The Stanford Powwow is a three-day festival held every Mother’s Day Weekend in the Eucalyptus Grove on Stanford campus. A Pow Wow is an American Indian celebration of dancing and drumming that normally starts at noon until sunset. People wear traditional tribal regalia and there are dance contests in many different categories. The drummers compete to sing the longest or drum the best. (more…)

The Oakland Museum of California hosts a day of fun for “all” California families—with a special welcome to those with adopted, foster, mixed-race, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender members. The event includes  live music from Oakland East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus Otto Voci ensemble, Magician Timothy James, a Martial arts demonstration by Destiny Arts, Gold panning and more. (more…)

Enjoy the Real Greek Experience - three days of Greece by the Bay. Fabulous Greek food, drink, music and dance and much, much more.

Friday, May 16, 2008: 10 a.m. - 11 p.m. (Free from 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
Saturday, May 17, 2008: 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Sunday, May 18, 2008: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. (or come earlier to experience our liturgy service at 10 a.m.) (Free from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.) (more…)

ING Greater Body Expo is Official Race Headquarters for the ING Bay to Breakers. It is free and open to the public and a premiere 2-day health and fitness event with interactive displays, free samples and prizes, and great bargains on apparel and fitness gear. Expo is also the final chance for registered runners to pick up their race packets and timing chips. Late registration is also available for those who want to sign-up at the last minute 2008 Exhibitors include adidas, ASICS, BlackBerry, Crocs, Garmin, Home Depot, Naked Juice, Nature Made Vitamins, Nike/Lombardi Sports, Polar, Reebok, Southwest Airlines and many more.

The Artists Guild of San Francisco is the oldest outdoor art collective in the country. Its mission is twofold: first, to bring art and artists into the community for public interaction and education; and secondly, to help artists sustain themselves with art as a full-time career.

Games, prizes, entertainment, bounce tent, dunk tank, playground, surprises. REAL Doctors, Dentists, Nurses, and Therapists repair your bear. Kids - bring your bear or other stuffed pals for a checkup and repair! Adopt-A-Bear Placement Agency: For kids without their own teddy bear, we’ll help you adopt one for free!

Teddy Bear Comedy Show: Entertainer Tony Borders with puppets, ventriloquism, and tricks.

Lunch available
Hot dog/chips/soda ($2.00)

All are welcome, especially the young and the young at heart. Invite your friends, neighbors and co-workers and their stuffed pals, the more the bearier!

We need teddy bears and other stuffed friends for kids to adopt! Drop off your donation in the church lobby on Sunday mornings through May 11.

About West Valley Presbyterian Church: West Valley Presbyterian Church is a diverse community in the heart of Silicon Valley (Cupertino, CA) centered on the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. We are people who find ourselves touched, blessed, healed,
and transformed by Jesus.

The City’s annual San Leandro Heritage Faire will be held at the San Leandro Main Library, located at 300 Estudillo Avenue in downtown San Leandro, on Saturday, May 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to celebrate San Leandro’s diverse community and rich cultural heritage. This free celebration includes entertainment, multicultural exhibits and a variety of ethnic foods. All are invited to attend.

The event features performances by the Ballet Folklorico Mexicano, the Chinese lion dancers from San Leandro’s Shao Lin King Fu Chan School, the percussion group Drummm! and the McBride Irish Dance group. Also appearing will be Asheba, who brings to life the culture of Trinidad through folktales and songs, Swetha Dixit who entertains guests with Indian dancing and storytelling and Chin-Chin, a master of magic.

Vendors will sell textiles, crafts and gift items from many countries, and a kids’ craft area will offer children the chance to make arts and crafts from different cultures, including Mexican pinatas, Portuguese toy sailboats, ndbele bracelets from Zimbabwe and haida painted sticks from Alaska. The Arts Council of San Leandro will also show children how to make beautiful Lunar New Year kites.

For more information, call (510) 577-3971

Composer/pianist Jon Jang’s musical language re-contextualizes Chinese folk songs within a contemporary music framework, a metaphor for the changing face of Chinese America. Unbound Chinatown pays homage to Alice Fong Yu, the first Chinese American teacher hired by the San Francisco School District. With his stellar ensemble, including saxophonist Francis Wong and trombonist/music director Wayne Wallace, and guest vocalist Min Xiao Fen, Jang paints musical portraits of Yu’s life as a community and political leader during the 1930s.

The annual Bay-to-Breakers race ends with the traditional music and free goodies festival known as “footstock” in the polo fields in Golden Gate Park. This event is free and open to the public, though some of the freebies may only be available to official racers. Awards ceremony at 10am, Live music from The Last Goodnight (12:30p) and The Crazies will Destroy You (10:45a). They’ll have the results of the costume contest (noon), plus lots of food, beer gardens

Let’s go Green in May. Meet Christie Matheson Of Green Chic, a guide for your thoughtful decisions in every day life, from food to beauty to wine, travel and home and Anne Vollen of Green Zebra, valuable coupons to dozens of green retailers in San Francisco. Both authors support The Reading Tree, a San Francisco based non-profit dedicated to supporting early literacy and healthy reading habits.

One of the four annual free concerts by the Oakland Civic Orchestra. The program:
Mozart, Symphony no. 31 (Paris)
Respighi, Gli uccelli (The birds)
Tchaikowsky, Concerto for Violin in D Major
Featuring Cory Lee, violin

The Marin Music Chest presents its annual “Young Artists Concert” featuring selected student musicians honored with this year’s award scholarships. Featuring classical solo performances on piano by San Rafael residents Olivia Jew and Toki Migimatsu; on harp by San Rafael resident Elizabeth Zosseder; and Mill Valley residents Mariko Wyrick on cello and Mayumi Wyrick on violin.

The “Young Artists Concert” is co-sponsored by the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society.

The Marin Music Chest was established in 1933. After more than forty years of presenting concerts, the Marin Music Chest made the annual scholarship program its primary mission, providing financial support to promising Marin County students of classical music. The Music Music Chest celebrates its 75th Anniversary this year.

The fifty performers of Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Bay Area’s acclaimed gamelan ensemble, present the driving rhythms and refined dances of Bali in this beautiful garden setting. Led by one of Bali’s most brilliant artists, I Dewa Ketut Alit Adnyana (guest music director), Sekar Jaya will feature two large percussion ensembles: the 25-player orchestra of bronze gongs, metallophones, and drums called a gamelan gong kebyar, and the ensemble of giant bamboo marimbas, gamelan jegog. The outdoor setup reflects the open-air settings used in traditional Balinese contexts, where groups often play within or in front of temple courtyards. The audience is welcomed to view the performance from various perspectives, to enjoy the complex interlocking rhythms and virtuosic ensemble sensibility of Balinese gamelan and the myriad expressions and delicate movements of Balinese dance.

The Mo’Rockin Project is a brotherhood of kindred North African and jazz musicians traversing the inner experience of the human soul. Handcrafted from traditional Moroccan melodies, and with striking musicianship, salient vision, and immeasurable spirit, the music is alluring, lyrical, creative, funky, spirited and spiritual.

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is one of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art. But we are more than just an art museum—we are your ticket to Asia. Here, travel through 6,000 years of history, trek across seven major regions, and sample the cultures of numerous countries. Target First Free Sundays”—free admission to all on the first Sunday of every month and the family programs offered on that day—is made possible by Target.

Housed within the walls of San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, the Exploratorium is a collage of hundreds of science, art, and human perception exhibits. Free admission on first Wednesday of each month; however, due to capacity limits, groups of 10 or more are required to make reservations or will not be admitted. (more…)

The first Thursday of every month is free admission to the Pez Museum in Burlingame, where you can find over 500 pez dispensers from the past 80 years. The small shop front leads into an overwhelming grotto of Pez merchandise… Pez watches, money boxes, dispensers, T-shirts, cards and Frisbees are all for sale, but the jewel of this museum is the display room with the entire history of pez. The original Pez product, a tin of mints, was produced by the Austrian company in 1927. The first small, rectangular dispensers are uninspiring, and look a bit like lighters. The first character heads were introduced in 1952 — they include Mickey, Casper and Popeye. The rarest Pez in this collection, worth about $5,000 is a Mr Potato Head character, which was taken off the market in 1973 because the small pieces were a choking hazard. The museum also includes World’s Largest Pez Dispenser and in 2004, the museum was expanded to include the Classic Toy Museum which features exhibits of the other great toys from our childhood.

The Haight-Ashbury Street Fair is a non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating the cultural history and diversity of one of San Francisco’s most internationally celebrated neighborhoods - The Haight-Ashbury District. For the last 28 years, HASF has produced the annual street fair that features arts and crafts, food booths, two musical stages and more. It also serves as a means for community groups and mercantile vendors to interact with the public and expand their base. The festival takes place along Haight Street from Masonic to Stanyan.