Turn your garden into a habitat for birds and bees, insects and other wildlife. Find out how at a meeting of the Petaluma Garden Club, starting at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 11, as Nancy Bauer, author of the Habitat Garden Book: Wildlife Landscaping for the SF Bay Region,” talks on how to provide for the needs of all beneficial creatures that can be attracted to local gardens. The club meets at the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building, 1094 Petaluma Blvd. South. Call 762-2845.
Show your love – for Petaluma’s Old Adobe. Lagunitas Brewery plays host to a fundraiser for the Sonoma/Petaluma State Historic Parks Association from 6-9:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11. The evening offers food and drink from Lombardi’s and music by Joy Ride, plus a silent auction and door prizes. Tickets are $40-$45, available from the Sonoma Valley Box Office. Call 938-4626 or go to sonomacommunitycenter.org.
Impossible? Maybe not. Spend an evening with San Francisco nurse Sharon Tennison, founder of the Center for Citizen Iniatives and author of “The Power of Impossible Ideas: Evidence that Ordinary People can Accomplish Extraordinary Feats, Even in International Relations.” Tennison speaks from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, at a potluck dinner at EarthRise Retreat at the Institute for Noetic Sciences, 101 San Antonio Road. Cost is $20-$40. Visit noetic.org.
Met the Dixie Giants yet? This tuneful group, made up of local music teachers, will be the house band on Fat Tuesday, better known as Mardi Gras, inside and outside Central Market. Get your NOLA on to their lively Dixieland sound from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12. Central Market is at 42 Petaluma Blvd. North.
Downtown Mardi Gras fun continues with the 22nd annual Mardi Gras Day Mambofest. The street parade and dance party begin at 5:45 p.m. at McNear’s Mystic Theatre, 23 Petaluma Blvd. North. Traditional music follows in the theater, played by Rhythmtown-Jive (New Orleans R&B, jump blues, rhumba and funk) and Tri Tip Soul (zydeco-soul). Tickets are $13, available at mystictheatre.com or by calling 765-2121.
Heads-up, all you ukulele fans. Noted uke player Lil Rev comes to town for a workshop, “Intros, Endings, Turnarounds and Right Hand Technique” for beginning and intermediate level players at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13. The lesson is followed by a one-set concert at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $20 for the workshop, $10 for the concert, or $25 for both. Nonplayers are welcome to attend the concert. The event is at Kala Brand, 1105 Industrial Drive. Visit lilrev.com or kalabrand.com.
— Katie Watts
