OFF TO BODEGA IT UP: If you let your crew know that you wouldn't be around on the last Saturday or Sunday of August, because you'd be off to Bodega, you wouldn't even have to explain what you meant. Surely your pals, knowing your love of cuisine, music, artworks, and convivial social gatherings would understand that you'd be making for the Sonoma County burg to engage in an easygoing, elevate the mind/heart day of painting-pretty, clamful good times. In fact, those same Bodega-grokking friends might be so inspired by your plans on Saturday, Aug. 26 and Sunday, Aug. 27 that they up and invite themselves along, so best make sure you have room in the passenger seat (and one of your pals'll perform the designated driver duties on the way home).
THAT'S THE WEEKEND... of the annual Bodega Seafood, Art & Wine Festival, a summer's-soon-ending event that captures all the sweetest parts of the town, a foodie-fun spot that does it all well year-round but really takes the cake, or, rather, the platter of oysters, when Labor Day Weekend ventures into view. Note, though, that this is not Labor Day Weekend, but the weekend just before, meaning you don't have to change your holiday three-dayer plans to go Bodega.
WHAT'S IN STORE? Rainbow Girls, Patron Latin Rhythms, Lost Dog Found, and David Luning are some of the vibe-makers on the stage at Watts Ranch, while a host of creative people will display photos, sculptures, paintings, and more. And will you be devouring oyster po' boys, BBQ oysters, oyster cocktails, ahi poki, and, of course, you betcha, don't ever doubt it, clam chowder, while there? Here are the tempting edibles that await. You won't be right on the ocean in Bodega, of course, but a few minutes drive. It's a ranch-y, sunshiny, SoCo-splendid sort of affair, just the thing to round off the summer season before September sashays through the door. Tickets? Start here, Bodega buffs.
