In the aftermath of their announcement in February of a unique public-private partnership between the City of Mill Valley and the Mill Valley Library Foundation, under which the city released $350,000 to MVLF, the nonprofit foundation's board says it has reached a capital base sufficient to initiate an endowment and is looking to building on that momentum. 

In its ongoing quest to usher in the kind of sustained financial health that most public libraries can only dream about, the foundation is creating a Mill Valley Library Legacy Giving Program. As part of that program, the foundation is launching a "Leaving a Meaningful Legacy" workshop series, starting with an Estate Planning Workshop in collaboration with MV Library on May 2 (7-9pm) at the library. The event will "educate attendees on best practices and tools available for meaningful legacy giving that protects you families, and also benefit your community, with estate planning attorney Valerie Kushel providing an overview of planned giving vehicles," according to the event page.

In related news, to celebrate the occasion and to continue to grow the endowment, the foundation is reprising its “Beyond The Book Bash” fundraiser on September 7 at the Throckmorton Theatre.

The 411: The Mill Valley Library Foundation's Legacy Giving Committee hosts an Estate Planning Workshop series in collaboration with MV Library on May 2 (7-9pm) at the library, 375 Throckmorton Avenue. Registration recommended. MORE INFO & REGISTER.

​MORE INFO ON THE MILL VALLEY LIBRARY FOUNDATION.
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Arts and craft lovers horrified by the recent "for lease" sign in the window of Once Around, longtime Mill Valley resident Louise Dockstader's go-to hub for all manner of DIY projects, can take a deep breath.

Dockstader told customers this week that she's "extremely thrilled to announce, finally, that we will be moving to the amazing community art, craft and retail space which is the Mill Valley Lumber Yard. Just 600 footsteps from our current front door to our new one, we hope this will be an easy transition for all our customers."

Dockstader, who bought Once Around from original owner Julie Stanton and re-opened it at 75 Throckmorton Ave. in November 2016, expects to move her shop from 75 Throckmorton Ave. to MVLY in July. Once Around plans to occupy a portion of the space formerly occupied by Guideboat space at the north end of the historic property owned by Matt and Jan Mathews.

Once Around joins an ever-burgeoning roster of MVLY tenants that started with Molly de Vries' Ambatalia and Gayle Nicoletti’s Bloomingayles, and has since added Serena Armstrong’s FarmHouseUrban, Suzy Ekman’s Makers Market, Amy Lowery’s The Edit, Chelsea Hutchison’s BOL Superfood Cafe, and Paige Mycoskie's Aviator Nation, with Stacy King's Lulu Design Jewelry and Watershed Restaurant from Ged Robertson and Kyle Swain on the way.

Dockstader says she'll be working with the Mathews to "convert part of the former Guideboat space into a great new store with a bigger, better classroom with (at last!) a sink for wet media, dyeing etc. We plan to keep most of our current inventory, and add a few more things you have asked for. We will be making a home for Lucie Charkin's A Little Culture to offer many more kids' art classes (including parent and toddler art!) as well as our current adult art classes with Carolyn Fee, knitting classes with Deborah McFarland, Knit Nite with Tisha Thompson and new after school knitting program with Sarah Oliver, hand and machine sewing, embroidery, fabric design, journaling classes and more.

The 411: Once Around is moving this summer from 75 Throckmorton Ave. in downtown Mill Valley to the Mill Valley Lumber Yard at 129 Miller Avenue, specifically occupying a portion of the former Guideboat space at the north end of the property. MORE INFO.
READ MORE ABOUT DOCKSTADER AND ONCE AROUND HERE.

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The folks at Good Earth Natural Foods in Tam Junction are putting their new community classroom space to good use this month, hosting a screening of Symphony of the Soil, Deborah Koons Garcia's 2013 documentary examining our human relationship with soil, the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil’s key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental issues of our time.

The free event is set for Tuesday, April 30 at 6pm in Good Earth's Mill Valley classroom at 201 Flamingo Road – next to the UPS Store entrance.

Filmed across four continents, Koons Garcia's film features scientists and working farmers and ranchers and highlights possibilities of healthy soil creating healthy plants creating healthy humans living on a healthy planet. Koons Garcia will be on hand for a post-screening Q&A. MORE INFO. Here's a trailer for the film:

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There's no shortage of Cinco de Mayo parties in Mill Valley each year, but few go as big as the folks at the Cantina.

They're back at it on May 3-5, bringing in 25 tons of sand to create their usual temporary beach on half of their parking lot at 651 East Blithedale Avenue at Camino Alto. While the beach sets the scene, it's only part of the celebration, which also includes music, a trio of bounce houses and a huge sandbox provides entertainment for all ages.

The Cantina's kitchen will be serving up its full menu of fajitas, quesadillas, enchiladas and Mexican specialties served from umbrella-covered tables set in the sand.

The Cantina has a rich history in Mill Valley, first opening in 1980. Grammy award-winning guitarist Carlos Santana, in a partnership with DSE Corp., took over the Cantina in 2007, only to close it three years later. After extensive renovations, the Hodge Company, which owns the small shopping center that includes the Cantina and Body Kinetics, reopened the restaurant in 2010, handing the keys to managing partner Joe Collins and returning the restaurant to its staples of familiar Cal-Mex cuisine and fresh margaritas and an ever-popular happy hour (Monday through Friday, 4pm to 7pm). They added lunch service a year later.

The 411: The Cantina hosts a massive Cinco de Mayo celebration May 3-5, starting at 5pm Friday and running through Sunday evening. No reservations. MORE INFO.

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We live in an experiential world, and the folks at Equator Coffees have dialed up a coffee experience for the ages.

Equator CEO Helen Russell is leading a trip in June to Rwanda to visit coffee farms and attend Let’s Talk Coffee, an origin coffee event, which takes place in Kigali, Rwanda June 17-21. Attendees will get a chance to meet more than 250 farmers, taste their coffees, and learn about the incredible story of coffee from seed to cup.

"With entrepreneurship and innovation driving Rwanda’s coffee sector, there’s no better place to experience coffee’s wondrous potential to inspire peace, equality for women and prosperity for all," Russell says.

The theme of the 2019 edition of Let's Talk Coffee is “Family Farming as a Business.” Throughout the program, organizers will dive into topics like gender equity, income diversification, and climate change that are critical to successful farming businesses and the sustainability of the industry. Through this discussion, attendees will learn about the challenges facing farmers in Rwanda and Congo, gain insight into real-world examples of coffee business success, and explore opportunities for collaboration between the private and public sectors that support the growth of Rwanda’s coffee industry. The event program will also look forward at what’s next for Rwanda as it has gained notoriety of the world coffee stage.

For more info and pricing, EMAIL EQUATOR HERE.

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The secret's long been out on the deliciousness of Karen Goldberg's Tamalpie Pizzeria at 477 Miller Ave. NBC Bay Area's "California Live" show got in on the action this month as Ross Thomas visited Goldberg for a dive into Tamalpie's ingredients, a tutorial on tossing pizza dough and consumption of a Tenderfoot pizza and a pair of watermelon daiquiris.

The show's studio hosts showered praise on Tamalpie and Mill Valley itself, calling it "a little slice of Italy tucked away in this little slice of heaven." WATCH THE VIDEO HERE IF YOU CAN'T SEE IT BELOW.

A bit further up Hwy. 101, Moseley’s Spirits and Sports, Goldberg's new venture with Tiburon resident and freestyle skiing legend Jonny Moseley drew praise from the Marin IJ for both its menu its decor: "the screens are super-sized and there are 11 of them so there’s not a bad seat in the house," wrote Leanne Battelle. Moseley is located in Tamalpie Corte Madera's former space at 55 Tamal Vista Blvd. in Corte Madera. MORE INFO.

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Weddings can birth plenty of newfound joy, from friendships and relationships to, well, children. Rare is the wedding that breeds a business, but that’s what happened at Mill Valley resident Chelsea Hutchison’s wedding in Kauai in 2015.
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As Hutchison and her sister Alix Tillett ate acai bowls over that fateful weekend, they were amazed to learn how nutrient-dense the Brazilian superfood-laden bowls were – and incredibly delicious at the same time.

They also couldn’t believe that nothing like these superfood-laden bowls existed in their surf-friendly hometown of Wellfleet, Mass., on the outer end of Cape Cod. Tillett was in the midst of her journey healing from chronic lyme disease, and she was learning how food can shift the body's ability to move, think and feel.

“They were just delicious,” Hutchison says. “And Alex says, “Oh my, I just want to bring these back home with me.’”

Tillett wasn’t just struck by temporary Kauai fever – she got to work soon after her return flight home, quickly creating BŌL, which serves up made-to-order “artfully balanced superfood bowls, nibbles and bevvys … to feed your belly and your soul.”

“She started with one blender in a tiny hole in the wall in Wellfleet, blending acai bowls,” Hutchison says.

Over the subsequent years, Tillett both refined and expanded her menu, and the audience followed her as she outgrew kitchen after kitchen. “There was a line out the door and down the block every day,” Hutchinson says.

Fast forward four years, and Hutchison, whose career has spanned an array of television production roles at advertising agencies and places like the Oxygen Network, has brought BŌL to Mill Valley, opening in the Lumber Yard earlier this month.
Hutchison had been involved with BŌL for a few years, soon after it became clear that those never-ending lines weren’t subsiding anytime soon. “I was able to help with efficiency, streamlining production and distribution,” she says.

“We are different than any other acai bowl shop in that we do not pre-mix any of our bases to our bowls or our smoothies,” says Hutchison, who moved to the Bay Area in 2010 to care for her cancer-stricken aunt, continuing to produce TV commercials remotely and later diving into acupuncture graduate school and becoming a massage therapist, eventually opening her own private practice in San Francisco. “And everything is unsweetened with nothing cut with any fruit juices or refined sugars or anything like that.”

As a result, the bowls take time to create, starting with a superfood like acai and “building a flavor profile around it in order to get the greatest benefit of that superfood.” she says.

Tillett and Hutchison come from a family of four generations of textile printers, watching their parents mix colors to create new ones for the fabrics their grandparents designed for the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The sisters see BŌL as a direct continuation of that lineage.

“A color bucket and a smoothie container – it’s the same thing,” Hutchinson says. “It’s this edible color.”

To that end, all of BŌL’s bowls are named after colors, from the beetroot-laden Rouge to the turmeric-containing Gold. Hutchison notes that BŌL has also added clarity to the often stressful job of a mom trying to make sure her two young children get the nutrients they need.

"This has been a way for me to take the 'food be thy medicine way of thinking and using it to make sure my kids are getting the most nutrient-dense food but in a kid-friendly, extremely delicious way. It's been such an amazing journey."

The decision to make BŌL a bi-coastal operation wasn't made until Hutchison visited the Lumber Yard.

“I walked into the Mill Valley Lumber Yard and immediately said to myself that if we were ever going to do this, this is where it would have to be,” she says. “It was just an instant connection with (MVLY owners) Matt and Jan (Mathews). They got what we wanted to do, they understood the ethos of it.”

​The 411: BŌL is at 129 Miller Ave. at the Mill Valley Lumber Yard, Suite 803. Open 8am-5pm daily. MORE INFO. 

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Want to meet some of the people who get things done in our amazing little town and find out how you can make your own impact on Mill Valley?

Come to the 5th Annual Mill Valley Volunteer Day, where a plethora of fantastic organizations will be on hand to help you navigate the volunteer opportunities that exist in the 94941, from schools, government and sports to the arts and the environment. 

The event is set for Saturday, April 27, 10am–2pm in the Downtown Plaza. It kicks off with a litter pick-up outing at 9am starting at Whole Foods Market on Miller Avenue.

The brainchild of longtime local volunteer and Clean Mill Valley co-founder Joan Murray, Volunteer Day gathers Mill Valley-based nonprofits "that want to create community awareness of their organizations and introduce residents to volunteer opportunities in their organizations," Murray says.

The 411: The 5th Annual Mill Valley Volunteer Day is set for Saturday, April 27, 10am–2pm in the Downtown Plaza. MORE INFO. Expected to attend:

Can't get enough of the Fab Four?

The Sweetwater Music Hall, regularly home to hugely popular cover bands for the likes of Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and many more, is set to host a concert by Abbey Road - A Tribute to the Beatles, a nationally touring tribute band to the Beatles.

The show, set for Sunday, April 28 (7pm), will feature a number of costume changes to reflect the different periods in the Beatles’ career, from their puppy dog heyday to the "All You Need Is Love" era. The Sweetwater show is part of a 125-city tour of the U.S, Canada, Mexico and Australia.

"With their tight harmonies, flawless note for note renditions of Beatles hits, custom–tailored costumes, vintage instruments, Liverpudlian dialect and precise attention to every detail, Abbey Road has honed their show to become one of the most musically and visually satisfying Beatle tribute acts in the world," according to the band's website.

“If you see one tribute show, see this one – smart and loads of fun,” says the Orange County Register.

The 411: The Sweetwater Music Hall hosts a concert by Abbey Road - A Tribute to the Beatles, a nationally touring tribute band to the Beatles, on Sunday, April 28 (7pm). Tix $24-$27. MORE INFO & TIX.

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Three years after she launched The Hivery, the "co-working space and inspiration lab" that quickly became an inclusive force of nature at 38 Miller Ave. in Mill Valley, Grace Kraaijvanger is expanding the business to San Francisco, opening a second location at the Fort Mason Center for the Arts + Culture this summer.

"I can’t believe it," she writes in a note to her community. "The day is actually here ... I’m not kidding when I tell you that I’ve been trying to make this happen for almost two years. The months of wondering, questioning, hoping, waiting, praying, and yes, even doubting are over because today I can officially tell you."

"Fort Mason has become a very special place for me," she adds. "It’s an easy 10-minute drive from the Golden Gate Bridge. And, we already made incredible memories at Fort Mason during The Hivery's Entrepreneur + Inspiration Lab in October."

The Hivery's new location will have a very familiar neighbor, as Equator Coffee opened at Fort Mason in 2017.

"You'll be on the water, listening to the sounds of the seagulls and boats and smelling the salty, foggy San Francisco air," Kraaijvanger writes. "You’ll get the same inclusive, welcoming Hivery vibe right on the beautiful, beloved San Francisco Bay. You’ll widen your network and help us grow The Hivery community. We’re excited to take this leap with you."

The 411: The Hivery is located at 38 Miller Avenue, and is opening a second location at the Fort Mason Center for the Arts + Culture this summer. MORE INFO.

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Terra Marin School and the Terra Mandarin Preschool, which opened in late 2018 in the former Ring Mountain Day School space on Lomita Drive in Mill Valley, is launching a series of summer camps spanning a wide range of topics and age groups.

The schools, created by Wendy Xa, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs and a mother of two who founded the Mandarin immersion Presidio Knolls School in San Francisco in 2008 as a preschool before expanding it to a K-8 program, seek to be "a world class institution in the heart of Mill Valley," Xa says.

The summer camps are for kids ages 3-15 and run from June 3 to August 9. They are "Academics & Archery" (ages 7-13), Earth Discovery (ages 3-15), and Mandarin Mania (ages 3-10), while a SSAT prep for rising seventh and eighth grader runs May 25-July 5.

In a limited time offer, Terra Marin is offering 50 percent off for the first five people who contact the school about the camps that heard about them on the Enjoy Mill Valley Blog. Click here to reach out directly to Terra Marin to receive the discount.

In related news, Xa is set to be a keynote speaker at the CILA Spring Fair in San Anselmo. CILA is a Marin-based nonprofit organization founded by local mother and cultural education advocate Kati Dombrosky. The organization focuses its efforts on raising awareness and funding in support of programs that perpetuate art, language, and cross-cultural education in our communities with a special emphasis on providing scholarships for deserving youth. The event is May 4 at Le Petit Jardin French Immersion (Marin Campus) in San Anselmo (921 Sir Francis Drake Blvd), from 10am-1pm. MORE INFO.

The 411: Terra Marin School and the Terra Mandarin Preschool host a series of summer camps, as well as an SSAT prep session. MORE INFO.

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For many people throughout Mill Valley and Marin, the horrific footage of the Camp Fire in November 2018 sparked a two-fold reaction: how can we help those who affected by the inferno that struck Concow, Paradise, Magalia and Chico in Butte County, and what can we do to reduce the likelihood that a similar tragedy won't occur here.

FIRESafe Marin, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing wildland fire hazards and improving fire-safety awareness in Marin, has teamed up with the Mill Valley Fire Dept., with support from the Rotary Club of Mill Valley, on an event that seeks to directly address both of those concerns.

On Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30pm at the CineArts Sequoia theater in downtown Mill Valley, those organizations are hosting a screening of the "Camp Fire Documentary," a 50-minute film from Golden Eagle Films that chronicles a small part of the story one county experienced during its darkest day. Butte County filmmaker Nancy Hamilton's film is first-person account that draws on cell phone footage from more than three dozen individuals and first responders that encountered the fire.

​"With this event, we are both investing in our community's efforts to reduce wildfire hazards in Marin County through FIRESafe Marin and supporting the organizations that are supporting Camp Fire survivors," says Mill Valley Fire Department Chief Tom Welch.

Hamilton will introduce the film screening, which will be followed by a panel discussion including the Camp Fire's Deputy Incident Commander; Camp Fire survivors, local wildfire experts and leaders, as well as Stephen Murray, a 31-year resident of Paradise and a father of two young children who single-handedly rescued more than 60 senior citizens from a burning mobile home community during the fire.

All proceeds raised at the event will go to charities that support survivors of the Camp Fire, and to support FIRESafe Marin's fledgling goat grazing program to reduce wildfire hazards in Marin.

The 411: FIRESafe Marin, Mill Valley Fire Dept., with support from the Rotary Club of Mill Valley, host a screening of the Camp Fire Documentary on Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30pm at the CineArts Sequoia theater in Mill Valley. All proceeds raised at the event will go to charities that support survivors of the Camp Fire, and to support FIRESafe Marin's fledgling goat grazing program to reduce wildfire hazards in Marin. Tix $50. MORE INFO.

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Whether they catch a glimpse of flowers on a residential hillside on an morning walk or hear through the grapevine that a neighbor has a stunning display of their gardening prowess, lovers of amazing gardens are often left wondering about the amazing creations just outside their field of view.
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For those people, the event of the year is coming up on May 16, as the Outdoor Art Club’s biennial Garden Tour takes garden lovers behind the gates for exclusive visits of seven private gardens in Mill Valley. The tour has shuttles leaving the OAC's Maybeck-designed clubhouse at One West Blithedale Avenue from 9am-2:30pm. All gardens close at 4pm.

Organizers say that each of the seven gardens on the tour demonstrate how to incorporate edibles, accentuate a view, blend exotic plant combinations and invite hummingbirds, butterflies and other winged visitors to stay a while. Ideas to create garden rooms for outdoor living, visually maximize small spaces, and creatively mix hardscape materials abound. Each garden also offers an opportunity to meet and observe a local artist in action, intent on capturing on canvas his or her artistically inspired vision of the venue.

“This year's Outdoor Art Club Garden Tour features beautiful, approachable gardens with something for everyone.," says Linda Rosso, the tour's co-chair. "There are both large and small gardens, some professionally designed and some created over years by the homeowners, in a variety of microclimates around Mill Valley."

“An exciting new feature of this year’s tour is exclusive Plant Briefs for every garden," she adds. "If you see a plant on the tour you love, you’ll be able to ask a docent about them during the tour or access our website for photographs and detailed information to see if it’s right for your garden."

The Outdoor Art Club is a private, nonprofit women's organization which was formed in 1902 and regularly presents informative and engaging public events in the areas of civics, conversation, gardening and literature.

Proceeds from the garden tour benefit the charitable community outreach of the Outdoor Art Club and the preservation of its historic landmark building in downtown Mill Valley. The organization's charitable outreach has had a vast impact in Mill Valley and beyond for decades, including, in recent years. its support of the Mill Valley Chamber's Enjoy Mill Valley Fund, which has leveraged OAC Grants and numerous private donations to help repair the Downtown Clock Tower, support the restoration of the replica Gravity Car, make the free Movies in the Park series sustainable and bigger and better than ever and spearhead a number of plantings and beautification efforts around town.

In addition to the OAC’s lunch at the clubhouse from 11:30am-2pm, a number of local restaurants will be offering discounts to Garden Tour participants that day, including Piazza D’Angelo, Flour Craft Bakery, Prabh Indian Kitchen and many more. Info on participating restaurants and discounts will be distributed at the OAC on the day of the tour.

The 411: Tickets for the Outdoor Art Club’s 2019 Garden Tour are $45 in advance and $55 at the door. Lunch at the OAC is $15. The OAC clubhouse is at One West Blithedale. MORE INFO & TIX.

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On May 15-18, the ​Mill Valley Philharmonic is set to finish off its 2018-19 season – its first without founder and artistic director Laurie Cohen – with the last of a trio of performances, each of which has showcased a guest conductor, each of whom are candidates to become the organization's artistic director alongside MV Philharmonic executive director Richard Aldag. 

The final shows of the season, set for Wednesday, March 15 (dress rehearsal), Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 at Mount Tamalpais United Methodist Church (410 Sycamore Avenue), will be helmed by Alexander Kahn, associate professor of music and director of orchestral activities at Sonoma State University, where he directs the Sonoma State Symphony Orchestra. Kahn is also the founder and music director of the Vintners Chamber Orchestra in Sonoma. Between 2007 and 2008, Kahn served as Assistant Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony in Bamberg, Germany. While in Bamberg he was also music director of the Bamberg Collegium Musicum.

The program, entitled “Late Idyll,” features Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2, a mixture of both Classical enthusiasm and Romantic drama. The Second Symphony is rounded out by the composer’s feisty “Academic Festival Overture,” written for the University of Breslau, and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 2, which plays homage to the French Baroque period and the more immediate precursors of French and German Romanticism. The soloist for the Saint-Saens is Brynn Dally, winner of the 2018 Concerto Competition at Sonoma State University.

Now in its 19th season, MVP, which consists of 60 volunteer musicians, presents all of its concerts free of charge. To support these free concerts, and pay for music, rehearsal space, programs, outreach, and everything else necessary to sustain this special organization, MVP relies upon contributions from audience members and local businesses. Patrons may reserve tickets and make donations via the MVP website.

The mission of MVP is "to enrich the cultural life of the Bay Area by offering free orchestral programs to people of all ages and means in their own communities," according to the organization's website. "As an organization, MVP believes that music is a vital part of individual and community life. Whether participating as a player or as a listener, music engages our imaginative powers, awakens our aesthetic sensibilities, and inspires our creative expression."

The 411: Mill Valley Philharmonic concludes its 2018-19 season May 15-18 with a trio of performances​ at the Mount Tamalpais United Methodist Church at 410 Sycamore Avenue. Performances are an open dress rehearsal on Wednesday, March 15 at 7pm, a concert on Friday, May 17 at 8pm and a concert on Saturday, May 18 at 4pm. Free. MORE INFO.

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There's more than one way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, as the businesses in and around Throckmorton and Sunnyside avenues are ready to demonstrate.

Poet and/the Bench, the lifestyle store and jewelry atelier that recently moved from Locust Ave. to 11 Throckmorton Ave. downtown, has organized a Cinco de Mayo Super Fiesta & Shop Crawl with seven of its neighbors. Set for Sunday, May 5 (3-7pm), the event promises a "festive afternoon of DJ music, refreshments, raffle prizes, charitable donations to organizations like the ACLU and surprises from our community to yours," Poet and/the Bench owners Jeffrey Levin and Bonnie Powers say.

Poet and/the Bench is on the Throckmorton side of El Paseo Lane, and their immediate neighbors at Gallery 15, Flying Beauticians, Featherbed and Ruby Livingdesign, as well as those on the Sunnyside Ave. side of the lane – Alexander's Artisan Rugs, Salvage and West Coast Wine • Cheese are all participating in the event. 

"We're developing some community here in the Uptown area of Downtown Mill Valley!" Powers says.

The 411: Poet and/the Bench has organized a Cinco de Mayo Super Fiesta & Shop Crawl with seven of its neighbors on Sunday, May 5 (3-7pm). Free. MORE INFO.

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