Welcome one and all.

After sweating through a couple of the hotter Napa days in recent history, we have made it to the Friday Game Plan.

Pretty perfect spring Napa stuff. Some low clouds in the morning, sun later, and that nice low-to-high 70s middle-of-the-day weather where the faint ocean breeze makes everyone briefly forget how expensive everything is.

However, I also know some of you like getting out of town for BottleRock weekend altogether.

Which, honestly, I respect.

So this week’s Game Plan has a little bit of everything: a few BottleRock-adjacent options, a few things for people staying local, and a small section for anyone scrambling for a last minute escape-route.

Because whether you are going full festival mode, avoiding downtown like it owes you money, or just trying to find one calm thing to do that may not be too infested with tourists, there are options.

Napa lowdown trivia of the day:

Since we have reptiles on this weekend calendar, what is probably the most commonly seen reptile around Napa?

A. Gopher snake
B. Western fence lizard
C. Western pond turtle
D. California kingsnake

Local businesses, of course, have to hop into the BottleRock scene too.

And honestly, if you ask me, this is how you would capture that more relaxed festival-adjacent vibe with some actual Napa proper energy.

Tonewood & Courage and Deuces Market are doing BottleRock pre-gaming all weekend with free music from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tonewood & Courage has Rivertown Blues Society, and Deuces Market has DJ Nick.

Also worth noting: these spots are right next to each other, so this is a good little hop-back-and-forth situation if you want music, food, drinks, and some downtown energy without fully entering the BottleRock machine.

Details

Alright, I know I said this issue would be a little less chaotic. But I also know we have some younger party people here as well.

I am sure BottleRock AfterDark has existed for a while, but this is somehow the first time I am really seeing it laid out like this.

You can think of this as like late-night BottleRock spillover for the kind of crowd that looked at a full festival day and said, “Actually, one more.” And the Napa Music Hall run is pretty interesting.

A quick breakdown:

This is the closest one to a rave-adjacent vibe, but more like dance-punk, indie electronic, live-band party energy. People will dance, it will probably be loud and sweaty, but it is still a concert.

This is more straight rock, cover-band, jammy live-band energy. Definitely not rave territory. More like the “let’s keep the guitars going” option.

Alt-rock / 90s rock nostalgia. This is the one for people who still have Monday off and want to use every last inch of the long weekend.

So if BottleRock itself somehow does not finish you off, this is the official late-night extension.

Details:

Alright, found a really great resource for you all.

Although the website looks like it was built once in 2000 and then never touched again, SonomaValleyEvents.com is actually a pretty cool calendar. I will definitely be referencing it more for these.

Still on my list is making some kind of master calendar for the Lowdown. Maybe instead of all the commentary of these, it is literally just a big sortable list (by age, price, kid-friendly, outdoors, etc) of stuff happening around Napa and nearby.

I am still not sure if that would actually be helpful, or if everyone already has their own very organized little calendar universe. So if you have thoughts on that, feel free to send them my way.

Anyways, for this weekend, one that caught my eye is Sugarloaf Reptiles at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.

It is an easy 2-mile hike led by Sugarloaf docent Galen Freed-Wilhem, focused on looking for snakes, lizards, and other wildlife.

The event starts with a short presentation inside the Robert Ferguson Observatory classroom, then heads out onto the Lower Bald Mountain and Creekside Nature Trails.

I have personally enjoyed all the nature-esque events at the Observatory so this one gets the personal Callie seal of approval!

Details:

Link: https://sec.regfox.com/mayreptiles2026

Finally, one more out-of-town option that feels very worth flagging.

If you are willing and able to get a bit farther away from Napa proper, Calistoga has its Ag Fair this Saturday.

This is basically the opposite of BottleRock.

If you are really sick of the festival wristbands, traffic, and $19 drinks, you get tractors, local vendors, food, kids activities, agriculture stuff, and then the very important phrase: Truck and Tractor Pulls.

The main Ag Fair runs Saturday, May 23, from 2 to 6 p.m., and then the Truck and Tractor Pulls go from 6 to 10 p.m.

Sometimes the correct Memorial Day weekend move is simply watching tractors do tractor things.

Details:

Link: https://www.napa.kids/upcoming-events/calistoga-ag-fair-all-ages

If you are going to BottleRock, have a great time, hydrate, and may your phone battery somehow survive the entire day.

If you are not going to BottleRock, I hope this helped you find a few ways to either orbit the chaos, dodge the chaos, or leave the chaos behind entirely.

The answer to today’s trivia: B. Western fence lizard, also called a blue-belly lizard. It is widely described as California’s most common reptile, and Napa County’s watershed site lists it among the common reptiles found in local grassland habitat.

And on that note, thank you for reading.

Have a good weekend, Napa.

Callie