Art & Garden Festival

<p>It will be a showcase of Petaluma's artistic and horticultural splendor as the ninth annual Art & Garden Festival returns for another day-long celebration of food, wine, art and garden from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 11 on Kentucky and Fourth streets.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>As its name implies, the Art & Garden Festival honors the arts and horticulture produced in the Petaluma area with an array of local art, garden accessories, fine crafts and handmade jewelry, in addition to food and wine tasting.</p><p>The first festival was held in June of 2002 — a small event started by merchants on Fourth and Kentucky streets. The festival started out modestly, with 3,500 attending in 2002, but climbed to 5,000 in the second year and 7,500 in the third year. Today, the festival attracts upwards of 12,000 guests.</p><p>The festival was founded largely due to the efforts of local business owners Amber Balshaw of Preferred Sonoma Caterers and Rose Zamudio of Tuscan Gardens. This year, the festival is being coordinated by the Petaluma Downtown Association, with the support of a committee made up of Amber and Jim Balshaw.</p><p>The Art & Garden Festival features more than 100 booths filled with artists, gardeners, farmers, community organizations and merchants. Among the highlights this year are a number of eco-friendly participants such as North Coast Native Nursery, Farm Fresh to You and Tara Firma Farms. One of the featured vendors is Momiji Nursery, specializing in Japanese maples.</p><p>In addition to artwork and garden items, the festival offers a variety of foods and wines to sample. Participating wineries this year include Petaluma Market Wines, Harvest Moon Winery, Adobe Road Winery, Corda Winery, Balletto Vineyards and Rodney Strong Winery. Petaluma-based Lagunitas Brewery will be pouring their ales.</p><p>Local restaurants and food purveyors participating include Bert's Desserts, Tres Hombres, Brixx, Jerome's BBQ, Cordoza's Deli, Preferred Sonoma Caterers, Taps Restaurant and Maguire's Irish Pub.</p><p>The musical lineup this year features some of Petaluma's homegrown bands, Randy and the Special Agents and Hillside Fire, along with Santana-tribute band Zebop! and U2 tribute band, Zoo Station.</p><p>Participants looking to find something for the kids to enjoy may want to check out the children's corner, which offers a jumpy castle and slide, hands-on-activities, balloon art, face-painting, puppet shows and a reptile display.</p><p>Admission to the festival is free, but tickets will be sold for $1.50 each to sample wine, beer or food. An individual wine or ale glass can be purchased for $5. A $25 tasting package will also be available, which tasting tickets and a souvenir wine glass with artwork designed by local artist Lisa Krieshok.</p><p>For more information, contact the Petaluma Downtown Association at 762-9348 or go online to www.petalu madowntown.com.</p>