Petaluma's TOPs First

Cinnabar Theater, Petaluma's resident company and training house for area youth, outdoes itself in an ambitious fundraiser that encompasses all of the downtown. Called Taste of Petaluma, this progressive party features a map temptingly decorated with menu items from among some 31 restaurants and businesses. Ticket books ($30 in advance; $35 day of the event) contain 10 opportunities to eat or drink around town. The food and drink tastes are valued at $3 apiece and promise to be substantial. The Smokehouse Gamblers play in Putnam Plaza, there are free boat rides across the river's murk, and general bonhomie promises to abound. Plus, all of the food and drink tastes are under the strict scrutiny of a fairly yowza team of judges, so there will be no lackluster slices of sweaty cheese anywhere to be seen. Taste of Petaluma spreads out for the first time on Saturday, Oct. 21, from 1pm to 5pm. 707.763.8920. www.tasteofpetaluma.org.

Gretchen Giles

Crushing Breast Cancer

Between 1992 and 1994, winemaker Rick Hutchinson's lost two sisters, Judy and Janet, to breast cancer. But two years ago, Hutchinson, who owns Amphora Winery in Healdsburg, came up with a unique idea to help combat the disease, which claimed over 41,000 lives last year in the United States alone. On Oct. 15, the winemaker is hosting the second annual Stomp Out Breast Cancer! event, where women hop into grape-filled bins to crush fruit the old-fashioned way. To do the purple-footed honors, participants make a $25 minimum donation, which funds mammograms for those who don't have health insurance. The juice will then become the raw material for Amphora's due sorelle ("two sisters" in Italian) wine. Profits from the sales of the wine, along with the donations for stomping, will benefit the Sutter Medical Center's Breast Care Center in Santa Rosa. Stomp Out Breast Cancer! crushes the disease at Amphora Winery, on Sunday, Oct. 15, from 10am to 4pm. In the Timber Crest Farms Complex, 4791 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. 707.431.7767.

Brett Ascarelli

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