From the Lafayette Town Hall Theatre Company website:
Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers make their return to Town Hall Theatre this holiday season on December 20 & 23. Come be a part of the magic.
December 20. Doors @ 7PM, Music @ 8PM
December 23. Doors @ 4PM, Music @ 5PM
Tickets only available through TicketMaster.
The Art Room in downtown Lafayette is under new ownership and while the inside and outside look the same the new owner mentioned that they plan on adding more classes for preschool kids as well as for adults. In addition they plan on adding 3D and scultpure classes using clay and other media. There may even be welding classes off site which sounds cool. Their new website won’t be up until next month but if you stop by you can pick up their Holiday Saturday Workshops pamphlet for children:
On three Saturdays in December, The Art Room will offer an exciting assortment of unique holiday workshops! Pre-registration and payment are required. Ages listed for the classes are guidelines only. We will accommodate drop-ins if possible, but without sufficient pre-registration, the class will not be held.
Some of the classes being offered are Printmaking, Paint a Gift Bag, Holiday Still Life, Holiday Cartoon Cards, Winter Wonderland Watercolor and Create a Winter Moose(!)
From the Lafayette Art Gallery:
Looking for a unique gift this Christmas season? Come to the Lafayette Gallery for the special Holiday “Trunk Show,” featuring one-of-a-kind gifts and craft items that are sure to make the recipient smile! In addition to the members of the Lafayette Gallery , there will be selected guest artists and artisans from our local community.
The Trunk Show will feature wonderful holiday gift items including ceramics and glassware, holiday cards, scented beeswax and decorator candles, hand-made soaps, knitted scarves and hats for that upcoming ski trip, jewelry and fashion accessories, great stocking stuffers like coasters and fun magnets, designer accent pillows, handcrafted journals, and of course paintings and prints! And much, much more. . . .
So this Holiday Season, instead of buying from the mall, get an absolutely unique, one-of-a-kind gift hand-made by a local artist or artisan. Exercise your discerning taste and show local community support at the Lafayette Gallery Trunk Show, December 8 & 9!
In February I pointed out that construction would soon begin of a couple of custom homes near downtown Lafayette on Moraga Rd, and the progress is coming along nicely. Looks like it should be finished soon, and they look great.
Back in June I noted the opening of the new Lafayette Farmer’s Market in the BART parking lot which was supposed to be open year-round, but instead will be closed until May due to poor attendance. Thanks to a reader for pointing this out. So what happened? Is it due to not knowing about the market? Or something else like higher prices or less variety? Read the reader’s note about the Lafayette market:
Just a quick email to lament the seasonal closing of the Lafayette Farmer’s Market, which was new to the city in its expanded form and location at the back parking lot of Lafayette Bart. It was really a very high quality farmer’s market with excellent vendors and prepared foods. The original intent was for it to stay open year round, but because it was so poorly patronized, they decided to close up shop for the winter and it will now reopen in April. When it opened in June, the entire parking lot was full of vendors from end to end. By the time it closed, I’d estimate about 2/3 or maybe 1/2 of the vendors remained. All of the vendors my family regularly patronized said that it just wasn’t drawing the crowd they needed to justify staying open year round. One vendor said that the city of Lafayette prohibited signage that would have encouraged people to wander in off the street. However, I never really saw a lot of advertising effort from the market’s promoters in publications or city associations that I’m familiar with, so I’m not sure what the reason is for the low turn out
I am so disappointed about this because it was really a stellar market and a great Sunday morning family activity — head and shoulders above the Orinda and Moraga markets. In my opinion, it ranked up there with the Claremont DMV market in Oakland. I thought it brought a level of sophistication to Lafayette that wasn’t there before in large part, and it made me miss living west of the tunnel a little less. I do really hope that people patronize it in droves come spring time, so we don’t lose it altogether.
Venture Men’s Goods is hosting an open house on Thursday, November 29th from 7pm – 9pm featuring the founders of Taylor Stitch, “makers of well-crafted shirts and jeans made in San Francisco. We will have libations and bites to kick off the holiday season.” Venture is located at 3571 Mt. Diablo Blvd. a few doors down from Patxi’s Pizza.
From the Lafayette Art Gallery website:
Started your holiday shopping? We invite you to shop locally and support the arts this season at Lafayette Gallery’s annual holiday show. We are proud to present original artwork, jewelry, ceramics and sculptures created by our 23 members. We have an extensive collection of affordable gifts crafted exclusively for holiday gift-giving.
Thank you for the continued support of both the public and local businesses. We hope that you visit our Gallery on Lafayette Circle and see our the many different gifts of original artwork. And stop by the Sculpture Garden for our last show until April.
Join us at our holiday reception on Friday, November 30 from 6:30 to 8:30. Meet the artists, enjoy refreshments and music.
From an email:
Today at 5:00 we are having our ribbon cutting ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce. At the ceremony, we will also be partnering with DoGood Vines to promote Venture as an official Drop Off site for Central County Homeless Outreach. Customers that drop off socks, hats, gloves or blankets now through end of December will receive a 2-for-1 voucher to Town Hall Theatre’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
It’s good to see Venture in Lafayette helping out with local charities.
From the Lafayette Library and Learning Center website:
Designed for: All Ages, Kids (5-11)
Come celebrate with the Lafayette Library & Learning Center as we welcome DRUMMM and their “One Beat” Rhythm Drums! Meet us in the Amphitheater for a great afternoon of Hands-on-Noise-Making Family Fun! Generously sponsored by the Friends of the Lafayette Libary & Learning Center.
With the news this week that the women’s shoe and handbag boutique Footcandy is closing this year due to competition from larger retail stores in Walnut Creek, that got me thinking about where is the best location for a small independent retail store to set up shop, in Walnut Creek or Lafayette?
Walnut Creek has big department stores like Nordstrom, Macy’s and Neiman Marcus, along with mid-tier retailers like Pottery Barn, H&M, Barnes and Noble and Apple, with smaller independent retailers mixed in such as Atlas and Norf London, while Lafayette is home to many independent retail stores such as the recently opened men’s clothing store Venture and children’s store Tulip. It seems to me that Walnut Creek would bring in more foot traffic, but competition would be greater with more choices available. The question is whether the increased foot traffic is worth being overshadowed by the larger stores. If you were going to set up shop as a small independent retailer, where would you choose, Walnut Creek or Lafayette? I also have Orinda on the list but I think it will come down to Lafayette and Walnut Creek. I didn’t bother adding Moraga to the list, because well, cows don’t shop. 🙂