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- Written by: Middletown Art Center
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — Middletown Art Center, or MAC, is excited to announce Posadas Celebrations during the festivities at Christmas in Middletown on Saturday, Dec. 9, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate.
In collaboration with St Joseph Roman Catholic Church parish members in Middletown, a Posadas procession of singers will perform at Middletown Square Park, the festival food court, and at MAC during Christmas in Middletown.
The procession will culminate in the serving of punch and the breaking of a giant piñata at MAC at 7:30 p.m.
A giant piñata will be made at a workshop on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 1 to 4 p.m. and the community is invited to participate in its creation. The workshop is free and pre-registration is requested at https://bitly/MACpinata.
“Bringing Las Posadas to Middletown is a conduit for highlighting the Mexican and Latinx community. It brings a little piece of home for families that originate from Mexico so they can connect back to traditions celebrated in that country. Likewise, the children of first generation immigrants, who perhaps might not be as familiar with these traditions, are given an opportunity to connect to their ancestral roots,” said Gilberto Rangel, HSRA coordinator at Lake County Tribal Health, Konocti School Board member and consultant for MAC.
“We are looking forward to growing this celebration throughout our community and providing more opportunities to showcase cultural traditions from Spanish speaking countries. This approach leads to a stronger community where people begin to connect with each other regardless of what their unique backgrounds, beliefs or traditions might be,” Rangel said.
Las Posadas has been a Mexican tradition for over 400 years, and is also celebrated in Guatemala and Honduras.
The word “posada” means inn or lodging, and traditionally Las Posadas are a celebration of the Christmas story and commemorate the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph’s search for a place to stay where Jesus could be born.
Posadas in Mexico feature hot food and drinks, sweets, music and piñatas.
While the origin of Posadas does have a religious connection to the Catholic practices introduced by Spaniards, today Las Posadas are a mainstream celebration for both practitioners and non-practitioners of the Catholic faith.
Las Posadas at Christmas in Middletown inaugurates the MAC’s Raíces Hermosas ~ Gorgeous Roots project which celebrates contemporary expressions of Latinx culture, roots and issues.
The project is centered around an art exhibit by local and regional Latinx artists on view January to May 2024 at MAC. It includes school field trips to the gallery and studio for guided tours and hands-on activities for 3,600 Lake County students, public artmaking workshops, and cultural celebrations.
Learn more about Raíces Hermosas at www.middletownartcenter.org.
Funding for this project is provided by Specified General Fund for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.
Middletown Art Center is a Lake County nonprofit dedicated to engaging the public in art making, art education, and art appreciation. Through exhibitions, performances, workshops, and community events, the Art Center provides a platform for diverse voices and perspectives, striving to create an inclusive and accessible space for all.
To learn more and donate to support Raices Hermosas and other MAC programs visit www.middletownartcenter.org or call 707-809-8118. The MAC is located at 21456 State Highway 175 in Middletown.
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- Written by: Lake County Library
Starting in December, Lakeport Library’s Fabric Club will present four “mending” workshops on the first Saturday of the month.
The workshops will cover subjects from hemming to buttons and holes.
The public is invited to attend the first workshop on Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Lakeport Library from 10 a.m. to noon.
“Bring your mending and your questions,” said Amy Patton, who runs the Fabric Club out of Lakeport.
Mending will be the subject of the Fabric Club for the next four months. Each mending workshop will focus on a different skill.
The first workshop will cover hemming; attendees will learn to machine or hand-sew a hem. The next workshop will cover buttons as well as making and fixing holes. Contact Amy at
The Fabric Club meets monthly, covering a variety of subjects: sewing, quilting, embroidery, fabric-folding and other fabric crafts.
The library shares a stash of fabrics and threads with attendees, but club members bring their own projects, sewing machines, and supplies. Share your knowledge and skills, learn from others, and create new projects.
A calendar of all upcoming events is available on the library website at https://library.lakecountyca.gov.
For more information about these events or others, you can also contact the Lake County Library by phone at 707-263-8817, by email at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Oct. 27 Lake County’s AgVenture class experienced a day of learning and discovery highlighted by a visit to a walnut orchard during harvest, expert presentations on the walnut industry, food safety, modern pest control, regulatory and legislative affairs, and ag education in Lake County.
Shannon Douglas, vice president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, opened the day with an overview of current issues facing farmers today and the Farm Bureau’s role in educating and advocating for its members.
Fidel Perez, Lake County native and environmental program manager of the Enforcement Branch, Northern Region, of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, or DPR, gave an in-depth presentation of how the DPR monitors, tests and enforces safety standards in the food chain, from farm to retail outlet.
A pest control advisor, or PCA, panel followed. PCAs Steve Thomas, Nick Sysock and Lake County Agricultural Biologist Janice Luke joined forces to explain federal and state pesticide and fertilizer regulations for both conventional and organic crops.
They covered product development and field testing, inspecting, monitoring and advising growers on product use according to their science-based observations, and enforcement of all regulations pertaining to pest control and fertilizer applications. A robust question and answer period followed.
Robert Verloop, executive director and CEO of the California Walnut Commission brought attention to the walnut industry, including marketing challenges in today’s economy and insights on new ideas for marketing the California crop in the domestic and global markets.
Walnuts are particularly vulnerable to tariffs, since about 65% of the crop is exported.
The class took a break and enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch in the courtyard of the Blue Wing Saloon and Café, courtesy of Bernie and Lynn Butcher.
Colleen Rentsch and her daughter and son-in-law Jessica and Jordan Mihaelenko led a fascinating walk through their walnut orchard in the midst of harvest operations.
The class witnessed machines shaking the trees, sweeping the nuts into wind rows between the trees, and picking up the nuts and blowing the leaves away. The nuts are then conveyed into a bin which is pulled out of the field by a tractor.
They talked about cultivation methods, pest control and irrigation efficiency. Soil moisture readers are placed throughout the orchard, and Jessica demonstrated the use of a pressure chamber which extracts moisture from a leaf and indicates the amount of water being used by the tree. These tools save water while providing for optimal tree health.
Erica Boomer, head of the Upper lake High School Agriculture Department, and Chris Decker, ag mechanics instructor, both Future Farmers of America advisors, led a tour of Upper Lake High School’s ag and vocational education campus, highlighting the tremendous opportunities available to ULHS students to learn practical job skills.
The community passed a bond in 2018 that enabled the school to fund an impressive large modern building, and grants subsequently funded state of the art instructional equipment, including a blueprint design program accessible to every student, massive workbenches built by the students themselves, and numerous welding stations where students can become efficient in both MIG and TIG welding.
The campus also boasts a garden, soon to be enhanced with raised beds donated by Bernie and Lynn Butcher, and space for members to raise their FFA project animals.
Two-thirds of the ULHS students are enrolled in Ag related classes, and 80% are involved in the Future Farmers of America program.
The AgVenture Program in presented by the Lake County Chapter of California Women for Agriculture, or CWA, and is guided by a steering committee of seven CWA members, including Rebecca Harper, Colleen Rentsch, Toni Scully, Bonnie Sears, Debra Sommerfield, Katherine VanDerWall and Sharron Zoller.
CWA is the most active all-volunteer agricultural organization in the state, with 20 chapters and more than 1,300 members. Sharron Zoller is the current state president.
To become a member, please visit www.lakecountycwa.org.
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- Written by: Kelseyville Presbyterian Church
The dinner will be served from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the church Fellowship Hall.
There will be regular chili and clam chowder, as well as vegan chili, plus cornbread, beverages and dessert.
The cost for a full meal is $10 per person for adults, and $5 for children under age 10.
For dessert and a beverage only, the cost is $5 for all ages.
Kelseyville Presbyterian is located at 5340 Third St., at the corner of Third and Church streets.