A boon in Boonville? Debatable. Well the 21st Annual AV Brewing Company’s Beer Festival in Boonville has come and gone with plenty of fanfare and thousands of visitors. and like most years, virtually every one of them was well behaved despite many being somewhat inebriated. And why wouldn’t they be? It’s a beer festival for god’s sake. However, this year because many vendors now serve food inside the Festival at the Fairgrounds, the usual post-Festival busy night enjoyed by local eateries simply did not happen. In fact, coupled with the fact that most locals stayed away from town believing it to be a crazy scene, Saturday night in Boonville was more like a regular Thursday, with most of the Festival-goers in their campgrounds by 7pm. I realize that the Festival very generously donates thousands of dollars to local charities and organizations, but, just like the Sierra Nevada Music Festival, these events are now effectively self-contained and certainly do not provide the windfall, or should I say boon, to local eateries that some people would have you believe.
Nevertheless: “Evening Dining in the Valley” — the latest on “The Big Eight Eateries.” Lauren’s Restaurant welcomes Libby (of Libby’s Restaurant in Philo fame) as the Guest Chef every Monday evening from 4.30-9pm; regular hours remain Thursday-Sunday, 11.30am-2.30pm for lunch, and dinner on Tuesday-Saturday, 5-9pm. Lizbby’s, the Mexican Restaurant in downtown Boonville, receiving many positive reviews, is open every day except Tuesdays, serving breakfast (on Saturday and Sunday) and lunch from 10am-3pm and dinner from 5-8pm. The Buckhorn seems pretty busy since reopening a few weeks ago. 11am (10am at weekends), closed Tuesdays. The Boonville Hotel continues with their family-style, prix fixe menu with expanded hours: Thursday thru Monday. For reservations. call (707)-895-2210. The Q and Aquarelle, formerly Aquarelle Cafe and Wine Bar, has a new “Santa Maria BBQ” menu added to previous favorites. Open 4-8pm from Friday thru Taco Tuesday. The Redwood Drive-In just keeps on doing what they do, with reliable hours. Stone and Embers is open from Noon to 8pm Friday-Sunday and Noon to 4pm on Monday and Tuesday, with new summer hours coming soon. Down in the Deep End, The Bewildered Pig is open Wednesday-Sunday, 5:30-9pm. Their Facebook page covers their “insane” offerings.
Public Service Announcements. #545. The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital will visit the AV Farm Supply on Highway 128, north of Philo, tomorrow, May 4, from 2-3.30pm. Plus twice next month, June 1 and 15. Best to come around 3pm. New customers and their pets are always welcome; previous visitors can call 462-8833 and the vets will bring your pet’s charts with them. #546. The monthly Barn Sale at The Big Barn next to the St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Refectory on AV Way, just north of Boonville, is this weekend, Saturday/Sunday, May 6/7 from 9am to 3pm each day. #547. Boonville Farmers Market Grand Opening is Saturday, May 6, at their summer venue: the Boonville Hotel parking lot. Summer hours: 9.30am-Noon. For more info, call Cindy at 895-2949. #548. Need a burn permit? From 11am-3pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you can get one from the Firehouse in Boonville. Call 895-2020 for more information or stop by. #549. The Unity Club’s AV Lending Library is open Tuesdays from 1.30-4.30pm and Saturdays 2-4pm at The Fairgrounds in Boonville. #550. The County Dump is open from 9am-4pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dump Executive Director, Mike Mannix frowns on anyone trying to leave dead animals!
Here is the menu for the Community lunches and dinners next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans Building in Boonville. $6 donation from seniors for both lunches and dinners and $7 for Non-seniors for lunches and $8 for the dinners. Tomorrow, Thursday, May 4, the lunch, served by Marti Titus and her crew at Noon, will be Beef and Broccoli followed by Birthday Cupcakes. Next Tuesday, May 9, the evening meal at 6pm, will feature Tamale Loaf with Wendy’s Oatmeal Bars for dessert. All meals include vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. Maybe the best value for money you’ll get all week! On Tuesday and Thursday from 9-9.45am the Center offers “Young at Heart Exercise” with Linda Boudoures and Karen DeFalco. Tai Chi is every Tuesday at 11am, Thursdays at 11am-Noon is Kathy’s Easy-stretch Yoga class. Also on Thursdays the Active Life Club from 10am to 2pm features games, crafts, and music. The Senior Center/Community Bus goes to Ukiah on Mondays and Santa Rosa on the first Wednesday of the month. Sign up early at 489-1175.
The Three-Dot Lounge is closed this week. But hard-working investigative reporter, The Old Buzzard, never sleeps: “Signs that the Apocalypse is Approaching.” Buzzard reports, “I recently read with great interest an article about America’s prisons in The Economist weekly news magazine. Among the many interesting statistics were a couple of very basic ones. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the US holds roughly 25% of its prisoners — more than 2.3 million people, including 1.6 million in state and federal prisons and 700,000 in local jails and immigration pens. Per head, the incarceration rate in the land of the free has risen seven-fold since the 1970s and is now five times Britain’s, nine times Germany’s, and fourteen times Japan’s. Some 49,000 Americans are serving life without the possibility of ever being released. In England, with almost a sixth of America’s population, there are just 55. And the cost to US taxpayers is typically $68,000 per inmate each year. Something must surely be done, but with so many prosecutors and judges elected via “tough on crime tickets,” the continuing state and federal “mandatory minimum” sentences and “three strike” rules that compel courts to lock up even relatively minor repeat offenders for most of their lives, plus the gun lobby remaining so prevalent and strong, and the basically lost war on drugs continuing, reform will be slow. And that can only mean that the Apocalypse will be upon us even sooner than we thought.”
Thanks for another downer, Buzzard, although a dose of reality is often a good thing to the many of us up here in the bucolic bubble that is AV. Ok, I’m outta here. I’ve got see a man about a sheep. So, be careful out there; if you break a leg don’t come running to me; stay out of the ditches; be wary of strangers with more dogs than teeth; show love to your pets, they will be faithful and true to you to the last beat of their hearts, remember to keep your windows cracked if you leave them in your vehicle; Keep the Faith; try to not let life get in the way of living; may your god go with you, and may your dog go with you too. A final request, “Let us prey.” Sometimes poking, often stroking, but almost always humbly yours, Turkey Vulture. Contact me through the Letters Page at turkeyvulture9@gmail.com. PS. Keep on humming, Hummingbird. Missing the Venerable Pheasant. On the sheep, Grace.
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