Lovers of gourmet food, fantastic wine and finely crafted beer found paradise on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in downtown Mill Valley on June 22, as the 33rd Annual Mill Valley Market Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Tasting served up yet another landmark edition of the event’s rich history.

With wine from more than 50 premium wineries, beer from 10 breweries and food from more than 20 gourmet food purveyors – with attendees clamoring for the tasty fare from 10 local restaurants and chefs – the event was a smashing success. Throngs descended on the Depot Plaza on June 22 for one of Mill Valley’s biggest events of the year, with proceeds benefitting Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation and the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“You simply couldn’t ask for a higher quality event for foodies and wine and beer aficionados than this one,” said Paula Reynolds, board chair of the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce. “And frankly, we’re thrilled at the enthusiasm and the sophistication of our audience. Thanks to everyone who made it happen, particularly our sponsors, and to the hundreds and hundreds who attended despite a weekend packed with great events right in the middle of the World Cup!”

“Our Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting continues to be a top shelf event,” says Doug Canepa, co-owner of the Mill Valley Market that has curated the event since its inception. “It’s unmatched in the quality of its ingredients – beer, wine, food, restaurants, volunteers, sponsors and local organizations – and it all came together again this to make it a wonderful afternoon.”

"We're very grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community event," says Bill Lampl, executive director of Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation. The samplings of savory and sweet foods, wine, and beer were just amazing as well as having great live music. And what a beautiful day!”

The 33rd Annual Mill Valley Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Tasting was presented by Bank of the West with co-sponsors Pacific Union Real Estate, PG&E, Bradley Real Estate, Marin Modern Real Estate and Mini of Marin. Supporting sponsors include Urban Sitter for the KidZone, Tam Bikes for complimentary bicycle parking and Mill Valley Refuse.

Lindsay Webb, a brand ambassador for MINI of Marin, says that her team had some trepidation at the beginning of the day about being first-time sponsors of an event with a 33-year history. As they position their MINI in the Depot Plaza prior to the event, they wondered, “Like the new kid on their first day of class, will they all like me?” Webb says.

“But as the day was underway, it became clear that we were going to fit in just fine. Like getting picked for dodge ball, we could exhale. We noticed that many of these smiling faces enjoying their sips and eats were not only becoming our friends, but had always been. It was a wonderful mix. Those we knew, those we didn’t, and those we got acquainted with. It was a pleasure to participate in an event for the first time, and feel as though we had been there all along.”

On Sunday, June 22, 2014, Mill Valley held the 33rd Annual Mill Valley Wine, Beer and Gourmet Food Tasting, with proceeds going to the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation. Hundreds turned out on a gorgeous sunny day to taste some of the best wine, beer and food the Bay Area has to offer.

About the Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting:
Hosted by Mill Valley Market since 1981, this special North Bay event brings together all the best aspects of California living into one exciting afternoon set against the backdrop of beautiful Mill Valley. The Mill Valley Wine & Gourmet Food Tasting featured Known for a wide selection of hard to find wines, this event is not to be missed by anyone who is a fan of finely crafted beverages and foods.

About the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce:
Whether it is a large corporation, a retail business, a service provider or an independent professional, the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce is here to advocate for and provide your business with an array of unique marketing opportunities to reach both residents and visitors. We have a strong relationship with the City of Mill Valley, a dedicated Board of Directors, talented staff and growing membership, and we welcome you.

About Kiddo!:
Kiddo!, the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation, is a non-profit 501(c3) organization made up of parents, teachers, business people, and active members of the community who raise funds to supplement limited school budgets. Kiddo! funds vital programs and teachers for K-8 schools – including art, music, drama, poetry, dance, P.E., technology, classroom aides and library aides.

About Mill Valley Market:
Since 1929 Mill Valley Market has been owned and operated by the founding Canepa family. We specialize in artisan foods including restaurant-quality prepared foods, local produce, choice meats, poultry and seafood. We will even enhance your meals with the perfect wine. Quality is our passion.

Fifty-eight years after a new elementary school in Mill Valley opened and was named after Edna Maguire, a woman who’d spent 34 years as a teacher and principal in the Mill Valley School District, the reincarnation of that school was celebrated at a Dedication Ceremony on June 5.
Completed in January, the $35 million reconstruction of Edna Maguire Elementary School opened in January. It was paid for by Measure C, a bond measure approved by voters in November 2009. The dedication ceremony featured speeches from Superintendent Paul Johnson, Board President Robin Moses and Edna Maguire Principal Lisa Zimmer and performances by the school's 3rd and 4th grade chorus.
Click here for more information on the district's Measure C-funded Modernization Program. Watch a video on the new Edna Maguire School below:

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The following is part of Ronnie's Awesome List, an unbelievably comprehensive roundup of family-friendly events throughout the Bay Area. Click here for the full list!

Monday, June 2
Clever Jackie Takes the Cake, 11am-12pm, first graders of Stinson School invite you to come enjoy their performance of Clever Jackie Takes The Cake, to help us kick off summer reading, Stinson Beach Library.

Summer Salistace, Treasure Island.

Tuesday, June 3
Henna Art Workshop, 7-8pm, Henna artist Rachel-Anne Palacios will explain the traditions of henna art and demonstrate techniques, Point Reyes Station Library Meeting Room.

Wednesday, June 4
Family Astronomy Night, 7:30pm, Join local astronomer Ken Frank who will talk about astronomy and the day and night sky. In conjunction with our Summer Reading Program, Fizz Boom Read! Belvedere-Tiburon Library.

4 Year Anniversary Party, 5-7pm, tapas, sangria and more, Whole Foods, Blithedale, Mill Valley.

Noon Concert Series, 12pm, free, Anne Rainwater, piano solo: Works include Haydn Sonata in E-Flat Major and Bach’s First, Keyboard Partita, Throckmorton Theatre, Mill Valley.

Grove on the Road, 5-7pm, Instrument petting zoo with Magik*Magik Orchestra, art workshop, and more! Joe DiMaggio Playground, Powell and Lombard, San Francisco.

Click here for the full list of events through June!

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On a Thursday afternoon in downtown Mill Valley, a tiny office space was buzzing with the youthful energy of a startup.

Programmers sat at nearly a dozen computers in the 400-square-foot room, and one was working with Arduino, a micro-controller intended to make the application of interactive objects more accessible. In the corner of the room, a Makerbot Replicator, a 3D printer that can create a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model, was humming to life.

But this office tucked into the back of the building that houses the Balboa Café wasn’t a VC-funded startup spawning in the 94941 – the programmers were all of elementary school age, and they were all girls. They were immersed in a variety of games and programs like Code Combat that help them understand things like Javascript programming and develop problem-solving skills.

This is the Mill Valley Code Club, a relatively new project that technology industry veteran Douglas Tarr founded last fall to spread the love and the skills of computer programming to his kids and their friends. The Thursday afternoon session is girls-only, and the Club overall has since ballooned to 100 kids, and along with popular programs from fellow local outfit MV Gate and activities at the Middle School, coding programs for youth are downright surging in Mill Valley.

“It’s a new literacy to me,” Tarr says, noting that the Club is “absolutely not” about setting kids on a career path. “It’s important for every kid to be able to navigate around a computer and to get them to do what you want. These kids are trying to express themselves – coding helps them do that. They can be creative on the computer – and they can really learn math and science as well.”

Tarr has been in the technology business for 20 years, having worked for and consulted with the likes of Levi Strauss, JPMorganChase and Payscale, the latter of which is a compensation website he founded and served as the vice president of programming for more than a decade.

He and his wife J’Amy, a Mill Valley native and fashion and textile designer, moved back to Mill Valley two years ago after stints in both Seattle, New York City and San Francisco.

He began the Club out of his house with a couple kids, including his 9-year-old son and some of his son’s friends from his Mill Valley Soccer Club team. Tarr’s kids have been playing on computer for several years, both because they seemed interested and because of his own level of interest and the fact that they were so central to his work.

“I hadn’t intended to do this,” Tarr says. “Parents were asking me if there was anywhere to teach your kid to code. It just kind of evolved from there.”

The Club moved into 38 Miller Ave., Suite 9 in January, and just five months later, with 100 kids from first through ninth grade spending time at the Club, Tarr is already thinking he might need more space.

Tarr structures the Club as a monthly program – parents buy a certain number of hours in six-hour increments per month – and the kids have a variety of things to choose to do and work on when they show up. He strives to maintain a ratio of about 3 kids to each instructor each day, and currently has two full-time employees and a few part-time instructors.

“That’s very important to the program,” he says. “When you’re trying to teach something like coding, it’s very challenging at first. So we’ll be keeping that ratio very low.”

He estimates that of the approximately 100 kids coming to the Club, about 40 percent are middle school students, 40 percent are between third and fifth grade and the rest are first and second graders, with students coming from as far as Fairfax, Corte Madera, Tiburon and Sausalito.

Linda Moll, whose daughters Abby, a fifth grader, and Hailey, a third grader, both at Strawberry Point School, are weekly Code Club attendees, says she couldn’t be happier with the Club.

“The things they can do are mind-boggling,” she says. “When you look at what they’ve done – creating, problem-solving and thinking through the end results – what they want and how they’re going to get there, it’s amazing.”

Moll sits on the board of the Strawberry Point PTA, and is involved regularly in conversations about technology as part of the curriculum.

“For me, this was a no brainer,” she says. “It’s not inexpensive, but this is money well spent.”

Mill Valley School District Superintendent Paul Johnson says he fully supports coding activities for students. MV Gate, which was founded by Mill Valley residents John Pearce and Jeff Leane, held an “Hour of Code” night last December at Old Mill School, drawing more than 200 students, Johnson said. The event was part of a global Hour of Code campaign, introduced by Code.org, a group backed by the tech industry that offers free curriculums. The campaign featured videos by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and President Obama - who urged kids, "Don't just buy a new video game, make one. Don't just download the latest app, help design it."

MV Gate also hosts CodeKids, after-school programs held at three of the district’s five elementary schools.

“It is an activity that prepares students for the 21st Century technological world we live in,” says Johnson, who notes that sixth graders at the Middle School have been working with Scratch. “Most importantly, students that participate are highly motivated and engaged in learning.  These after-school activities that have been popular with students and families, and we’re appreciative of their efforts and feel this has benefited many district students and families.”

The New York Times reported that since December, 20,000 teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade have introduced coding lessons, according to Code.org. In addition, some 30 school districts, including New York City and Chicago, have agreed to add coding classes in the fall, mainly in high schools but in lower grades, too.

The surge in coding instruction for kids is “unprecedented — there’s never been a move this fast in education,” Elliot Soloway, a professor of education and computer science at the University of Michigan, told the Times. 

Tarr agrees.

“I had no idea the Club would be as popular as it’s been,” he says. “There’s much more demand than there is supply. We’re creating a really exciting space for kids, where they can come and be excited and be exposed to all these different things – and it couldn’t be more relevant than it is today.” 

The 411: The Mill Valley Code Club is at 38 Miller Ave., Suite 9. 

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