The second annual Humboldt Obon Festival got underway under warm sunshine on Sunday outside the Arcata Playhouse. The festival again drew a large crowd to celebrate traditional Japanese foods, Bon Odori dancing and culture. Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors. In a ceremonial opening after shakuhachi (Japanese flute) […]
Slideshow
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Folklife Strums On
Many of Humboldt County’s finest local musicians could be found at this year’s Humboldt Folklife Festival. The week-long lineup of offerings by local musicians started with the new Folk School Day on Sunday in Blue Lake, with free classes on bluegrass guitar, banjo, mandolin, percussion, songwriting and singing. The traditional Songwriter Showcase on Tuesday featured […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
‘A Normal Saturday’
“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” is a country music song written by Ed Bruce and his wife Patsy Bruce and first recorded by Ed in 1975. But if they do grow up to be cowboys or cowgirls — or bull fighters — they likely were in the Friendly City of […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Blue Lake on Parade
Blue Lake lived up to its small town “center of the universe” status July 9 with its annual Annie & Mary Day parade and party to celebrate the historic Arcata and Mad River Rail Line and the A&M Railroad namesakes Annie Carroll and Mary Buckley, who worked as bookkeepers there back in the day. According […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Photos: First Market Night of the Summer
The Friday Night Market scene was in full swing for its return to the streets of Old Town Eureka. The streets were filled with music, food, vendor booths, some fire dancing and faces new and old. The golden hour get togethers will keep going through October 27. Photographer Kait Angus was there to mingling with […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Pride in Full Stride
On the heels of Pride celebrations in Eureka and Redway earlier this month, Lost Coast Pride’s celebration of the LGBTQ+ community stretched out over the weekend of June 24 and 25. Saturday’s festivities began at the Arcata Plaza, where a modest caravan of decorated vehicles took off, horns honking, headed to Fortuna’s Rohner Park. There, […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Photos: Oyster Fest’s Return to the Plaza
The crowds, vendors and bands were back in their old stomping grounds for the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival. The official count of attendees hasn’t been released yet but by noon, the masses lining up for oysters and other festival eats resembled pre-pandemic crowds. Photographer Mark Larson was on the scene for the oyster calling and […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Photos: Forest Moon Festival Fun
Not long ago in a galaxy not at all far away, Humboldt celebrated the inaugural Forest Moon Festival presented by the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission on the anniversary of the locally filmed Return of the Jedi. On June 2 and 3, Ewoks returned to their forest home in the redwoods (Sequoia Park, close enough), Wookiees […]
Posted inArts + Scene
A SoHum Otter Gets its Name
Tce yac, a newly created mosaic otter, was celebrated with a party on World Otter Day (Wednesday, May 31st) and installed into the visitor center at Humboldt Redwoods State Park near Weott. The otter, covered with over 40 mosaic images of flora and fauna found in southern Humboldt parks, was created as gift for the […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
The Road to Glory
For the 55th time, the wild and wooly wheels of the Kinetic Grand Championship rolled through the Arcata Plaza, down the sandy dunes at Dead Man’s Drop, into Humboldt Bay (and hopefully back to shore) and southward on the long trek to Ferndale. After three days of escalating challenges, roadside repairs and grueling pedaling, Trashlantis […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Photos: Glory at the Kinetic Finish Line
After three days of escalating challenges, roadside repairs and grueling pedaling, the 55th Kinetic Grand Championship concluded on Ferndale’s Main Street, with Trashlantis crossing the finish line to become this year’s Grand Champion. Theirs was not the only glory won, with the first-place awards for Engineering and Art going to Team Goddess and Glorious Gaggle, […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Photos: Kinetic Day Two (by Sea)
After the sand has settled at Dead Man’s Drop on the first day of the Kinetic Grand Championship, racers prepared for the amphibious leg of the journey. Creatures great and weird hit the water of Humboldt Bay, making big waves and struggling not to capsize their way into a Golden Flipper award. Photographer Mark McKenna […]