Spotted in front of Sasa in downtown Walnut Creek.
It looks like Chick-Fil-A, a chain restaurant that will soon open in Walnut Creek is causing more heartache for not only themselves as events they sponsor are coming under attack due to the controversial stance against gay marriage by the CEO Dan Cathy. The Walnut Creek Half Marathon race has Chick-Fil-A as a sponsor and this generated a storm of protest on their Facebook page:
it has come to our attention that the sponsors we work with are not always your favorites. We apologize for this, but the show must go on…
Official Statement on WCHM business relationships.
The Walnut Creek Half Marathon encourages fitness through running and promotes competitive running at its highest levels. We give back to our local communities, especially high schools. We intend to put on a world class running event as good or better than major cities marathons. To accomplish this goal, brand affiliations and sponsorships of the Walnut Creek Half Marathon are an essential part of our offerings. These affiliations are based on local business relationships alone. As a local organization ourselves, we prefer to work with local business and franchisees. We do not participate in the decision-making of these groups as it relates to “stances” with our affiliates at the corporate level.
It then goes on to list their sponsors including Chick-Fil-A. The post generated 30 comments so far, with some expressing disappointment and deciding to skip the event while some were supportive.
Is boycotting an event that has a sponsor that you don’t support taking things too far or is this a reasonable way to protest against Chick-Fil-A?
From a press release:
What: Walnut Creek’s Lindsay Wildlife Museum’s wildlife rehabilitation hospital will release four gray foxes back to the wild.
Facts: A release of four baby foxes is unusual; this will be the museum’s last baby fox release for 2012. Three of these fox kits were orphaned when they were about two weeks old and weighed less than half a pound and the fourth one, about 10 weeks old, suffered from a leg injury. Now, all four are grown and have learned to hunt, so it is time to return them to the wild. The hospital, one of the largest wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Northern California, has cared for over 5,100 native wild animals this year.
To participate: A limited number of guests will be allowed to attend this release. Interested people can sign up to receive email alerts of upcoming releases at the Hospital Webpage, including the date, time, city, and requested donation amount to participate.
When: Sunday, October 28; 5 pm
Where: Moraga; exact location TBD
Cost for each program: A donation is requested, 100% of which goes to help the rehabilitation hospital continue to care for sick, injured and orphaned California wildlife.
About Lindsay Wildlife Museum: Lindsay Wildlife Museum is home to a wide variety of animal ambassadors, including Richard the female turkey vulture who is 38 years old and a resident since 1974. The 57-year-old Museum is a unique natural history and environmental education center where live wild animals are just inches away from visitors. Guests can listen to the cry of a red tailed hawk, go eye-to-eye with a gray fox, stare down an owl and watch a bald eagle enjoy lunch. There are many daily activities for children of all ages, including raptor presentations, animal training demonstrations, and petting circles. More than 50 species of live, non-releasable native California animals live at the museum. The Museum also includes a behind-the-scenes look at its wildlife rehabilitation hospital where they provide care for more than 5,000 wild animals annually. Lindsay Wildlife Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday; admission is $7/adults, $5/children and free for members.
The dance club Redux Lounge will soon open a restaurant offering a lunch, dinner and pizza menu. Diablo Dish notes that pizza will be served during the day, and will become a “Japanese-Italian-French fusion bistro” at night. Check out their pizza menu here, lunch menu here, and dinner menu here. Anyone going to check out the restaurant?
This brand new Ferrari was spotted, where else, in front of PF Chang’s in downtown Walnut Creek.
A couple of weeks ago I noted belatedly that Build-A-Bear closed in Broadway Plaza, Walnut Creek, and already it’s been taken over by the seasonal store Go! Calendars. It seems like every year Go! Calendars hops from store to store taking advantage of temporary lease opportunities.
Back in August I noted that Starbucks was opening up in Broadway Plaza’s Macy’s in downtown Walnut Creek, and they are now open for business. There is no sign outside indicating a Starbucks, but it’s literally right inside at the corner near Haagen-Daaz.
Check out the cool wall decoration:
Now downtown Broadway Plaza has two Starbucks. They also just bought La Boulange Bakery around the corner (soon to be serving Starbucks coffee), Barnes and Noble has a Starbucks cafe inside, and there is another Starbucks a stone’s throw away in downtown Walnut Creek as well. Does anyone feel like there are too many Starbucks in downtown Walnut Creek? On a side note, I downloaded the Starbucks app on my iPhone to try out the payment by phone and think it’s pretty cool how gift cards can be stored on the phone.
A couple of weeks ago I noted that the fashion jewelry shop Bracchiale was coming to Broadway Plaza, previously occupied by Betsey Johnson which left in June. Now Bracchiale is open for business and when I dropped by it was quite crowded with women checking out what kind of jewelry is available.
Check out the front part of the shop below:
This is some of the jewelry available:
According to the owner there will be a wide variety of jewelry available with all price ranges in mind up to $300. By the way, Bracchiale is pronounced Brashale not the Italian way, Brackiale. Bracchiale is located at Broadway Plaza in downtown Walnut Creek right across from Nordstrom and next to Swarovski.
From a press release:
DIABLO BALLET & SHERMAN CLAY PRESENT
GREAT MUSIC FROM GREAT BALLETS OCTOBER 12th IN WALNUT CREEK
(Walnut Creek, CA) Music from such legendary ballets as Swan Lake , Romeo & Juliet, and others come alive in the piano concert Great Music from Great Ballets, Friday October 12th 8 PM at the Sherman Clay store in Walnut Creek (1605 Bonanza Street). Admission is free. Seating is first come and doors open at 7:15 PM.
Presented by Diablo Ballet and Sherman Clay, world class concert pianist Gregory Taboloff will perform works by such legendary composers as Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and others masters. Lauren Jonas, Diablo Ballet Artistic Director, will introduce and talk about each ballet.
Enjoy a glass of complimentary wine while enjoying some of the greatest classical music every written. You may also enter a free drawing to win tickets to a future Diablo Ballet performance.
Great Music from Great Ballets is presented Friday November October 12th 8 PM at Sherman Clay, 1505 Bonanza Street in Walnut Creek. Admission is free for all ages. Doors open at 7:15 PM for first come seating. For more information, call Diablo Ballet at 925-943-1775 or visit www.DiabloBallet.org.
PHOTO INFOPhoto Credit: Ashraf
Diablo Ballet dancers Mayo Sugano and Derek Sakakura
From an email:
Corners Tavern’s new weeknight Happy Hour offers hand-crafted cocktails, select artisan beers and an eclectic list of wines, plus some of the best bites in town – all at special mid-day pricing. Beginning October 10, Happy Hour will be available Monday – Friday from 3 – 6pm in the bar and lounge areas. Some of the great finds that we’ll be featuring include $6 wines-by-the-glass. Look for La Grange Tiphaine Chenin Blanc, Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc, Cadet D’OC Pinot Noir and Potel-Aviron Gamay. We’ll also be featuring some of our most popular cocktails – at just $5 each: Hemmingway Daiquiri, Boulevardier and Moscow Mule. A rotating list of draught beers will also be available for $4 with favorites like Trumer Pils, Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale, Linden St Burning Oak Black Lager and Calicraft Cali Colsch.
Executive Chef Esteban Escobar will also make some of his favorite bar snacks available such as his house made pretzel with Belgian ale mustard for $2, housemade potato chips with Aleppo pepper for $3, smoked chicken wings with achiote and lime for $6 and more. View the full Happy Hour menu.