Good Old Days Celebration featuring fantastic bands, crafts fair & parade!
April 9th and 10th 2016 Pacific Grove, CA
Don’t miss the 59th Annual Good Old Days Celebration taking place today and tomorrow. Every year residents and visitors look forward to this local event which begins with a parade Saturday morning down Pine Street and continues Saturday and Sunday with a wide array of fun events.
When I first moved to Pacific Grove 17 years ago I couldn’t believe what a big event this little seaside town puts together. I even have been in the parade a couple of times with my then 97 year old mother riding in the front seat of my convertible. What a thrill it was for both of us!
It’s the largest arts and crafts show in the county, and features over 225 art and food vendors in downtown Pacific Grove on Lighthouse Avenue. There will be live entertainment on five stages with old-fashioned games and contests, and lots of family fun.
The schedule of events can be found on the Pacific Grove Chamber website. To mention a few highlights you’ll be able to enjoy “Moonalice, Thom Cuneo Jazz Band, The Snarky Cats, Rayburn Brothers Band, Stu Heydon Blues Band, Samz School of Rock, Short Band, PG Pops Orchestra and more!”
New this year is the BookWorks Dance Stage! There will be eight dance groups performing back-to-back-to-back from 11:00 am until 5:00 pm. The dance groups include PGHS Breaker Girls Dance Team, Stevenson School Dance, Azahar Flamenco de Monterey, RockStar Dance Studio, DiFranco Dance Project, Park Avenue Belly Dance, Dance Center Carmel, and Groove Like BollyWorld.”
So come to downtown Pacific Grove and join the fun!
“The slithery. The scaly. The spectacularly showy. Discover incredible animals from land and sea in this special exhibition featuring creatures from the coastal habitats of Baja California. Life here thrives on the edge of sand and surf, where rugged desert coastline meets the sapphire waters of the Pacific.”
Cortez Rainbow Wrasse
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has opened an amazing new exhibit. You will not want to miss it! I first was introduced to Baja in the 1970’s when I flew down there in a small 4-seater aircraft. The airports were so rough that we had to fly over the runway first to scare the cows off so we could land and the gas had to be strained through netting before filling up the tank. Baja was dotted with many tiny fishing villages along the coast at that time and we snorkeled and saw many of the amazing fish and critters in this exhibit. Those were the days . . .
Panamic green moray eel
Luckily, I never ran into “these guys”! Although I have seen morays up close and personal scuba diving in other areas in the tropics, I never try to pet them!
Golden trevallyDesert tortoise
“This 800-mile-long narrow peninsula in northwestern Mexico is separated from the mainland by the Gulf of California.
With almost 2,000 miles of coastline, sun-scorched desert, lush mangrove forests and colorful coral reefs, Baja is a land of contrasts, where unique plants and animals survive and thrive.”
Pacific SeahorseLookdownBluespotted Jawfish
I hope I have peaked your interest with these incredible photos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium web site. Go take a gander at these amazing creatures in person. You’ll be glad you did!
Yesterday in Pebble Beach, I joined a group of fantastic women representing a wide range of professions for a great seminar.
As a realtor with 29 years of real estate sales experience I never stop learning – in fact I was recently nicknamed the Education Advocate of my Alain Pinel Realtors-Carmel office. (I wonder why?) Well, here I go again, spreading the word about another great educational opportunity.
Marion Gellatly
The seminar was called, “Mastering the Business of You” and was presented by two amazing women, Marion Gellatly and Mary Jeanne Vincent. Marion, a style and image expert, discussed the power of our brand, how we determine what our “brand” is, and how we are communicating visually with our clients. Mary Jeanne, a career coach and expert on Linkedin, taught us Negotiation skills and how to use LinkedIn to put our best online image forward. This was the first time they had teamed up to do a class together and it was a winner!
I highly recommend this seminar for any professional person who wants to update and upgrade their image online and person to person.
Bill Murray will be able to play after all ~ here he is with the glorious backdrop of Carmel Bay at a previous AT&T
The AT&T Pro Am Golf Tournament was started by Bing Crosby as the “Crosby Clambake” in Rancho Santa Fe in 1937. Later it was moved to Pebble Beach and has become a huge event and never fails to bring thousands of visitors to the Monterey Peninsula in early February. Since many of our property sales are to second home buyers, this event is looked forward to with great anticipation by the realtor community. All one has to do is check out the Pine Cone (our local Carmel newspaper) and view the pages and pages of “real estate eye candy” to know that the sellers of luxury homes are hoping for a sale to one of these golf enthusiasts here for the tournament.
3044 Cormorant ~ Listed by Alain Pinel Realtors
As realtors we started planning for the AT&T Pro Am Golf Tournament over a month ago by creating innovative advertising for the print media that would beguile and bewitch prospective buyers and invite them to purchase property while visiting the area. During the tournament while the golf crowd heads for the courses, we man our posts at the “Floor duty” desk at Alain Pinel Realtors or host numerous Open Houses at our listings hoping some of our visitors stray from the event. We hope to lure our golf enthusiasts to find the coveted prize – a home on the Monterey Peninsula.
Monterey Peninsula Shore course -view from 3044 Cormorant, Pebble Beach
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday( Feb 12-14th) from 10:00-1:30pm I’ll be holding Open House at 3044 Cormorant Road, Pebble Beach. This home looks directly out onto the MPCC Shore Course, one of the courses that the tournament is played on. I’ll be watching the tournament golfers go by all morning. Come on by and see this fabulous Mark Mills mid-century design on a premium front line Pebble Beach location and join me in waving at the golfers!
1117 Sawmill Gulch Road ~Listed by Alain Pinel Realtors
Also, in the afternoons on those same dates February 12-14th 2:00-4:30pm I’ll be holding open this extensively remodeled single level 3BR/2BA home at 1117 Sawmill Gulch in the Country Club area of Pebble Beach offered at $1,295,000.
The weather is in rare form this year with bright cloudless skies, warm temperatures, and a great cast of celebrities. I remember many previous years with pouring rain and fierce winter storms. I have an indelible picture in my mind of Bill Murray on a TV news broadcast standing out on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf links with waves literally crashing over the fairway soaking him to the skin.
Pebble Beach Lodge and the 18th hole on a lovely day
Many of the tournament goers come to see the celebrities up close and personal. Everyone is glad that Bill Murray is going to play after all, because he not only can play golf well, he has a knack for engaging the gallery with funny antics and high jinks. He wears “funny clothes” and somehow manages to play the clown and also play serious golf at the same time!
Bill Murray clowning around at a past AT&T Pro Am Tournament.
One year he was goofing around with a lady spectator and she ended up falling in a sand trap! Some of the other celebrities that will be playing this year are Kenny G, Andy Garcia, Huey Lewis, Chris O’Donnell, Justin Timberlake, Clay Walker, and Ray Romano.
Kenny G will be playing this year.
A couple of years ago I had an amusing encounter with Ray Romano which I will tell you about in an upcoming entry.
Ray Romano
The tournament takes place on three courses in Pebble Beach (Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, and the Monterey Peninsula Country Club Shore Course) with players rotating to different courses each day. On Saturday most of the celebrities will play on Pebble Beach Golf Links which will be televised showing the world the unparalleled beauty of this course where greens meet the sea.
Pebble Beach Golf Links ~ Photo by Bob Borden
Brandt Snedecker, who won last year in 2015, will be defending his title and will be joined by other pro golfers such as Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, David Duval, Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh, and Jordan Spieth, who is ranked as #1 golfer in the world. Who will take the trophy this year? We’ll all know on Sunday – for anyone who plays golf, you know that anything can happen.
Brandt Snedecker
For the tournament goers that will spend most of their time watching the play or playing golf themselves – we hope they will at least pick up the newspapers and magazines touting our gorgeous homes for sale and return at a later time.
Pebble Beach Golf Links ~ photo by Bob Borden
There is nothing more beautiful than Pebble Beach on a clear sunny day and that’s what we are blessed with this week. If nothing else our visitors will take home delightful memories of blue skies, sunlit courses and crashing waves, after bearing witness to some great golf!
Pebble Beach Golf Links ~ photo by Bob Borden
For more information about Pebble Beach and Monterey Peninsula properties call Susan Clark at 831-320-6801
