Halloween Festivities October 27

The Lakeshore Business Improvement District and the Farmers Market are again sponsoring this year's Halloween festivities. Pamela Drake, the BID director, sent the following information:

"Lakeshore Avenue will host its annual Children's Halloween Parade and Trick or Treat Event Saturday, October 27th, from 10 to 11 am. Parents and Children will gather at the Mandana Green across from the Lakeshore Baptist Church at 10 where they'll pick up a treat bag, some goodies and a coupon for a free mini pumpkin and decorations at the Grand Lake Farmers' Market. Merchants on Lakeshore and Lake Park Avenues with black cats in their front windows will be handing out goodies to little goblins, witches, and super heroes. Many shops will also participate in a contest for the best Halloween/Fall decorated window. Don't forget to pick up and mark your ballot for your favorite window. After trick or treating, visit the Farmers Market for your mini pumpkins and other fun activities. Please contact Pamela for more information at 510-451-1527 or pamelad205@sbcglobal.net.

Jack O'Lantern Jamboree at Fairyland October 27 and 28

Over the next couple of weekends, don't be surprised if you see costumed characters making guest appearances at the Saturday Farmers Market helping to publicize the annual Jack O'Lantern Jamboree at Children's Fairyland on October 27 and 28--weather permitting.

Trader Joe's Opens October 26

If you've taken a peek over the chain link fences, you will have noted that in addition to the facade improvements, Sansome Pacific has repaved the parking lot and added a number of nicely landscaped plant beds. Earlier this week, shopping carts were lined up in front of the main entrance waiting for the onslaught of customers when Trader Joe's opens with a lei cutting ceremony at 8:15 AM on Friday, October 26. This will be the first day of a three-day long Grand Opening Celebration. Regular hours of operation will be 9 to 9, seven days a week. Walgreen's, which tentatively plans to open on November 2 will remain open to 10 PM. Parking in the open-air lot and in the city-owned parking garage is already being managed by Douglas Parking. A two-hour parking limit will be enforced to ensure adequate turn-over. In her October Newsletter, Pat Kernighan encouraged Farmers Market patrons to walk, ride bicycles or use public transportation if at all possible. This advice should apply equally to shopping at Trader Joe's. To accommodate bicycles, the developer has promised to install racks for 15-18 bikes and is working with City staff to add more.

You want to know just how jazzed the hard-core Trader Joe's faithful are? Currently, the Yelp webpage for the Lakeshore store already has 14 entries posted.

Other Grand Lake Merchant News

After skimming the Trader Joe's reviews on Yelp, I also visited their Lakeshore and Grand Avenue neighborhood pages and found them to be both entertaining and informative. For example, many of the reviews for Easy Lounge singled out for praise their Saturday afternoon cocktail specials featuring produce from the Farmers Market--one of which was the Bumbleberry Martini made with blueberries soaked in Marshall's honey.

The comments about Gelato Firenze were equally ecstatic and I also learned that your ticket stub from the Grand Lake Theatre is good for a free size upgrade.

The Yelp reviewers also rated the Grand Lake Farmers Market very highly. The overwhelming consensus of the 75 Yelp reviews confirm what most of us already know. It's an incredibly festive event with tons of good, wholesome food and fun for the entire family.

Too Good Gourmet has just opened at 3217 Lakeshore. This is the first retail outlet for a San Lorenzo bakery started by Amy Watson and her daughter, Jennifer nine years ago. The majority of their business is wholesale and involves packaging cookies and a few other products for high-end retailers under their own store labels. All their cookies are 100% natural--made with real butter and no trans-fats. What's really remarkable, however, is the unique and colorful packaging which makes for wonderful, low-cost gifts--especially during the holidays. If you're interested in a bargain, do check out their over-stocked items. For $1, I purchased a 14 ounce box of dark chocolate covered graham crackers packaged for Trader Joe's. The cookies were great and the box itself is in the form of a sturdy, miniature hat box that's perfect for buttons, notions or whatever.

After eight years at 546 Grand Avenue, adjacent to Lake Merritt, Art Deco Collection.com is moving in November to a new San Francisco location next door to Zuni Cafe. They will also be opening a spacious, new warehouse on West Grand that will be open by appointment only.

The shop is operated by Richard Fishman (AKA: Rick Martini) and Laurie Gordon and specializes in the finest quality European furniture, ceramics, glass, art and lighting from the 1920s and 30s.

Last day at the Grand Avenue location will be Sunday, November 11. Meanwhile everything is discounted from 10-50%.

Furnishings and counters at ViNE, the wine bar next to Starbucks, are now being installed. Opening day will probably be in the next two to three weeks.

Entertainment Calendar Now Includes Other Neighborhood Venues

The Splash Pad Entertainment Calendar has just expanded its scope beyond the Farmers Market and now includes live music in the neighborhoods surrounding the park. Please be sure to notify us in advance of scheduled concerts and any additional venues.

Splash Pad Volunteers Worked Wonders

The work day on September 30 was blessed with a nice turn out and most importantly, everyone worked extremely hard. The Dogwood beds were trimmed back sharply and about two-thirds of the California Native Plant Bed was weeded quite thoroughly. The efforts of the following volunteers are very much appreciated:

Jerry Barclay, Sabrina Walasek, Richard Blakely, Noel Gallo, Tom Swaine, Lou Grantham, Roderick Murray, Gordon Shell and David Bolanos. Mary and Chris, City of Oakland gardeners graciously loaded and hauled a dump-truck full of weeds, clippings and trash and thanks are also due to Noah's Bagels, Panorama Baking and other Farmers Market vendors for donating snacks.

Overall, the park is looking quite good as the efforts of the volunteers dovetailed with extra attention from the City of Oakland gardening staff who put in extra hours grooming the lawns for the ASLA tour. If you look closely, you'll also note that the Plaza has been steam-cleaned compliments of the Farmers Market management.

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