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Sonoma was alive this weekend with numerous fun and free activities. Perhaps the most notable, the annual Vintage Festival complete with patron’s dinner, the ever-popular and very squishy grape stomp as well as grape-festooned floats as highlights to the annual parade. The festival encompassed two full days of merriment.
Not to be outdone, Murphy’s Irish Pub hosted its first annual ‘kinda sorta’ bluegrass festival, called the Fick and Piddle Festival. The event brought together some of Sonoma County’s best bluegrass and Americana musicians for two days of barbeque, beer and bands that kept everyone’s toes tapping.
Finally, in a quite corner of Glen Ellen, far from the bustling activity of downtown Sonoma, the Emery family threw open the doors of their alpaca farm to give visitors an up close look at these docile, doe-eyed animals. Debbie and Mark Emery have been breeding, showing and shearing alpacas at their Brookfarm Alpaca Farm for the past three-and-a-half years. At the open house, they were joined by Vicki Arns of Alpaca Shire, the oldest alpaca ranch in Sonoma County, as well as Heather Sowinski and her family, who also keep alpacas. As a group, they enjoy sharing their packs while educating the public about these teddy bear-esque animals.
