Paesano Days is a local three-day Italian heritage festival in Anderson River Park, held annually…read moreon the first weekend of August. The event features a Spaghetti feed and other italian food, live music, raffles, and vendors of various crafts. But the centerpiece of Paesano Days is the 32-team, 128-person, double-elimination bocce ball tournament. This was my rookie year in the event, replacing a friend who had moved to SoCal. The pressure was on, because my buddies who make up the team I was joining won the tournament two years ago and lost in the finals the year before that. After easily winning our first match on Friday night, we got crushed Saturday morning 11-0 by a group of four gals who the God of the Catholics had apparently decided were going to skunk us. It was utterly ridiculous how often we caught bad breaks in that game, which was over in about 10 minutes. That put us in the losers bracket, which is a tough route to the finals. You have to win about 5 or 6 matches in a row to reach the final, and then you have to beat the team that went through the winner's bracket twice. We made it to Sunday, which is the annual baseline goal of my team. The highlight of the tournament was beating the team of flat-bellied youngsters who take the game very seriously -- kin of the former MLB outfielder and vice-mayor of Redding, Rick Bocetti (known for his claim that he urinated in the outfields of every major league ballpark during his career). The youngsters looked like they'd just seen prophetic visions of how they were all going to die in a fire when we finished with 'em. And I rolled the winning ball. Sweet. But in our second game Sunday morning we got hammered, in large part because my teammate and I on the west end of the court got 'four-banged" by playing stupid and rolling bad. ("Four-banged" = your opponents scoring with all four of their balls in one frame.) It's hard to come back from getting four-banged when you're playing to 11. I had more than held my own throughout the tournament up to that point, but that decisive four-banger was mostly my fault. Bummer, but it was pretty cool getting schooled by an 75-year-old ringer -- the tight-roller from Siciliy who was at my end of the court. That old guy was a sweetheart, but spoke halting English in one of the most impenetrable accents I've ever heard. Old Sicilian: "Dominic.....eeesa ma sona." My partner: "Excuse me?" Old Sicilian: "Dominic......(pointing at his son and partner Dom).........eeesa ma sona." My partner: "Uh......yeah. I think it's 4-2." Whoever rolled a good shot -- us or them -- the old guy is mumbling, "Bella........bella......eeesa gooda." If you're going to get your ass handed to you, it's an honor getting it handed to you by the old pro from Palermo who might have been there when they invented the game.

Amazing time once again this year at the annual strawberry festival. Held at west valley highschool…read morein happy valley. Tons of sweet treats including their famous shortcake which is HUGE and includes a big portion of vanilla ice cream. Lots of food vendors as well. Craft vendors, face painting, air brush tattoos and even pony rides for the kids. And don't forget about the gotta have super DELICIOUS kettle corn, made in front of you and given to you while it's still warm. Can't beat that. Live music and dancing. Fun times for all ages and a awesome experience for the entire family. A must go to for anyone that's never been. Every May is the time this event happens. We had a blast!!

Pass on the Sysco Buckets of Strawberrys over Sysco Cake and Sysco Ice Cream. What a joke. Millions…read moreof Strawberrys produced locally and not a single strawberry product to be found. Clearly a money grab and a shameful one at that. If you're going to represent a product, highlight the local farmers and businesses that revolve around it.

4 Stars Big fun in the Small town…read more Small sprinkle of personal info here - before I was a small fish in the big city of SJ, I was a small fish in the small city of Redding, CA. There were some local Christmas traditions in Redding, but nothing on the scale of how San Jose has Christmas in the Park. That's why I was glad to see that Redding finally has a new Christmas tradition of it's very own. I read the story in the local paper (they still print the Record-Searchlight - some things never change). A local man had a ton of Christmas lights that were actually causing a traffic hazard with all the locals that would drive through his neighborhood to catch a peek, and there was probably an unspoken complaint about the lights in other houses on the block dimming when he threw-the-switch on this huge light spectacle. So when the city government was called-in to mediate, they found a very nice solution. The lights were moved to a recently renovated outdoor walkway section of Redding's downtown mall. PG&E has even been a sport and thrown in some free power to keep the lights burning into early Jan. The displays are very cute. There are light archways leading from the parking lot, and some of the side streets. There is a 20' - 25' Christmas "tree" made solely of lights that brighten and darken in programed sequences. There's a huge light display of Santa dropping presents down the chimney, and another large light display of a toy soldier shooting a cannon that runs about half the length of the total show. There are wooden cut-outs of all the Peanuts characters, and most of the memorable Walt Disney characters - all dressing their part for the season. My favorite display though was of the two toy soldiers that must have stood 10' tall on either side of the Village Schoolhouse toy store. So fitting for a toy store, and how much fun to take pictures in front of for a never-wanting-to-grow-up kid like myself. This was great fun for my family as we visited my hometown. I'm sure it will be back again next year. If you missed it in the inaugural year, be sure to make it part of your Christmas tradition for Dec 2008. It's a very cute piece of Christmas memorabilia set to light. And while you're there, look into some of those businesses taking their shot in downtown. The toy store I mentioned looked like they had lots of neat things you might not immediately find at Toys R Us, and next year the new go cart race track will be open for business!

Apparently in Redding, during the summer, on Thursdays, they have a little thing called Market…read moreFest, or as my BF's family calls it, Hippie Fest =) I went here last night and discovered why they call it hippie fest. A few woman were dressed in long flowing skirts, no bras, and I swear not, a couple had flowers in their hair. The best was the old man with the braided beard wearing a tie dyed t-shirt, camouflage shorts, and Birkenstocks with tall white tube socks. He won, in my head, the best dressed hippie, not to mention a smile from me. Last night they had African influenced music with great dancers. They were fun to watch in the sweltering 106 degree Redding heat. The bad part is the fact that there weren't very many arts and craft booths or food booths. My favorite part about a festival is browsing all the different booths and trying to pig out on as many food stands as possible. I saw about 6 stands of beaded necklaces, beach inspired post cards, magnets, oh, and lets not for get those tie dyed clothes. Then there were only a few food stands; pizza, sausage, ice cream, kettle corn and snow cones, pretty disappointing. They had quite possibly the smallest farmers market. I didn't buy anything so I cant comment on whether or not the fruits/vegetables were ripe, tasty, or priced well. Another con was the fact that there was only one beer booth and the line was so long. Five dollars for the smallest plastic cup of beer I've ever seen. Whatever happened to those red plastic party cups? Those are worthy of five bucks if filled to the top. On the plus side, Its free to get in, fun to watch all the people dance, gets you out of the house on a summer weeknight and from what I hear they have different performances/music every Thursday. Will I return the next time I visit Redding in the summer? Um, not unless I plan on sweating my butt off and over paying for beer or have a great desire of buying a tie dyed shirt. I guess I'm just used to the bigger festivals Ive attended at other city affairs. But don't let me stop you from at least experiencing one hippie fest..err Market Fest.

The Shasta Fair is a great place for events. They do a great job managing it. My only suggestion is…read morethat the repave the parking lots, get rid of the barbed wire on the fences, and create a sidewalk along the property. Also, you could add a lot more trees too.

I love this fair I come here for 11 years there's a lot of good people and fun vibes and great…read morestuff to buy there... they do have to work on the rain situation because every single day I went there this year I got drenched for real guys put a tarp above the whole fair!!

I love this wine buy I moved and I wish I could but it by the case. The owners are fantastic, their…read moretasting room is charming, and every one of their wines are fantastic. I am just now finishing my last bottle. it is worth setting an appointment.

Not happy. Website said open, drove all the way out there and the gate was closed. Tried to call…read moreand no answer.

The $465 entrance fee for our 4 kids and 2 adults is completely beyond the pale…read more This so-called FAMILY EVENT is anything but family friendly. This is not a fun haunted corn maze, it's a third rate wanna be AMUSEMENT PARK charging ridiculous prices that exclude large families from participating. Very disappointing.

Worked here 2024 for the month of October. They told us that they "lost my pay" because I didn't…read morefinish my paperwork (I had 4 witnesses who saw me turn it in) then proceeded to show me an envelope and folder with all my information. I was choked by a child and they did nothing. A lot of us actors were threatened with rape by inebriated guests and even some co workers including the minors that worked there! They refused to hire security until the last two nights and my coworker who is disabled had people sit in and on him while in his wheelchair! The manager Forest had done nothing and even told us to "shut up they aren't sexualizing you, you're just exaggerating." Overall this place is a rip off and treats the actors and employees like trash. Do not work here! Coworkers have almost been sent to the hospital including myself!

What an amazing time we had at the Shasta Renaissance Faire !…read more There were knights in armor fighting, jugglers , musicians, brilliant stage shows, wandering minstrels, a very funny jester, a king and his court.. Pirate ship, Viking ship..too much to list. They had turkey legs, meat pies as well as mead! I will be back next year for sure!

From the owner: Two exciting days of fun filled mischief and merriment! Climb aboard the Viking ship, play games…read morewith the pirates and attend their Buccaneer Bootcamp, meet kings, queens, knights in shining armour, fairies, ogres, mermaids and more! Watch a lively juggling show or join the belly dancers in a drum circle! Browse the merchants in the marketplace offering unique, artisan vendors with one of a kind merchandise. Get your face painted or your hair intricately braided and enjoy delicious mead and a giant turkey leg! Single Day Admission: Adults $15, Youth (11-17) $13, Children 10 and under free with paying adult. VIP Experience: $60 Express entrance to event 1 glass of mead 1 meat pie Express line for concessions Air Conditioned VIP Lounge Meet and Greet with select performers Every Memorial Day Weekend for Saturday and Sunday. At the Shasta District Fairgrounds in Anderson, CA. A Golden Goblin Productions Event.