For more than two decades, Blithedale Canyon resident Barbara Ahern has been a holistic health practitioner, largely focusing on Bowen, an Australian form of natural therapy that was introduced to the U.S. in the early 1990’s. Performed over light clothing, and using only pressure from fingers and thumb across muscle fibers, Bowen works on the acupressure points (neural pathways) of the body in a gentle, safe way for people of all ages to help the body renew and repair communication with the brain.

But while Ahern continues to build on holistic practice for people, it was her time living in Carmel that propelled her to a passion project that has dominated her last decade and brought her to Mill Valley: Canine AcuTouch, which brings many of the same principles to treatment of our four-legged friends.

As Ahern explains it, her work on dogs starts with a series of gentle, Bowen Therapy-style touches in a specific sequence, while working along energy and nerve pathways to affect pain and constriction in every muscle, tendon, and ligament of the body.

“The brain is like Grand Central Station or air traffic control,” she says. “Canine AcuTouch is performing those gentle moves on the dog and then waiting two minutes for the brain to change the neurological feedback to the nervous system – sending a different signal.”

Ahern says the practice is particularly effective for neurological disorders, pinched nerves, compressed discs – “anything causing inflammation and pain,” she says, noting that it can especially effective for arthritis and stress.

Canine AcuTouch operates primarily out of AlphaDog Lodging in Tam Junction, building out the facility’s ever-expanding array of services for dogs and their owners. She credits her volunteer work for Guide Dogs for the Blind’s canine welfare department as helping her building her Canine AcuTouch practice.

“Dogs have really have gotten some good Canine AcuTouch work and, in turn, I’ve been able to help so many wonderful dogs,” Ahern says.

Ahern was born in Benicia and has lived in Sacramento, Fairfield and Suisun City over the years. She moved to the dog-friendly community of Carmel, where this therapy was born in 2013. Ahern returned to Mill Valley after many years to help a friend battling a health issue. What she found was a dog community like no other. “When I saw all the canines here, I realized this was my place – it’s so beautiful and just wonderful.”

The 411: Barbara Ahern's Canine AcuTouch offers Bowen Therapy-style healing for dogs. She also continues her holistic health practice for people using Bowen Work. MORE INFO.

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Throngs from near and far turned out on Dec. 2 for the 2018 edition of the Enjoy Mill Valley Winterfest, Mill Valley's landmark annual holiday celebration. The day featured a massive slide, a visit from Santa, a full day of live entertainment and music, children's activities, amazing local food and Tree and Menorah Lighting ceremonies.

Thanks to all who made it a huge success, particularly our event producer Steve Bajor and Team Pro Event, sponsors (Redwood Credit Union, Chevron at 5 Ashford, Dana Williams at Alain Pinel, Good Earth Natural Foods, Piazza D'Angelo, MCE Marin Clean Energy, Mathnasium and Tam Bikes for Marin Bicycle Coalition's free bike parking), food vendors (Piazza D'Angelo, Good Earth Natural Foods (double duty for both!), BOL, Urban Remedy, Equator Coffees, Super Duper Burgers and Chabad Mill Valley's Brooklyn), our performers (SingersMarin, WOW Music Studios, PAAM, Happy Feet Dance School, Roco Dance, Rock the Ages, Dore Coller & the Millbillies) and activity booths from Marin Theatre Company and Kiddo!. Thanks to Hamilton Ink for the dynamite promotional support, and to Gary Ferber Photography for documenting the day. Lastly, but certainly not least, thank you to the City of Mill Valley, Mill Valley Refuse and the Conservation Corps North Bay for their efforts to make Winterfest a nearly 100% Zero Waste event!

GO HERE FOR ALL OF GARY FERBER'S GREAT PHOTOS FROM WINTERFEST!!

And we'll see you at Winterfest on Dec. 1, 2019!

The Depot Bookstore & Cafe has been a gathering place in downtown Mill Valley for decades. Now the fabled institution is teaming with the venerable Murphy Productions to host a Community Holiday Pop-In Party, inviting friends, neighbors, customers and anyone looking for a fun evening in the heart of Mill Valley.

The event, set for Friday, Dec. 14 from 5-7pm, will feature happy hour drinks, a visit from Santa, plenty of music and a much-needed dose of community.

"Now more than ever it is important to solidify our connection to one another," says Murphy Productions' Daniel Patrick. "Bring instruments and songs, sing and dance the night away.​"

The 411: The Depot Bookstore & Cafe and Murphy Productions host a Community Holiday Pop-In Party on Friday, Dec. 14, 5-7pm, 87 Throckmorton Avenue. Free.

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The Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church is hosting a "Peace Pop-Up" on Thursday, Dec. 13 (4:30–7:30pm) in the Depot Plaza.

The event, according to Patricia Wiig, the church's director of children and family ministries, is quite straightforward. "We hope to provide a beautiful and quiet space for people to enjoy a few moments of peace and reflection, and also good cheer in the midst of this hectic season," she says.

"Attendees will have the opportunity to write a wish or prayer for the season on a tag to be tied to an artificial tree, write or draw peace wishes on a chalk board or light a candle as a way to set an intention for the season or in remembrance or honor of a loved one," she adds."

In addition to the above, there will be carol singing from 4:30-5pm and 6-6:30pm by children and adults, with acoustic guitar accompaniment.

"Peace is needed in our communities and in the world," Wiig says. "Even for those of us who experience relatively peaceful lives, we often go through this season in a whirlwind of shopping and holiday preparations, not always mindful of the meaning behind the holidays we celebrate."

The 411: The Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church is hosting a "Peace Pop-Up" on Thursday, Dec. 13 (4:30–7:30pm) in the Depot Plaza. Free. MORE INFO.

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In one of Mill Valley's many holiday traditions, the Throckmorton Chorus, which launched in 2014 as a group of 30 singers, is set to take the stage at the stage at the Throckmorton Theatre on Wednesday, Dec. 12 for its annual Winter Concert, "a celebratory evening of choral music."
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The Throckmorton Chorus was inspired by Bay Area master accompanist, teacher and composer Joe Bloom. The chorus is directed by Marie Plette and accompanied by pianist Allegra Chapman, and the section Leaders are Jonah Hopton, Britt La Gatta, Tim Silva, Anayana White and Katarina Zosseder. The evening features performances of the music of Handel, Mendellohn and others, with a holiday sing-along.

Following the concert, the Throckmorton hosts a meet-and-greet and complimentary champagne reception.

The 411: The Throckmorton Chorus perform a Winter 2018 Concert on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 8pm, at the Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Avenue. Free. MORE INFO.
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The 2018 edition of Winterfest ended in appropriate fashion on Sunday, Dec. 2, as Rabbi Hillel Scop of Chabad Mill Valley led hundreds of people on the Depot Plaza downtown through a Menorah Lighting ceremony as Hanukkah began at sunset (see short video above).

But Mill Valley's just getting started on its celebration of the Festival of Lights, as there are two more Menorah Lighting ceremonies planned for the coming week. First up is Rabbi Susan Leider of Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon leading a Menorah Lighting on Thursday, Dec. 6 in the Depot Plaza downtown from 5-6:30pm. In addition to the Menorah Lighting ceremony, the event will also feature seasonal foods like latkes and jelly doughnuts, crafts including a dreidel spinning "clinic" and candle making, gelt for all, live music, Hanukkah and interfaith prayers including event co-sponsors Marin Interfaith Council/Love Lives In Marin.

Three days later, from 5-7pm, Scop and his family will do the same, this time outside their new Brooklyn community space and retail shop just across the street from the Depot Plaza at 29 Miller Avenue. Much like the Winterfest Menorah Lighting, the event will feature a nine-foot Menorah, as well as hot latkes with apple sauce and sour cream, sufganyot jelly donuts, gelt and dreidels, music and a "stuff a dreidel" craft for kids. MORE ABOUT CHABAD MILL VALLEY AND BROOKLYN HERE.

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Nothing warms the holiday heart more than receiving a well-crafted, homemade gift. With that in mind, Mill Valley Recreation is back with an event that offers both kids and adults the chance to learn and create during the holiday season by making handmade items.

On Saturday, Dec. 8 from 10am-2pm, Mill Valley Recreation's Make It, Take It, Wrap It Makers Fair returns to the Mill Valley Community Center. Local artisans will be on hand to instruct easy crafts for kids and adults to make and take home, including holiday ornaments, bead jewelry, fused-glass, clay pendants, cookie decoration, painting and holiday cards. The event also features crafts to make and purchase, live music, photos with Santa, holiday dress-up with local theatre company, cookie decorating and more.

Entry to the event is free to all, craft prices vary from free to $15. Craft tickets may be purchased at the event. 

The 411: On Saturday, Dec. 8 from 10am-2pm, Mill Valley Recreation's Make It, Take It, Wrap It Makers Fair returns to the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto. MORE INFO.

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Marin Theatre Company's literary manager and resident dramaturg Laura Brueckner is coming to the Depot Bookstore & Cafe to give a talk on the world premiere production of Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon's The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, which serves as a companion piece to Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (both continuations of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice). The event is set for Monday, Dec. 10, 6-7pm.

The play, which has the servants in the midst of a holiday scandal with the arrival of Lydia’s incorrigible husband and Mr. Darcy’s nemesis. has been a smash success and was just extended through Dec. 16. Brueckner will speak about the world premiere development process, what it takes to mount a world premiere and how it's done at MTC, and more.

The 411: On Monday, Dec. 10 (6-7pm), Marin Theatre Company's literary manager and resident dramaturg Laura Brueckner is coming to the Depot Bookstore & Cafe to give a talk on the world premiere production of The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley. 87 Throckmorton Avenue. Free. Here's a trailer for the The Wickhams:

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Since its debut in late 2015, Bonnie Powers and Jeffrey Levin, the co-founders of Poet and/the Bench  lifestyle store and jewelry atelier on Locust Ave., have consistently championed their fellow artists, creators and retailers.

They're doing so again this Saturday, Dec. 8 by hosting a pop-up launch party for Everviolet, a lingerie and loungewear collection for women in all phases of treatment and survivorship of breast cancer and related issues. Poet and/the Bench's owners are donating 10 percent of all proceeds from the evening to FORCE, an organization that helps people with hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. 

Everviolet was founded by Keira Kotler, a Marin resident, a visual artist and a breast cancer survivor herself who was diagnosed at the age of 40. Following surgery, Kotler was shocked to discover one of her greatest challenges was finding comfortable and beautiful garments to wear throughout the healing process. After six months and more than 200 bras, she began talking to other survivors about their shopping experiences and discovered she was not alone.

Poet and/the Bench co-founder Bonnie Powers noted that she and Levin have a deeply personal connection to Kotler's work.

"As a BRCA2 carrier with a sister who is a breast cancer survivor, I had a prophylactic double mastectomy five years ago," she says. "I'm very passionate about what Everviolet is doing to serve an important unmet need. And I must say, the garments are beautiful, constructed with such care and attention and so feminine and comfortable, they can be worn by anyone."

The 411: Poet and/the Bench is hosting a pop-up launch party for Everviolet, a lingerie and loungewear collection for women in all phases of treatment and survivorship of breast cancer and related issues, on Saturday, Dec 8 from 2-5pm. 10e Locust Avenue at Miller Avenue. MORE INFO.

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The newest kid on the Miller Ave. block has been around for nearly 20 years and already has deep ties to Mill Valley.

WrapManager, which recently opened at 319 Miller, was created by Mill Valley resident Gabe Burczyk in 1999. It’s an innovative financial services firm that seeks to “bring benefits of investing with money managers to a broader group of investors” via data, transparency and service, and has exploded over the years, with WrapManager’s 45 money managers managing up to $500 billion in assets.

But while Burczyk has plenty to say about the business, its model and arc toward success, it’s the company’s journey to Mill Valley that really seems to get his blood flowing.

Burczyk moved to Mill Valley in 2009 with his partner Barbara Fabbri, a yoga instructor who teaches at Yogaworks on East Blithedale Avenue. The couple have two young sons, Nico and Valentino, and as he’s gotten a bit older, Burczyk has sharply felt the pull to be present more often.

“I don’t want to be the non-existent dad and I really want to become a greater part of the community here,” he says. “We have a 100 percent cloud-based company. We could be anywhere. So now we’re here in Mill Valley, and I’m thrilled.”

But Burczyk isn’t just renting some office space in town to give himself the option of working in town on occasion. He bought the 5,000-square-foot building at 319 Miller, spent much of the past year-plus renovating it and completely relocated his entire company from its offices on Market Street in San Francisco. The opportunity to use some of that space to have local organizations host events excites him.

“We really want to have an impact here,” he says.

So, about that business.

Burczyk, who was born in raised in Crown Point, Indiana – famously the home of Depression-era gangster John Dillinger – got his start in the financial services business in the mid-1980s at an investment banking firm in Clearwater, Florida. He then moved onto a wirehouse with Prudential Securities in downtown San Francisco.

Over the years in the industry, Burczyk learned about individual money managers, those who appeal to online investors seeking a middle ground between professional advice without the hand-holding that comes with a financial planner or full-service broker. Those investors “also want greater diversification at lower cost than they can get from buying individual stocks, plus more flexibility than is possible with one-size-fits-all mutual funds,” according to Business Week magazine.

A friend introduced Burczyk to a money manager to handle his own personal assets, and although “it was a challenge to lighten my grip on my own personal financial decisions, after one year of micro-managing this money manager, I relaxed. The real reward was that I got my life back. I didn’t have to manage my own money.”

Burczyk saw a way to innovate by creating a company that essentially hired, fired and managed a group of money managers to “truly be a fiduciary for the client,” he says.

He called the firm WrapManager for two reasons, one literal and one, as Burczyk says, a bit “corny.” In the industry, managed or separate accounts, those that are similar to mutual funds, but aren't pooled investments, are also called “wrap accounts.”

“I prefer the human meaning of the word,” Burczyk says. “For me, “wrap” conjures up images of holding, nurturing and helping a person. That’s what we do. We help people understand the power of having a plan that virtually wraps around the realities of their entire lives.”

“We select money managers for them,” he continues. “We track progress — not just of the plan and investments but of the people it’s designed for… your spouse, your children your favorite adventure. We wrap the unique aspects of a person’s life into one wealth management strategy that breathes and adapts to life as it changes.”

It did not take long for WrapManager’s concept to catch on, and the growth has been a constant ever since. A Wall Street Journal story that mentioned the business in 2000 provided a jolt of momentum, as did the aforementioned Business Week magazine piece a year later.

“We created a convenient way to get our clients information that they hadn’t had access to previously,” Burczyk says. “People hear about a money manager and read about it but there’s no place to do the research. We give that as a service. It’s so different than anything else that’s out there.”

While Burczyk’s team has to get used to new commutes and a new daytime neighborhood, one thing isn’t changing: the office closes at 4pm.

“We all want to spend quality time with each other and our families,” he says. “That’s what this is about.”

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