Coming up: Island City Waterways - Free

credit: Maurice Ramirez

Join in as Rhythmix Cultural Works presents Island City Waterways, a site-specific public art event animating Alameda’s past and present through music, dance, theater, storytelling, and more. It includes a cast of 40 actors, dancers and musicians leading audiences on an easy stroll around Crab Cove, Crown Memorial State Beach in a 75-minute performance that shares the Cove’s rich history and celebrates the sea. You'll see carnies and bathing beauties starting show off with a walk down memory lane, back to the roaring twenties when this was home to Neptune Beach, an amusement park with extravagant public baths. Following a drum corps, audiences visit “Glory of the Seas,” a WWII-era maritime officer training station, where they will join the trainees for drills. Ryujin the Dragon Queen spins a tale of ecological warning on the shores of the first estuary marine reserve in California, established in 1980. And finally, Japanese taiko drummers, Balinese gamelan performers, musicians, and contemporary dancers take to the beach for a dazzling ‘Island to Island’ finale that pays tribute to our shared waters and the global community’s efforts to protect them.

What: Island City Waterways
Where: Crab Cove Visitor Center, Crown Memorial State Beach, Alameda
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20 - four performances each day at 10, 11:45, 1:30 and 3:15
Cost: Free
RSVP: Advanced registration is recommended at islandcitywaterways.org

Focus Group: Social Media - $150 or $200

Probe Market Research is conducting an opinion study on April 24 in San Francisco, on social media. If you qualify and are chosen, it pays $150 for one hour, or $200 for 2.5 hours. You can take the preliminary survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Q7MLW36

Coming Up: Earth Week at the Presidio

The Presidio has some fun events coming up for Earth Week

Back into the Earth Day

Date: Saturday, April 21

Time: 9-12

Where: Presidio Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco

Phone: 415-561-4323

Price: Free, but registration is required.

Spring is here, and that means the archaeological field season is just beginning. Join the team as they get “back into the earth” and kick off the Presidio Archaeology program’s 2018 excavation season! As one of the only volunteer opportunities with the Presidio Archaeology team, this is your chance to get dirty with the archaeologists by removing that sand that covers last year’s discoveries on El Presidio de San Francisco, the Spanish-colonial archaeological site buried just below the ground in front of the Presidio Officers' Club. Don’t worry, we’ll provide the shovels!

Creative Family Fun: Back into the Earth Day

Date: Saturday, April 21

Time: 11-3

Place: Presidio Officers’ Club, 50 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco

Phone: 415-561-4323

Price: Free

Drop in on Saturdays between 11-3 for fun activities, crafts, and learning based on the Presidio’s natural and cultural heritage—featuring a different theme every week. This week the archaeologists at the Presidio open their site for the season. Visit their site and learn about archaeology with hands-on experiments!

Volunteer at Presidio Earth Day

Date: Saturday, April 21

Time: 9-2

Place: Fort Scott Field

Phone: 415-561-4323

Price: Free, but registration is required.

The Presidio's annual volunteer event devoted to celebrating Earth Day, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's Earth Week celebration. As a part of this event, Presidio volunteers are invited to bring friends and family for a morning of stewardship projects (9-12) with a BBQ potluck and lawn games to follow (12-2) at the Fort Scott field. All ages welcome, and there will be a volunteer project activity geared towards families with children 9 years-old and younger. Registration is required for this Earth Day event!

Presidio Nature Challenge 2018

Date: Saturday, April 28

Time: 9- pm

Place: Begin at the Presidio Officer’s Club, 50 Moraga Avenue, San Francisco

Phone: 415-561-4323

Price: Free

The Presidio Nature Challenge is a chance to discover and record the many wild plants and animals that thrive in the Presidio in what is called a “bioblitz”— pairing volunteers with professional naturalists on a scientific adventure. Just bring your smartphone with the iNaturalist app, your curiosity, and your powers of observation to help catalog the natural wonders of our parks and open spaces. All of the observations recorded during the day will help San Francisco win the 2018 City Nature Challenge - a competition between more than 60 cities worldwide to see who can find the most species, and engage the most people. Help them celebrate and record the rich biodiversity of the Presidio.

Coming Up: CuriOdyssey - Bots and Bugs

Interact with robotic creations built by kids and professionals, make and wear technology-inspired art, meet living insects and learn how bugs influence imagination and innovation. Meet the Beetlelady, Dr. Stephanie Dole, and her insects. Meet the students involved with FIRST and take their robots for a drive. See Starship’s delivery robot rove around the zoo. Create a TechInsect from computer parts with the Museum of Craft and Design. Try on Giant Cardboard Robot arms. Learn about a bug you draw from a Customer X robot, or about augmented reality and 3D bugs. Be enchanted by Paul-Lous Agenau’s delightful, dancing teapot robot. Experience CuriOdyssey’s exciting combination of science and wildlife that is unique in the Bay Area.

What: Amazing “Bots and Bugs event
Where: CuriOdyssey
When: April 7-8, 10-3; opening night April 6, 5-8pm

Easter Events in the San Francisco Bay Area 2018

If you're looking for some fun things to do to celebrate Easter with the family in the San Francisco Bay Area, here's the place to start.

Please add your favorites in the comments section!

SAN FRANCISCO 
What: Spring Eggstravaganza (egg hunt, inflatables, carnival rides, entertainment, carnival rides, food for sale, rib cook-off)
Where: Sharon Meadow at Golden Gate Park
When: Saturday, March 31, 2018 from 11-3 Cost: $10/person (free 2 and under). Get them in advance by calling 415-831-6800 or at the Maclaren Lodge Annex

What: Union Street Easter Parade (and festival with face painting, climbing wall, activities, characters)
Where: Union Street in Cow Hollow, San Francisco
When: April 11, 2018 from 10-5, parade at 2
Cost: Free

Coming Up: Beautiful Oops! Opening in San Francisco

This Friday, Beautiful Oops!, a musical for families opens. It's inspired by the book of the same name by author-Illustrator Barney Saltzberg.

Andrew Mondello as Pig. Photo credit: Joshua Posamentier

Where: the Children’s Creativity Museum, 221 Fourth Street, San Francisco
When: Friday through March 31. Fridays at 6:30 pm., weekends at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm
Ages: recommended for 3+
Tickets: $15-27 online or by phone 510- 296-4433

Coming Up: Sunday Streets

This Sunday is the season's first Sunday Streets. Valencia Street becomes car-free. There are two activity hubs at 24th and 16th Streets. Pick up an Activity Guide at their info booths or at the new Intersection Jamborees. Bring bikes or blades - or just walk.

When: March 11 from 11-4
Where: Duboce Ave to 26th Street