More than 600 people turned out for the Zero Breast Cancer's 12th Annual Dipsea Hike on Saturday, Sept, 13 in Old Mill Park, raising nearly $70,000 in the process. 

The San Rafael-based nonprofit organization, which focuses on research, prevention and education, has been hosting the event since 2002, seeking to both heighten awareness of the benefits of physical activity in reducing breast cancer as well as raise mont for continued research. The event has raised more than $300,000 in support of ZBC’s research and educational programs and more than 3,100 people have participated.

The Dipsea Hike for Zero Breast Cancer is an all ages noncompetitive 6-mile course starting at the Dipsea steps in Mill Valley. This year’s honorary event chair, inspirational speaker and lead hiker was Astronaut Yvonne Cagle, who graduated from Novato High in 1977. Dr. Cagle Yvonne Cagle was a member of the Astronaut Class of 1996. 

Zero Breast Cancer was founded in 1995 and is a community based organization dedicated to prevention and finding the causes of breast cancer through local participation in the scientific research process. They focus on identifying environmental factors and the role they play in breast cancer at all stages of life and across generations. To find out more about Zero Breast Cancer’s work, visit zerobreastcancer.org

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One month after the passing of Robin Williams, the legendary comedian and actor and longtime Mill Valley fixture, hundreds of cyclists gathered at Blackie's Pasture on Sunday morning to begin "Robin's Ride," a jaunt around the famed Paradise Loop ride that Williams loved to do himself for years. The event was organized by the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and featured brief speeches by Coalition Director Jim Elias and famed American cyclist and commentator Bob Roll. Even organizers seems taken aback by the massive turnout.

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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!

Overnight Adventures
Sleepovers at a favorite spot are a wildly popular experience and is as exciting as ever for families. Each one offers a unique and special way to enjoy a beloved place and they sell out fast. Bring your pj’s and sleeping bag and sleep next to your favorite exhibit, under the stars or on an historic ship and let your imagination run wild.

Animals:

• Seals and Slippers, Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito
• Family Campouts, Slide Ranch
• Penguins + Pajamas, California Academy of Science
• Wild Nights, San Francisco Zoo
• Youth Group Sleepovers, Aquarium of the Bay
• Bedtime With Beasts, Oakland Zoo
• Seashore Sleepovers, Monterey Bay Aquarium

Historic Ships:

• Balclutha
• Jeremiah O’Brien
• Pampanito
• Family Live-Aboard Experience, USS Hornet

Museums:

• Summer Sleepovers, Children’s Fairyland.
• Slumber with the Stars, Chabot Space & Science Museum
• Museum Sleepovers, Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose
• Charles M. Schulz Museum, Santa Rosa

Do you know any other fun overnights at a museum or any other place in the Bay Area? Please let us know.

Special Note:

• Bay Area Discovery Museum is closed September 8–22.
• The Children’s Creativity Museum is closed September 1-12.

Tuesday, September 2
First 5’s “Hands-On Health Express” van will be visiting the San Geronimo Valley Community Center, 10am-2pm, lots of activities for young children to learn about fitness and nutrition. Bring the kids for hula hoop fun, a little farmers market, coloring, stories and more!

Ghostbusters, 11am, 1:40pm, 4:20pm, 7pm, 9:40pm, Corte Madera Theatre.

Wednesday, September 3
Family Fun Day 2014- Grand Opening Stroller Strides San Anselmo, 8:45am, free, join us for children’s activities, music class, local vendors and FANTASTIC giveaways, San Anselmo Memorial Park, San Anselmo.

Ghostbusters, 11am, 1:40pm, 4:20pm, 7pm, 9:40pm, Corte Madera Theatre.

Free Bike Repair Day for kids and families, 1-4pm, Bay Area Bike Mobile presents a free day of bike repair for kids and families. Bring your bike to the San Anselmo Library lawn. We can fix most everything! Arrive Early. Space is Limited!

Tote-Decorating Event, snacks and refreshments, The Poppy Store, Marin County Mart, Larkspur.

Legends and Myths of the Prairie Wolf, 10am-12pm, learn why the coyote is such a successful survivor and the topic of so many stories on this family-friendly, two-mile walk is easy to moderate with some steep hills, Muir Woods.

Thursday, September 4
High Line Festival of Surfing, Mill Valley

An Overture to the 2014-15 Opera Season, 8pm, conducted by our own fabulous Dawn Harms and feature Operatic Favorites such as music from Tosca, La Forza Del Destino, Manon Lescaut as well as some special surprises! San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco.free,

Click here for the full list of events through September!

The following was provided by Susan Royce of the Rotary Club of Mill Valley.

Wheeled zucchinis raced for the second time at the Rotary Club of Mill Valley’s 2nd Annual Zucchini Race on August 17. The event, held at the Mill Valley Golf Course Clubhouse, was a benefit for the Dictionary Project, through which the Rotary Club of Mill Valley provides a dictionary to every third grader. Scores of people showed up for racing and fun. Although there were a few catastrophic crashes that ended in variations of ratatouille, we had many winners in various categories.

The Rotary Club of Mill Valley is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.3 million Rotarians belong to more than 32,000 Rotary clubs. The main objective of Rotary is service in the community, workplace and throughout the world.  Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today's most critical issues, such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, literacy and violence. They also support programs for youth, educational opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers and other professionals.  
Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional men and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are nonpolitical, nonreligious and open to all cultures, races and creeds. The Rotary motto is Service Above Self. For more information about the rich history of the Mill Valley Rotary Club, visit its website.

The 58th annual Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival is looking for volunteers to make this class event a great success.  

Many volunteers are needed for this year's event starting Sept. 19 through Sept. 21. Get free admission to the event, a T-shirt, snacks and lots of praise.  

Positions include:

• Friday pre festival set up
  
• Sunday post festival tear down
  
• Gate greeter and money taker
  
• Artist booth sitter
  
• T-shirt and poster sales
  
• Parking attendants and traffic control

Click here to visit the website and sign up.

Contact Trez the volunteer co-ordinator with questions at: 925.323.7735 (cell) or email: vol4mvfaf@gmail.com.

From his widely lauded film "The Invisible Peak" to his viral video time lapse from the Mount Tamalpais fire lookout, with a bevy of films throughout the 94941 in between, Mill Valley filmmaker Gary Yost has shown boundless creativity in casting his lens from and upon the Sleeping Lady.

Over the past weekend during his shift at the Mt. Tam fire lookout, Yost created a pair of breathtaking videos of the mountain, Mill Valley and the Bay Area. The first shows them blanketed in fog under a silvery-blue full moonlight. "It’s a new way of looking at something we all deal with during the summer but never are able to see for what it is… a magical mysterious tsunami of vapor that erases almost all traces of civilization every evening," Yost says.

The second video, 30 seconds long, features a Sun Glory, which is "an optical phenomenon that resembles an iconic saint's halo about the shadow of the observer's head. This Glory manifested in the fog below me as a rainbow halo around the Fire Lookout’s moving shadow as I was leaving my shift on Sunday morning — and it’s amazing," Yost says.

Brilliant work as usual, Gary!

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Reading and walking at the same time aren't often a good idea – just ask the folks walking and texting in the "No Cellphones" lane on a DC sidewalk – but at the Mill Valley Public Library, the two make for the perfect combination for the Library’s 2014 Adult Reading Challenge: Steps, Lanes, and Paths. Inspired by Mill Valley’s extensive network of over 175 heritage paths dating back to the 1880s, the Library is serving up a literary expedition that encourages readers to explore new literary landscapes while becoming actively acquainted with the city that many call home.

The Adult Reading Challenge centers around a “reading map” featuring the steps, lanes, and paths of Mill Valley. The 133 steps, lanes, and paths featured on the reading map correspond to a particular reading challenge category relating to peoples, places, genres and much, much more. Participants are challenged to read one book for each path by the challenge’s end on December 31, 2014. As participants undertake the literary challenge, they are also encouraged (but not required) to explore Mill Valley and celebrate its perambulatory heritage by walking the corresponding steps, lanes, and paths on the reading map.

“It’s been a personal goal of mine to walk every step, lane, and path in Mill Valley,” said Ali Birnbach, reference librarian and organizer of the reading challenge. “I know how enjoyable and unexpectedly refreshing it can be to explore the city through its back roads, and a reading challenge seemed like the perfect way to share the experience. A good reading challenge gives participants a general guide and lets them decide how they want to approach it. This year’s theme lets you literally choose your own path(s).”
 
The breadth of categories in this year’s challenge is extensive, from “Voyages of Discovery and Adventure” and “International Female Authors” to “How Can I Help You? The Service Industry” and “An Event or Experience Your Parents Lived Through,” among many others. Categories serve as inspirational starting points and are open to readers’ personal interpretation, meaning that readers are sure to find books to spark their interest. If that wasn’t motivation enough, over the duration of the challenge participants will have chances to win fantastic prizes, including an iPad Mini. For each book read, participants will earn one raffle ticket. The more books read, the more raffle tickets earned, and the more chances to win.

The Adult Reading Challenge is open now. Adults ages 18 and older are invited to register online through the Library’s website. Registrants should then stop by the Library Reference Desk to pick up a reading map. If participants are looking for reading suggestions, librarians at the Mill Valley Library can offer book recommendations. The Library’s website also features a wide array of book lists. 

“We announced our reading challenge last Monday and we currently have nearly 100 participants,” said Birnbach. “It’s a great start to what we hope will be one of our best reading challenges yet!”

In addition to the Adult Reading Challenge, the Mill Valley Public Library offers separate summer reading programs for kids, middle schoolers, and young adults. Visit the Library’s website for more information about any of these programs. 

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food

My daughter loves food and will try anything. Part of having such an adventurous palate stems from knowing where her food comes. Which is why we do everything we can to support our local farms. By visiting the farms and getting to personally know the farmers we have learned how precious our organic farms are.

A spring trip to Windrush Farm and last autumn to Skyline Chestnuts gave us a reality check on how the farms we love struggle to keep their operations going. Because of the lack of rain this year, Skyline had no chestnuts and Windrush Farms has to give up half their flock.

So this summer, I‘m urging you to do what you can to support local organic farms. It’s easy to do and is a valuable lesson for us all. Start with the farmers at the market, look into Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) boxes, venture out to a Pick Your Own farm, visit a local farm and try growing your own. Here are some simple suggestions to help get you started.

Farmers Markets
Buy food “in season” and make a list of what you plan to purchase. Food “in season” is usually less expensive and tastes better. Let your child pick one thing from that list they love to eat and encourage them to try something new. Set an example by picking something new too. Talk directly to the farmer at the stand with your child, let the farmer show you how to pick the best produce, ask for a taste and ask questions.

Pick out something that might not be on your list such as honey from Marshall’s Farm, olive oil from McEvoy Ranch, raw milk from Strauss, yogurt from Saint Benoît Creamery, butter from McClelland’s Dairy, and, in the case of Windrush Farm, Mimi’s gorgeous yarn!

Enquire about visiting their farm and the best time to go. Last year, I gathered our 4H group to visit the Achadinha Cheese Farm and learned all about making goat cheese. We went when they had baby goats to play with, milked the goats, learned all about making goat cheese and had a very memorable time.

You can also take a guided group tour of the farmers markets and let them introduce you to the farmers. Contact your local farmers market for more information.

Check out the full list of local farmers markets.

CSA
CSA stands for Community SupportedAgriculture. CSA gives us direct access to high quality, fresh produce grown locally by regional farmers. When you become a member of a CSA, you’re purchasing a share from a regional farmer. Here in Marin, we have a wide variety to choose from which include meat, produce, flowers, and home products. Just to name a few: Betty’s Organics, Eatwell Farm, Frog Hollow Farm, Full Belly Farm,Bloomfield Farm, Marin Sun Farms and you can meet many of these farmers at our local farmers markets too. When you open the box, expect to see something that you are not familiar with and get excited about it! Most CSA boxes include excellent recipes too.

U-Pick
The Bay Area has access to so many amazing farms that encourage visitors to pick your own food. Another amazing opportunity to teach kids about healthy seasonal eating. Check out the website PickYourOwn for a list of farms nearby. Dress for getting messy and bring your own bags you and your child can carry. Show your child how to look for the ripe produce. Even a 2 year old knows the red strawberries are the ones to pick.

Grow Your Own
And finally, have your child pick out one plant to care for over the summer. Nothing beats the hands on learning experience of caring for your own plant. You don’t need a garden, you can grow a plant in a pot. Sproutbot is a great website to learn what and when to start planting in your neighborhood. Some guidance and reminders are necessary but they will squealed with delight to pick and eat from their own plant.

Support our local organic farms and have a wonderful summer!

Tuesday, July 1, New Moon

Turbo, Century Rowland Plaza, Novato, 10am, 10 shows for $5 or $1 per show.

Little Sprouts: Jump and Dance, 11-11:45am, 5 and under, Jaime Lee Currier of Your Song My Song rocks classic kids’ songs, funky originals, and unique covers on her ukulele. With felt board puppetry and imagination adventures she leads the kids in a magical, interactive exploration, Mill Valley Library.

Julian Sterling Magician, 3:30pm, all ages, Mystery and magic from Julian Sterling, a local (young!) magician, Sausalito Library.

Lego Club, 3:30-4:30pm, Bring your imagination and we will supply you with everything you need to create with LEGOs, San Anselmo Library.

Fairfax filmmaker John Vigran recently unveiled this “Get on a Bike with MCBC” video to help promote the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, with the help of a team of coalition volunteers. On the heels of the coalition's fantastic work providing complimentary valet bicycle parking at the 2014 Mill Valley Market Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting event, we thought it was a good time to share the love. See more of Vigran’s work at Wild Heart Pictures.

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