Tai Chi, yoga, swing dance, local folk music and even a Pizza-tossing competition… Wow, can’t miss this great event. May 15th 10am to 8:30pm, on irving street between 9th and 10th avenue, and on 10th avenue between Irving and Lincoln. For details about the Inner Sunset Street Fair, check out their website.

Come and check out my booth on 10th avenue. I will have local neighborhood stuff for sale, as well as my baby grocery shirts!

Open to public and be as silly as you like! The parade starts promptly at noon at the foot of Market Street (Embarcadero Plaza) and follows a well-established route through the financial district. Bring your feet, old socks, pennies, dead lottery tickets, noisemakers, 3-D glasses, drums…April 1st, noon, silly costumes are encouraged!!! Be there, or be elsewhere!

Attention artists, vendors, musicians and owners of unique cars:

Cole Valley Fair will be back again for its eighth year on Sunday, September 26, 2010. The fair features local art and fine crafts, lip-smacking food, live music, a display of historical Cole Valley photographs, a full block of vintage automobiles owned by neighborhood residents, events for children, and more!

Application for artist can be downloaded here. Priority will be given to Cole Valley residents and returning vendors. Food vendors’ application is here. Musicians from all genres and styles can apply for one-hour performance slots here. Unique car owners are encouraged to apply for “Cars on Cole” car show this year. It need not be a “show queen”, or vintage, or rare. The range of vehicles in past years has been from a gaggle of Citroen 2CV’s, British, German, French, Japanese and Italian sports and touring cars, heavy 30-60’s American Iron, Model A to modern Hot Rod, bicycles to motorcycles.

For more information, please visit www.cviasf.org. Oh, the deadline is July 1st!!

Avoid long lines and busy malls…this year Santa will be waiting for you and your family at our local Postal Chase (912 Cole Street) for that classic Santa photo!

When:
Sunday, December 6th
10 a.m. – 12 noon & 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

These are high quality Santa photos right here in Cole Valley! Don’t stand in line; simply sign in and be given a number and approximate wait time. Shop, have a hot chocolate, or start tackling your Christmas gifts while you wait! Later, go online and order photos directly or purchase the photo file to suit all of your holiday greeting and gift needs.

Photo sitting fee is $20.00. Online orders start at just $1.00 per photo and $15 for the photo file. Santa on Cole is a fundraiser supporting the Cole Valley sidewalk cleaning program. All of our “elves” are part of the friendly Cole Valley neighborhood who look forward to helping you make your holiday memories truly special.

For full event and pricing details, please click here.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The City is throwing a week long series of events called the Big Rumble. As part of that, the neighbors of Clayton and Carl Street are throwing a joint block party.

When: Oct. 17th 10am to 3pm.
Where: Carl Street between Clayton and Cole (Street will be closed for through traffic)
What: Community potluck, a wide range of earthquake preparedness games and activities for all ages to enjoy.
Who: Residents between Frederick and Parnassus (for Clayton Street) and Clayton and Cole (for Carl Street). But anyone is welcome to attend, please bring dish(es) with labels and utensils to share. Would be great if you can bring tables!!!

We will share stories “Where were you in ‘89” when the quake happened. There will be disaster preparedness materials, giveaways, activities and ice breakers including: Emergency preparedness Bingo, What’s in a Disaster Supply Kit, Home Hazard Hunt. There’s even going to be a bouncy house for the kids. Raffles include a Red Cross Disaster kit. Musicians: bring your acoustic instruments for a jam session.

RSVP to ColeValleyFriends(at)gmail(dot)com is not mandatory, but greatly appreciated for planning purposes! Email us how many people are coming, whether you will be able to provide tables, help with set up etc. It’s time for neighbors to meet each other face to face!

7th Annual Cole Valley Fair will be held on September 20th, 2009. Here is the vendor’s application, musician’s application, cars on cole antique car show application. Application deadline is July 1st. More information can be obtained at Cole Valley Improvment Association’s website.

See you all at the fair!

It is said that Paul Madonna will do a poster for Cole Valley Fair this year. Most of us know him through his beautiful drawings of different neighborhoods in the San Francisco Chronicle. I am sure the 2009 Cole Valley Fair poster will be really popular. Can’t wait to see it!

If you are into comics, love to draw, check out the comic book jam group meeting at the Church Street Cafe between Market and 15th street. The group meets on the 2nd and the last Thursday of the month from 6 to 10pm, and they d r a w.

You don’t have to be a pro to participate, but seriously, those people mean business:) A friend took me there last month for the first time, and they were doing some impressive collaborate projects. Don’t be intimidated by their fancy works, they love the idea of having different styles of drawing in one project. Normally an artist starts a theme, and the project is passed around. The story is quite unpredictable until the last artist finishes the last panel. I didn’t get to participate when I was there because my friend spilled coffee on his Tshirt, and I end up drawing on people’s Tshirt the whole night :)

They also have this 24 hour comic jam event. Gosh, you must be a comic nut to do this. After paying $5 to secure your seat at the comic outpost on 2381 Ocean Ave. San Francisco, you will have the chance to draw continuously for 24 hours with people just like you. Oct. 18th 11am - Oct. 19th, 11am.

Check out their website: www.cartoonistconspiracy.com about this SF event

wow wow wow. The multimedia performance I saw at the SF International Film Festival last night was amazing! I mean, I don’t even know how to call this type of art… Three “Cloud Eye Control” artists from LA combined animation, experimental theater, pop music and puppetry all together, and surprised everyone by their creativity and imagination.

Out of the four performances, I liked Miwa Matreyek’s “Dreaming of Lucid Living” the most. You have to see the video of her performance. There are many other cool similar type of performance/illustration/ at her website. The other performances can be seen at the Cloud Eye Control’s website. Again, the way they merge the live action moment with animated component is fascinating. Here are some pictures of their performances.

Cole Valley Fair (formally the Heart of Cole Festival) will be back again for the sixth year on Sunday, September 21, 2008, from 10am to 5pm. (the closing time is one hour earlier than previous years.) The location is on Cole street between Carl and Grattan street, right where N judah drops you off at Carl & Cole stop. Booth space priority will be given to original artists and applicants from the neighborhood. The number of the jewelery vendors will be limited this year. Volunteers and booth-sitters are needed. Musicians from all genres and styles are welcomed to apply for one-hour performance slots. Only limited amplification is allowed.

The application form for Food / Art and Craft booth can be downloaded here. Submission deadline for is July 1st.

There is also a Cole Valley Fair poster contest. Artist are encouraged to submit their application form no later than June 6th.

Application form for musicians can be downloaded here.

Please visit cviasf.org or contact Joan Downey at colevalleyfair(at)gmail(dot)com for more information.