The Buzz

Cover Your K-9: Pet Food Express is holding a fund-raiser for the Cover Your K-9 foundation from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. July 31 and Aug. 1 at the Petaluma store, 383 S. McDowell Blvd.

Cover Your K-9 is a non-profit police and working K-9 foundation that helps to cover the budget gap many police departments in the Bay Area are facing by raising funds to purchase safety equipment for K-9 units. Residents can support the cause by coming to the store and making a donation, or, if they have a pet, they can purchase tokens for a self-service dog wash. All of the proceeds will go to the Cover Your K-9 cause and help purchase items such as bullet-proof vests, heat sensors and medical kits for Bay Area police dogs. Locally, the funds will help the Petaluma Police Department purchase a medical kit for its K-9, Rico. The kit comes complete with a “doggie” oxygen mask. Residents will have the opportunity meet Rico from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, July 31. For more information, visit www.petfoodexpress.com.

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The older the better: If you're staying at the Sheraton Sonoma County Hotel Petaluma, age is not just a number — it determines how much you'll pay for an overnight stay with the hotel's newly introduced “Pay Rates Equal to Your Birth Year” promotion. The offer requires a two-night minimum stay. Rooms start at $159, plus tax, for the first night, and then on the second and third nights, guests pay a rate equal to the last two digits of the year they were born. For example, if you were born in 1947, you pay $47 per night, plus tax. The rate is available through Dec. 31. The Sheraton is located at 745 Baywood Drive. For more information, call (888) 625-5144.

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A very special hat: Olivia DeGraca of Petaluma was already excited about going to the Justin Bieber concert at Oakland's Oracle Arena on July 17, but she came home with a souvenir she didn't expect. Olivia was a few feet from the stage during the concert when Bieber removed his New York Yankees cap and flung it into the crowd. Olivia caught the hat. Security guards helped escort Olivia from the aisle to her mom, who was seated 15 rows back. “That's when the mob started for us,” said Olivia's mom, Kim DeGraca, in a recent interview with the Press Democrat. “A swarm of girls wanted to see the cap, touch it, have their photo snapped with it on their heads.” After the concert, Olivia tucked the hat into her purse, but fans followed her and her mother all the way to their vehicle. With the hat safely home, Olivia said she plans to have it put in a special case with photos of herself and Bieber.

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Petaluma artwork in San Francisco: The work of Petaluma artists Gerald Hong and Diana Crain are among the many works on display at this year's American Craft Council Show in San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center Aug. 13-15. The show is the largest of its kind in the west with 250 participating artists. Hong is a ceramic artist known for using geometric patterns for a serene, rhythmic look. Crain has been creating colored porcelain and low-fire glazed wall vases for more than 30 years. For tickets and information on the show, visit www.craftcouncil.org.

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Photo history online: Sonoma State University's new North Bay Historic Preservation Digital Collection is now freely available to view by the public. The 200 digitized images of Sonoma County from the 19th and early 20th century are part of a larger 800-plus image gallery that will eventually be compiled in the collection. The collection is featured on the state's Online Archive of California at www.oac.cdlib.org.

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