Concessions prices are higher than they were at the last California State Fair in 2019, but fairgoers are still spending money on the summer indulgences they missed. 

A celebration of inclusivity and diversity was on full display at the Sac Pride March, where local organizations and the businesses turned out to support the Sacramento LGBT Center and its community.

The competition’s inventions included a medical device that detects fetuses’ oxygen levels, a machine-learning tool that analyzes livestock health and a healthy take on boba milk tea.

The California Honey Festival returns with vendors, music and neighborhood restaurants celebrating the state’s sweetest product.

UC Davis’ new dedicated Graduate Center opened this month, giving graduate students access to offices, lounge space, meeting rooms, a kitchen and more.

The California Mobility Center recently debuted low-emission mobility technology at a new manufacturing facility. 

Anyone who has visited the coffee houses of Vienna will see the resemblance between those venerable institutions and Konditorei Austrian Pastry Café in Davis.

The Woodland Opera House reopened June 15, 1896 after a fire destroyed the original building. On June 15, 2021, it reopened after a different crisis.

The California Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America held its Influence Awards at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria in downtown Sacramento on Oct. 17. Nearly 140 professionals and students in the communication industry attended the event, where 39 winners across 17 categories were honored.

Sacramento Self-Help Housing hosted its 17th annual Let Them Eat Cake fundraising event at Beatnik Studios in downtown Sacramento on July 11. Community members and partners raised $90,000 for the nonprofit organization, which works to eliminate homelessness in the region. 

The Woodland Chamber of Commerce held its 88th Annual Installation and Member Ceremony on Feb. 7 at the Woodland Community and Senior Center. Attendees enjoyed a silent auction, adult beverages and a buffet-style dinner by Buckhorn Grill.

Photos Charles Vincent McDonald 

RememberAVet.net held its annual Christmas Wreath-Laying on Dec. 15-16 at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon. Volunteers laid 23,000 wreaths on the graves of every fallen veteran at the site. RememberAVet.net is committed to ensuring that each grave site at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery is recognized and honored with a Christmas wreath during the holiday season.

Hope Cooperative, formerly TLCS held a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open Possibilities, Hope Cooperative’s new program for transition-age and homeless youth, on Dec. 10  at the new facilities on Del Paso Blvd.  Hope Cooperative’s Possibilities program is in partnership with Wind Youth Services and will serve 30 youth each year who come directly from homelessness.

The City of Woodland held a swearing-in ceremony for the new Mayor Xóchitl Rodriguez on Dec. 4 at the Woodland Community and Senior Center. Rodriguez is the first woman to hold the position since 1998. Rodriguez is replacing Enrique Fernandez.

It may seem like it snuck up on us, but the Capital Region has a healthy startup ecosystem that has been growing for over 25 years, starting with the establishment of the Intel and Hewlett-Packard campuses in the early 1980s. There have been many milestones along the way and we expect many more to come. We are definitely on the map as a city where you can build a startup.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Greater Sacramento held the 2018 Light The Night Walk on Nov. 3 at Raley Field in West Sacramento. The event honored blood cancer survivors, supporters and loved ones lost with music, food, fireworks and festivities.

Think Pink Granite Bay held its fourth Luncheon & Fashion Show Fundraiser on Oct. 14 at the Granite Bay Golf Course. The event raised over $67,000 for research grant research in early detection of breast cancer through the Sutter Roseville Medical Center Foundation. The sold-out event hosted 220 attendees with a luncheon, live and silent auctions, a raffle and a fashion show with twelve breast cancer survivor models wearing clothes from Button Up Roseville!

Woodland Chamber of Commerce held the 51st Annual Farm City Dinner on Oct. 18 at the Woodland Community and Senior Center. Attendees enjoyed ag-related games, a live auction, beverages and a buffet-style dinner by Anderson’s family catering. Mark Mezger, owner of Farmers Grain Elevator and Mezger Trucking Co, was honored as the 2018 Agri-Business Person of the Year.

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento, in partnership with the Metro Chamber Foundation’s Leadership Class of 2018, kicked off the first ever “Rock the Block” event on October 19 and 20 in South Oak Park. Over the course of only two days, 250 volunteers repaired 14 homes, restored a community garden and added amenities to the local park and collaborative in the neighborhood.  

SacTown 5 recorded its pilot episode on Oct. 8 at The Diplomat Steakhouse in downtown Sacramento. SacTown 5 is a new YouTube series with raw perspectives about California’s current political affairs and its impact on the rest of the nation. Created by Katrina Rosseini, a financial news personality and global strategist, the show also features Dan Weitzman, CEO, Daniel C.

The 13th annual Sac Open Studios event kicked off on Sept. 6 with a launch party at Verge Center for the Arts in downtown Sacramento. Attendees enjoyed live music, art in action, hands-on children’s activities and a preview of the new “KOKO’s Love” video installation at Verge. The launch party was followed by two weekends of open studios with nearly 250 artists and approximately 75 studios participating throughout the region.

Habitat for Humanity held its Hard Hats & Heels Gala after party on Sept. 14 at the Diplomat Steakhouse in downtown Sacramento. Approximately 150 attendees from the gala kept the party going with dancing and music by Beat Fleet DJs, complimentary caviar and foie gras appetizers and light bites. The Hard Hats & High Heels Gala is Habitat for Humanity’s premier fundraising event.

Preservation Sacramento held its 2018 Historic Home Tour in the Capitol Mansions Historic District neighborhood on Sept. 16. This year’s tour showcased six homes in the neighborhood bound by 22nd and 27th streets, Kayak Alley and Matsui Alley.

Visit Sacramento held a partner mixer on Aug. 27 which featured the 2018 Tower Bridge Dinner lead chefs and menu release at Canon in East Sacramento. The 2018 Tower Bridge Dinner is scheduled for Sep. 30, culminating Farm-to-Fork Month.

Photos: Charles Vincent McDonald 

Sacramento Self-Help Housing held its 16th Annual “Let Them Eat Cake” event in celebration of Bastille Day on July 12 at Beatnik Studios in Sacramento. Attendees partook in a Bastille Day celebration showcasing outstanding local cuisine, adult beverages, cake tasting, upbeat music and more.

Comstock’s magazine celebrated the 16 entrepreneurs, representing 12 businesses, who graced the July cover with an issue release party on July 11 at Cowo Campus in Midtown Sacramento.

The Nehemiah Community Foundation was pleased to introduce the graduating NELP Class IV on June 25  — a group of 10 young professionals who have undergone an extensive 9-month program to prepare them for effective and ethical leadership within their organizations and communities. The graduation ceremony was held at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg and included 140 business and community leaders, program alumni and a keynote address by Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber.

Photos: Charles Vincent McDonald 

UC Davis Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship held its 2018 Big Bang! Business Competition Finalist Presentations & Awards Ceremony on May 24. The top five BigBang! Business Competition teams pitched their business ventures to compete for funding.

On Monday, May 28, the Davis Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6949 and the Davis Cemetery District hosted their annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Davis Cemetery & Arboretum. The ceremony featured Davis Poet Laureate Dr. Andy Jones, an introduction by Mayor Pro-tem Brett Lee with a keynote by Jerry Coker, a U.S. Marine Corps rifleman in South Vietnam with the 2nd Battalion, 26th Marine Regiment.

NKBA California Capital Chapter held its Annual Design & Build Event at The Greek Orthodox Church of Annunciation on May 11 in Sacramento. Attendees enjoyed a Farm-to-Fork themed dinner, live performances and a live auction benefiting Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento.  

The Midtown Association held its annual Midtown Love event at Faces Nightclub on May 17 in Sacramento. Approximately 400 attendees enjoyed mermaids, dance performances and a lip sync battle at the showcase for Sacramento’s vibrant urban core.