The Aqus Community Crawl
I must write about Saturday evening’s entertainment:
I missed the first stop, the Petaluma Bounty’s 4th Annual Bounty Harvest Party, at 55 Shasta Avenue, which was supposed to start the Crawl off at 5:00 and go until about 6:15.
I had to get Dalton ready for his sleepover and I still hadn’t had my shower (since I’d worked most the day on writing my blog (on my very SLOW computer), so I was not able to pull myself together until nearly 7:00, when I then discovered that I could not find my cat anywhere and, in fact, had not seen him for hours, which is very unusual. But I finally located him, made sure nothing was amiss, and then headed off for stop no. 2: The River House at 22 Weller Street.
I had always wondered about this place whenever I saw it. It is a charmingly lovely Victorian building, right along the riverfront – now an office building; used to be a restaurant, apparently. It is also apparently used as a gallery, displaying art all along the walls in the hallways. This evening it was a reception for local artist Jordan Pepper and his work was being shown.
I was a little nervous when I first arrived; there were a lot of people there and I recognized nobody. But I enjoyed the art and tried to mingle and soon found myself chatting with a few people, including a really nice couple, with whom I discussed such things as the price of rentals on the West Side – where I would really prefer to live (someday).
Then came something really interesting that I had never heard of before: We got to witness Scene I of a play done by the “24-Hour Theater,” performed on the balcony overlooking the courtyard where everyone was gathered enjoying the lovely evening:
“A 24-Hour Theater is created when the writers get together 24 hours before the actual event, come up with the theme and write the script. The actors will gather the next morning to learn their lines, and by that same evening they are performing on various stages.”
When the actors finished we left – in cars mostly – to go to the next stop (#3), which was “Belle Epoque,” a recently opened art and antique boutique located at 119 Washington Street. After parking my car in the parking garage on Keller Street, I ran into a woman who I’d met at the “Full Moon Walk” on Wednesday. We chatted about our cats as we walked up to the store location. I knew that she could appreciate my anxiety about not being able to locate my cat earlier!
Belle Epoque was a really pretty little shop and I hope to visit it again in the near future – when half of the population of Petaluma (just kidding) isn’t packed inside! It was crowded. But they were passing out plastic cups of complimentary wine and there was someone playing an accordion on the sidewalk. I talked to one lovely woman whose dog was perched on her shoulder throughout the evening as if she were wearing a fur stole, except for the fuzzy white tail wagging cheerfully at the back of her head the whole time. It was very cute, and so was she.
We soon were off to stop number 4: The Find, located at 322 Western, practically right around the corner. I loved this store! And I did not know it was even there; it has replaced the “Sacks” store that used to be there. We stayed at this location a lot longer than the last place. It is a much bigger place for one thing, and the “24-Hour Theater” performed Scene II of the evening’s performance.
I really enjoyed this stop. I have never seen a consignment store with such interesting merchandise! I was thinking that I would love to take my sister to see it some time. And I also decided that it might be a possibility of a place I might be able to sell my creations, like my “cat magnets.” I made a point of speaking to the owner and she invited me to come in later in the week and show her what I have. This is a very good thing and I will certainly follow up; how exciting! I spoke to lots of people at this place and really enjoyed every bit of it.
Finally, the evening ended up with the final stop of the Crawl at Pazzo, at 132 Keller Street, where the band “The Mighty Groove” was playing. I was very saddened to find out that this was also the final night for Pazzo – they unfortunately have to close their doors like so many other locally-owned businesses are doing these days.
But I had a great time here; I talked to lots of people – one of whom was a gorgeous woman who has the interesting, but likely very stressful, job of being an investigator into missing children cases. It was very interesting talking to her. (I have been making an effort to remember people’s names, but I have been meeting so many people, it isn’t easy.)
I also found myself talking to one of the night’s performers, about the “24-Hour Theater” and how much fun I thought it looked. Somehow I ended up giving her my card when she asked for it, saying she would call me to see if I wanted to participate in the next one. Well… I do think it would be fun. I am not sure whether I am brave enough, however!
All in all, I had a simply marvelous time. I danced, I mingled, met lots of interesting people (including one man whom I am not quite sure what to think of yet…) and I am very glad I got a chance to go. I am only now learning what a great community we have here in Petaluma and I intend to be a part of it. People need other people, and that is how it has always been, and always will be. It’s kind of amazing the things we have to do these days in order to not end up isolated and lonely. But I am learning, and it hasn’t been that hard. The World is out there and all it takes is a single step to feel connected to it all once again. It looks like my little world is finally changing for the better.
And, by the way, there was a professional-looking photographer taking pictures throughout the evening – you can see the photos at www.smugmug.com.)
