Happy Friday gang.

Our little town stayed nice and hydrated this week, huh. We are going to have some happy plants soon, so I hope you are all thrilled about that. On that note, my allergies chilled out for once, which was great.

I know weather talk is a little corny, but it really does drive how we feel, so hey - that is what’s top of mind for me.

Anyways…..needed something to fill out the intro before your Napa Lowdown trivia for the week:

What year did the Oxbow Commons walking area open? (the one by the river that the Soscol now runs over)

If you are wondering what the big-ticket item is this weekend, it is probably StreamFest.

If you do not know, Napa Valley StreamFest is a downtown Napa festival built around podcasts, series, films, creator content, live conversations, and premieres, with programming centered at Uptown Theatre and a few other locations around town.  

Cool concept - and they do have some real names attached to it - Mariska Hargitay, Bill Lawrence, Christa Miller, Ted McGinley, Jonathan Scott, Nancy Wilson from Heart, Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Thora Birch, Sarah Ramos, Jesse Garcia, and a bunch of creators and media people beyond that.  

Which, i think, is probably part of how they are justifying some of these ticket prices…

The more approachable way in looks like the single screenings and film blocks, which are roughly in the low-$30s to low-$50s, while day passes are about $125 before fees, the two-day pass is $225, and the VIP stuff jumps fast from there.  

So yes - definitely the splashiest one on the board this weekend, and probably the one if you want something that feels a little more buzzy, industry-adjacent, and built-out than your usual Napa event.  

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Bookmine is a fan favorite so had to mention it.

Saturday, April 25 they’ve got an all-day celebration (for Independent Bookstore Day) going with bookstore-day items, two separate scavenger hunts, gift card prizes, a Libro.fm golden ticket hunt, zines, crafts, adoptable-animal folks, pet portraits, bonded jewelry, poetry on demand, tarot readings, cards, totes, and a big sale layered in there too.

Also sounds like Canary Coffee is rolling out some new drink and espresso stuff that day, which honestly just adds to the case.

So if you have a soft spot for the Bookmine family, I’d say this is a good one to show up for.

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If you are already over there anyway

This feels like a pretty perfect little follow-up to the Bookmine celebration.

A Poetry Crawl is happening Saturday afternoon and basically gives you an excuse to keep the whole thing going - poetry-on-demand at Bookmine, then readings at JaM Cellars and Ohm Coffee after that.

Bookstore people, coffee people, wine people, poetry people - kind of a nice little crossover event for all of you.

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I’ve been talking a lot about fitness and runs the past couple weeks, but this feels a little different in a good way.

The Napa MPS Race for a Cure is happening Sunday, April 26, with a timed 5K, a 1-mile walk, and then a picnic after. It’s open to all ages and abilities, and they’re also doing face painting, a photo booth, caricatures, and more as part of the family-day setup.

There’s already a great crowd around it too - looks like hundreds of people have signed up - so it’s nice to see a strong showing for something more purpose-driven.

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Ok that’s a wrap for this gameplan.

And by the way - the answer to the trivia was 2015.

I actually came across an old Oxbow Commons plan with a few sketches and early ideas while trying to find the trivia for this week.

I always find that stuff interesting - seeing what a place could have been versus what it ended up becoming.

To be honest, I kind of liked the concrete staging-area that we ended up going with. It is one of those spaces that this community has really used in a bunch of different ways - roller skaters, yoga, bikers, soccer, all of it. Well, I guess some of that you could do in grass too, but still.

Last but not least!

We upgrade our social game - you can now find us X, Threads, and Bluesky and we will be posting super quick summaries of these on all of those so if you prefer seeing your news on those platforms - hit us with a follow 😉

Have a great weekend, and I will check in with you on Monday!

Callie