Happy Friday.

I hope everyone had a good week. It was definitely another hot one out there, so I hope you managed to stay cool. This weekend is looking pretty warm as well, but beautiful Napa weather, of course.

In terms of the Game Plan, we have one big headliner that is probably going to draw the biggest crowds of the weekend, but we also have a few smaller finds that I probably would not have known about if I had not spent way too much time digging through local calendars and event pages.

Regardless, I think we have a nice mix this time around.

As always, if there is something happening around town that you think deserves a spot in a future Friday Game Plan, keep sending it my way. The goal has never been to list every single event. It has always been to find the handful that I think people would genuinely enjoy or probably would not have found otherwise.

But first, a little trivia.

What year was the very first SoFi District Battle of the Bands held?

A. 2022
B. 2023
C. 2024
D. 2025

I honestly think this might be one of the most efficient ways to discover local music and have a pretty great afternoon at the same time.

The big one for this weekend: The SoFi District Battle of the Bands is back, turning downtown Napa into one giant music festival with more than 20 local bands performing across multiple stages.

It’s basically a pub crawl, except instead of moving from bar to bar, you are moving from band to band.

Hear a few songs. Keep walking. Find another stage. Stay if you like them. Move on if you do not.

It takes away that whole thing where you have to already know who you are going to see. You can just show up, wander around, and let the day figure itself out.

And if you do end up finding a favorite, you can actually have a say in who wins, which is a nice little extra if you are the type to start rooting for a team halfway through.

Details

Link: https://bands.napasofidistrict.com/

Some images from previous years to give you a sense of the scene:

Sports are obviously a huge part of a lot of people’s lives, but honestly, we do not have a ton of that here in Napa.

The closest major teams are all down in the Bay, and even when it comes to local recreational sports, the options are not exactly amazing.

The one thing we do have a pretty solid presence of is runners…There are a handful of local run clubs, including Napa Valley Run Club and Vinerunners, plus Napa Running Company downtown, which has become a bit of a hub for that whole community.

So if you want to capture at least one part of Napa’s athletic and sporting culture, this is the weekend to do it!

The Napa to Sonoma race is this weekend and includes the Rosé 5K on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday, with runners making their way from Napa and finishing in Sonoma Plaza.

Of course, if you are participating, you probably already know about it.

Unless you are some kind of savage who reads this email, somehow snags an open spot with zero notice, and decides to run a half marathon the next morning.

If that is you, feel free to DM me. I have questions.

For everyone else, this is really more about the community side of it. A whole group of like-minded people who prioritize fitness, love setting ambitious physical goals, and have probably spent months training for this exact weekend.

Cheering is much easier than training, so you can always head over, grab a coffee, find a spot near the finish line, and support a bunch of exhausted strangers while they finally accomplish what they set out to do.

And one last note: even if none of this interests you, do not forget about the traffic.

With the races moving between Napa and Sonoma on Saturday and Sunday morning, it can get baaaaad.

Details

Half Marathon

Link: https://www.runnapatosonoma.com/event-schedule

I saw “Rainbow Road” on the calendar and immediately assumed somebody at City Hall plays way too much Mario Kart.

Turns out… I might not be wrong.

The City of Napa is putting on Rainbow Road, a family-friendly evening where kids can ride scooters through a colorful obstacle course, play games, and burn off whatever energy they have left before bedtime. It is one of those events that is so oddly specific you almost have to appreciate whoever came up with it.

Honestly, I love our Parks & Recreation department for stuff like this.

It would have been really easy to call it “Summer Scooter Night” or something equally forgettable, but instead they leaned into it and made it fun.

If you have younger kids, this seems like a pretty easy win. If you don’t, at the very least, now you know someone at City Hall has good taste in Nintendo games.

Details

Link: https://secure.rec1.com/CA/napa-ca/catalog?filter=c2VhcmNoPTQzNzk5MTQ=

One of you emailed me this week and basically did my job for me.

Mark wrote in to recommend the Hound Dog Guitar Duo, who are playing a free show this Friday at Valencia Restaurant downtown (old Le Petit Soleil location).

He described it as good Mexican food, familiar songs, a gentle Napa evening, and a sound level that is “easy on the ears,” which honestly feels like a pretty strong pitch.

He also offered to buy me a chile relleno.

I am choosing to believe that had absolutely nothing to do with this making the newsletter.

The show is outdoors under the trellis, but there is indoor seating too, and it sounds like the kind of low-pressure Friday night where you can grab dinner, hear a few songs you probably know, and settle into the weekend without turning it into a whole production.

And I love getting recommendations like this from readers. The big events are usually easy enough to find, but these smaller neighborhood things are exactly what can slip through the cracks unless someone sends them my way.

So thank you, Mark.

The chile relleno remains under consideration.

Details

The answer was C. 2024.

The very first SoFi District Battle of the Bands was held in 2024, which means this weekend marks just the third year. Not bad for something that already feels like a staple of Napa summers.

That was actually something I noticed while putting this issue together. A lot of the best local traditions are surprisingly young. Somebody has an idea, a few people show up, they do it again the next year, and before long it just feels like something that has always been part of living here.

Maybe Battle of the Bands becomes one of those. Maybe Rainbow Road turns into the event every local kid remembers growing up. You never really know which community events are going to stick until they do.

Either way, I hope you get outside this weekend and enjoy at least one of them.

Have a great weekend, stay cool, and I’ll see you Monday for Town Notes.

Thanks, Callie