weekly Walnut recipe: Walnut Pesto (Pesto di Noce) — the Ligurian classic, and the best possible destiny for a basket of farmers' market basil.
🎵 Who we are listening to: Klingande - Jubel — “A message to the future generation... Don't let this masterpiece die.”
🙏 Positive news around the globe: A 66-year-old fulfilled a lifelong dream and became the oldest member of the LSU marching band. Read Article
✨ Quiet weeks are when a town shows you what it's really made of.
We're testing the new Around Walnut Creek section. What should get more space in WCD?
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