With the Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival behind us, it’s time to look forward to some terrific events just around the corner. So, save the dates:

Saturday, October 13: Sacramento Aloha Festival, at Cal Expo in Sacramento

Tuesday, October 16: UpValley Strummers.  This is a new group started by Bob Dwyer that will meet the third Tuesday of every month (6:30 pm) at Scarlett’s Country Inn in Calistoga, 3918 Silverado Trail. (You don’t have to join Meetup.com to attend, but it does make it easier to RSVP so folks know how many to expect.)  Bring songs to share & pupus.  All levels welcome.

Saturday, October 27: Fall Kanikapila with Kehaulani Hula Studio.  I am so glad this is happening and that we got invited. It’s from 1 – 5 pm at Rincon Valley Park in Santa Rosa.  Kehaulani Hula Studio is under the direction of our good friend Kumu Pomaika’i and you don’t have to hula to join in the fun.  Bring your ukulele(s) and some songs to share, if you’re so inclined.  If nothing else, it’ll be a great way to connect with our neighbors to the west.  Fun for the whole family!  Here’s a flier if you’d like to help spread the word: Fall Kanikapila

Sunday, October 28: Napa Valley Flea Jumpers at the Gordon Huether Hay Barn in Napa.  I’ll do another “mini-workshop”  at 5 pm, this time on “Messing around with the City of New Orleans,”  where we’ll do a little work with closed chords and chord melody embellishments…suitable for beginning and intermediate players.  We’ll break for pupus at 5:45.  Then on to our regular flea fest!  By the way, if anyone else ever has anything they’d like to share with the group in one of these mini-workshop sessions, just let me or Eva know.

Thursday, November 1: Early Bird Deadline for the West Coast ‘Ukulele Retreat.  This is the first announcement we’ve made to the general public that registration is now open for the 2013 West Coast ‘Ukulele Retreat, May 8 – 12 at Asilomar in Pacific Grove. Past attendees have been signing up in droves and we do have limited space available.  Four days and nights of ‘ukulele instruction, fun, camaraderie, and general mayhem on the beautiful Monterrey Peninsula with Andy Andrews, Gerald Ross, Joel Eckhaus, Kumu Pomaika’i, Sarah Maisel, Jason Arimoto, and Rick Turner….and probably one or two more. Take a peek at what went on last year:

Monday, November 5: Free ‘ukulele workshop with Daniel Ho at the Guitar Center in San Mateo, 53 West Hillsdale Blvd.  This might be well-worth a trip to San Mateo.  Daniel is an extremely knowledgable and generous instructor of the ukulele, among many other things. Call (650) 312-8270 for more info.  The workshop starts at 7pm.

Saturday, November 10: Ukes on the Loose! I went to this last year and had a blast!  A very low-key day. full ukulele playing, learning, and sharing in a stunning location, Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg.  Just plain fun……and super affordable.