Beer Me

 What better way to while away a sweltering summer afternoon than sipping (responsibly) on craft brew with your comrades? Whether it’s visiting a microbrewery and imbibing in a flight, or attending a local beer fest, there’s more than one way to get your brew on.

El Dorado Hills-based Mraz Brewing already expanded into a new 3,000-foot brewing and tasting area, in addition to their Francisco Drive facility. If you like a bit of old with the new, head to downtown Sacramento and drop in Oak Park Brewing or New Helvetia —both are (ahem) tapping into the history of Sacramento in exciting ways. And, if you want to talk brand spanking new, Jackrabbit Brewing Company in West Sacramento just wiped the sawdust off their expanded brewery and shiny new taproom the first week of April—you can’t get much newer than that! If that’s not buzz-worthy enough, than get your tickets to Folsom Rhythm & Brews. Taking place June 20 at the Palladio from noon to 6 p.m., over 40 breweries will be on tap (pun intended) serving samples (until 4:30 p.m.) as you enjoy the sound of music from six bands on two stages. Save the date for Tap Folsom on July 31 at Lake Natoma Inn, featuring some of the best breweries in America along with food and music.

Wineries with Something to Do 

Don’t miss all the “grape” entertainment going on at local wineries this summer. Enjoy wine and music at Boeger Winery’s Sunset Sippin’ Fridays, every Friday from 5 p.m. till late, June 11 through August 27; Casque Wines offers free Fridays on the Patio beginning at 5 p.m. through October, with live music the first Friday of every month; Dono dal Cielo has free live music every Saturday from 1.30-4.30 p.m. (donodalcielo); enjoy a Weekly Wine Down every Friday with live music at Wise Villa Winery; don’t miss Helwig Winery’s monthly summer concert series beginning June 27 at 8 p.m.; Crystal Basin Cellars also has a free summer concert series on Saturdays from 4.30-8 p.m. and Sundays from 4-7.30 p.m.; and put on your dancing shoes for Vina Castellano’s Tango in La Cava introductory tango class on June 27. Summertime is also the perfect time to enjoy a game of bocce ball. Check out Fenton Herriott Vineyards, Charles B. Mitchell Vineyards, Vino Nocceto, Andis Wines or Saluti Cellars, which has a horseshoe pit as well—just to name a few. If art is more your scene, check out the Charles Spinetta Winery and Wildlife Gallery (charlesspinettawinery.com); or the monthly paint and pour at Miner’s Leap Winery in Clarksburg; Bonitata Boutique Wine is located inside the Bernhard Museum in Auburn, so you can take a tour of the museum after your tasting.

Fairs & Festivals

 What’s that delightful smell wafting on the summer breeze? It’s funnel cake, which means it’s fair time! The big daddy of them all, the 161st Annual California State Fair runs July 10-26 at Cal Expo. County fair-wise, El Dorado County Fair’s “Hog Days of Summer” takes place June 18-21 at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville; the Placer County Fair proves “There’s No Place Like Placer” from June 25-28 at the Placer County Fairgrounds in Roseville; enjoy “Country Tunes and Midway Blooms” at the Amador County Fair from July 23-26 at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth; the Nevada County Fair invites you to “Catch the Fair Bug” from August 12-16 at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley; and “the original free gate fair,” the Yolo County Fair, runs August 19-23 at the Yolo County Fairgrounds in Woodland. 

California’s fruit and vegetable basket overflows through the summer with a cornucopia of food festivals. Don’t miss the Marysville Peach Festival from July 17-18, the Sloughhouse Davis Ranch Corn Festival from July 11-12, the Cortland Pear Fair on July 26, the Gilroy Garlic Festival on July 24, the Woodland Tomato Festival on August 8, the Sacramento Banana Festival from August 8-9, or the Fair Oaks Chicken Festival on September 19. 

If you’re feeling crafty, check out the Placerville Craft Faire on August 23; if you missed out on a “miracle” for the Grateful Dead reunion tour, check out the next best thing at the Ain’t Necessarily Dead Festival, a free Grateful Dead tribute concert on July 25 from 1-10 p.m. at Auburn Regional Park; or attend the Auburn Ukulele Festival from August 14-15.

Those with a bit of extra dough and a love for live tunes won’t want to miss the plethora of music fests on tap. Treat Dad to the Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival on June 21 in Grass Valley; make the long trek up to beautiful Laytonville from June 25-28 to see Steve Earle, Smoky Robinson, Judy Collins and more at the Kate Wolf Music Festival at Black Oak Ranch; get your hippy-jam-band groove on at the High Sierra Music Festival featuring The String Cheese Incident, from July 2-5 in Quincy; show your love for local music at the First Annual Placerville Music Festival on July 12 at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds; if you love roots music, head on over to the American River Music Festival at Henningsen-Lotus Park just outside Coloma from September 18-21. This year’s Outside Lands, August 7-9 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, boasts headliners Mumford and Sons, The Black Keys, Elton John, Sam Smith, D’Angelo & The Vanguard and more; or, if your Facebook feed needs livening up, head into the desert for the Mad Max art installation that is Burning Man, from August 30 to September 7 in Black Rock City, Nevada.

Best Place for a Picnic

 You can’t go wrong with a picnic at Negro Bar, right on the shores of Lake Natoma; there’s plenty of shade to escape the heat (or water if you want to take a dip), gorgeous scenery, plus trails for hiking and biking. Newly opened in February, El Dorado Hills’ Tam O’Shanter Parklet boasts over 150 trees planted by resident Jim Miner, to whom the parklet is now dedicated. Mr. Miner maintained the area for 27 years, and now we have him to thank for a lovely picnic area. Don’t overlook the Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park, either: Not only can you visit the museum but there’s lots of great scenic spots nearby for a picnic, too. Head over to the Amador Flower Farm in Plymouth for a “blooming” gorgeous picnic by the pond under spreading oaks, and be sure to make the trip to Empire Mine State Historic Park for the 120th Annual Miners Picnic on Saturday, August 29. Bring your own picnic or purchase food at the park, and enjoy loads of special activities from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., including a thrilling mine rescue at high noon; free admission for children under six.

Where to Watch Fireworks

The Folsom Pro Rodeo doesn’t just have Fourth of July fireworks; in Folsom it’s go big or go home! The rodeo runs July 2-4 and features fireworks every night.

The Placer County Fair will have fireworks at the All American Speedway on July 4. 

Check out the Fourth of July Family Blast at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville from 4-10 p.m. 

Head to the El Dorado Hills Town Center for a Fireworks and Freedom Concert on July 3.

You can always go with the classic crowd-pleaser: the Fourth of July fireworks Extravaganza at Cal Expo.

Mix in a bit of America’s favorite pastime on America’s birthday at Raley Field for their Fourth Annual Fourth on the Field and fireworks display.

If you want big, you won’t get much bigger than the Lights on the Lake fireworks at Lake Tahoe. Fireworks are visible all over town, but check out the website for tips on primo viewing locations.

Water Works

No pool? No problem! There are great and affordable water recreation areas at your local public parks. Check out the Marshall Inflatable Obstacle Course at the El Dorado Hills Community Pool (evening and weekend sessions only), the Splash Zone at Promontory Community Park, White Rock Neighborhood Splash Park in Rancho Cordova, John Kemp Community Park in Folsom, or the Folsom Aquatics Center at Lembi Park. Don’t miss the 16th Annual Cameron Park Summer Spectacular—featuring swimming at the lagoon, a kids’ carnival and a huge fireworks spectacular—on June 27 at Cameron Park Lake from 2-11 p.m.

 Free Summer Concerts 

Concerts in the Park at Folsom City Lions Park kicks off June 5 and continues every Friday through July 31 (with the exception of July 3) at 6:30 p.m. The Palladio Summer Concert Series will be in full swing every Wednesday night from 7-9 p.m. through September 12. Historic Folsom gets in on the act with their Thursday Night Concert Series starting June 4 and continuing through July 30 in the outdoor amphitheater just off Wool Street from 6.30-8.30 p.m. The El Dorado Hills Summer Concerts in the Park begins June 5 at 7 p.m. and continues every other Friday through the summer. Live on the Boulevard, the Thursday night El Dorado Hills Town Center’s concert series, runs from June 19 through September 11 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Can’t -Miss Plays

The Harris Center will delight young and old this summer when the El Dorado Musical Theatre presents Disney’s Mulan, Jr., a Rising Stars Production featuring performers ages 6-13, based on the 1998 Disney movie, running July 10-19.

 Roseville Theater Arts Academy will get our summertime toes tapping with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat from July 17-25, and the delightfully, wordily titled The Saga of Sweet Hannah Sue, Or Is All That’s Swedish Sweet? from August 6-7.

Rocklin Community Theater presents Nice Work If You Can Get It, a lively musical featuring well-known songs from George and Ira Gershwin, at the Finnish Temperance Hall from July 10-26.

Placer Community Theater presents a comedy about a man and his rabbit, the classic Harvey, from June 13-27 at the Auburn Placer Performing Arts Center in Auburn’s Historic State Theater.

It’ll be springtime for you-know-who this summer when Sierra Stages presents Mel Brooks’ classic musical The Producers from July 16 through August 8 at the Nevada Theater in Nevada City.

Imagination Theater in Placerville will present See How They Run, a fantastically funny farce, running September 11 through October 4.

Volcano Theater Company presents Thornton Wilder’s quintessential American play Our Town, August 7 through September 5 at the Amphitheater.

Summer Reading Programs for Kids

The El Dorado County Library’s Summer Reading programs commence in June with an “Every Hero Has a Story” ice cream social and reading kick-off party on June 10 at the Pollock Pines Library at 1 p.m.; on June 13 from 1-3 p.m., the El Dorado Hills Branch Library will host their kick-off party with a superhero obstacle course, photo booth and more. Folsom Public Library’s Summer Reading program runs through July 31 and features a range of activities including music, magic, story times and a puppet show. 

New Music For a Summer Party

 Music is a swimming pool, and the best way to get wet is to dive on in. Here’s a sampler from the year so far to keep you afloat.

“Little Red Wagon,” Miranda Lambert

“Only One,” Kanye and Paul McCartney

“Hurricane,” MisterWives

“Style,” Taylor Swift

“Doing It,” Charlie XCX

“In Love With Fire,” London Richards

“Take U There,” Missy Elliot remix

“Colors,” Genevieve

“Bad Believer,” St. Vincent

“Stitches,” Shawn Mendes

Summer Camps for All

There’s plenty of summer camp fun in Folsom this summer! Talk to the animals during one of the Folsom Zoo Sanctuary camps—choose from the ABC Zoo Camp (ages 4-7) or two Zookeeper Camps (one for ages 8-11 and the other for ages 12-15). Your budding scientists will react (get it?) to camps like Crazy Crime Lab and Robotics; there’s also Lego Camp, art camps, and a whole range of sports camps (from flag football to basketball). Big or small, active or reserved, there’s a camp for every kid this summer   

 

In El Dorado Hills, your little ones (ages 3-6) will be well taken care of at the Lil Campers Day Camp at Froggie Frontier Preschool beginning June 1; creatively minded kids (ages 7-13) should check out the Fine Arts Camp beginning June 8, or Theater Arts Camp (ages 8-18) starting June 22; become the next Tiger Woods at the Junior Golf Camp (ages 8-17) starting June 22, the next Lionel Messi at the EURO Soccer Camp (ages 5-15) starting June 22, or the next Andre Agassi at the Junior Tennis Camp (ages 7-17), starting June 8 (edhcsd.org). 

5 Staycation Ideas 

Get lost in your own backyard…

1/A wonderful place for families is the Cameron Park Rotary Community Observatory in Placerville (open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8:30-10:30 p.m.). Bring the kids for an unforgettable evening with the night sky! 

2/Explore beautiful underground caverns at the Black Chasm Cavern in Volcano, a national natural landmark. 

3/Visit one of the best-maintained gold mines in the area and check out the working stamp mill at the Kentucky Mine Museum, near Sierra City off Highway 49. Check out the working stamp mill!

4/ Celebrate the history and continuing role railroads play today in moving passengers and freight in the Placer County region at Colfax Railroad Days. Admission is free; this year’s event runs September 12-13.

5/Take a day trip to the Bay area and visit Muir Woods—see trees as old as the state of California in nature’s very own cathedral, located in Golden Gate National Park. Everyone needs to hug a redwood tree at least once in their life.

   

10 Camping Recipes

Bring a can of crescent roll dough, wrap the dough around a stick and put it over the campfire or better still, wrap that dough around a hot dog on a stick for a “crescent dog.” Take a can of cinnamon roll dough, put rolls in hollowed out oranges, cook over the coals and then put them right in your face. Grab a can of biscuit dough, cut a hole in the middle of the biscuit, dust with cinnamon and powdered sugar and fry in a skillet; voila, campfire donuts! 

If you’re above “cans of dough” or you don’t understand what a “can of dough” even is, try fancy glamping fondue: grab a wheel of your favorite brie or camembert, poke holes in it, pour brandy over the top, wrap in foil and stick in the coals until you have drunken melty cheese.

Instead of a marshmallow, you can try roasting Starburst on a stick (warning: molten!); or just stick with marshmallows. Let’s not reinvent the wheel here, people. However, “campfire cones” are the best thing ever: Fill a sugar cone with chocolate pieces, marshmallows, whatever you want, wrap in foil and cook until deliciously melty and then top with whipped cream. I guess you could put Starburst in there, too? 

Not so much a recipe as a neat breakfast party trick, try campfire bacon, aka artfully weaving bacon onto toasting forks and frying over the campfire.

The Venn diagrams of “Camping Food and College Dorm Food” intersect at omelet in a bag: Dump all of your omelet ingredients into a Ziploc bag, put it in a pot of simmering water, and then question your life choices. Or ditch the bag omelet and eat a campfire apple filled with Nutella with a big old smile on your face. Yes, it’s a thing…a beautiful, beautiful thing.

-by Sharon Penny