Around the bay in July 2008

Join your San Francisco Giants, alumni, executives, and other sports celebrities at the Giants Community Fund’s 18th annual Golf Classic on July 21 at the Olympic Club. This is your chance to tee off with the pros while benefiting the Community Fund and lending support to their award-winning flagship program, Junior Giants Baseball.

Photo by Phillip Hall

Join your San Francisco Giants, alumni, executives, and other sports celebrities at the Giants Community Fund’s 18^th annual Golf Classic on July 21 at the Olympic Club. This is your chance to tee off with the pros while benefiting the Community Fund and lending support to their award-winning flagship program, Junior Giants Baseball. The Golf Classic has consistently been the largest annual fundraiser of the Giants Community Fund that uses baseball as a forum to encourage youngsters and their families to live healthy, productive lives. The Fund administers the Junior Giants program, a free summer baseball league for underserved youths 5 – 18 years old throughout Northern and Central California, Nevada, and Oregon. Each league teaches the fundamentals of baseball while providing the players with important training about values, education, and working with others. Junior Giants reaches out to deserving girls and boys who may not have opportunity to play organized baseball – those in inner cities, rural areas, and those who are disabled. For more information visit www.jrgiants.org or call (877) 574-4268.

The Master Mariners Wooden Boat Show comes to the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon, CA on Sunday, July 13. This fun family event takes place in a beautiful location at the Tiburon waterfront. Approximately 60 traditional sailing vessels will be on display with their proud owners on hand to share a bit of their histories. The local chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association will display some fine skiffs, dories, and whitehalls. The San Francisco Feetwarmers will entertainment the crowd playing lively jazz all afternoon and there will be activities for children on the deck making it a great outing for the entire family. Refreshments and a BBQ will be available. Boat show proceeds go towards the Master Mariners Benevolent Foundation, which provides funding for sail training scholarships and skills associated with restoring traditional sailing craft. The MMBF supports several local organizations including the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center, Arques School and the Tall Ship Semester for Girls. Admission is $10 for adults, free for children under 12 accompanied by an adult. For more information visit www.mastermariners.org or call (415) 364-1656.

The Marin Museum of Contemporary Art presents Bruce Lauritzein’s Vessel Series through July 13 in the lobby gallery. Mr. Lauritzen, born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County creates art that reflects his Northern California roots. His work is included in private, institutional, and museum collections in the United States and abroad, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Achenbach Foundation at the California Palace Legion of Honor. The artist currently lives and works in his West Marin studio on Tomales Bay and these paintings exhibited are infused with nautical atmosphere. Museum gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  For additional information visit www.marinmoca.com or call (415) 506-0137.

Let’s face it…. Big old beautiful cars are sexy! It’s All About The Car is a group show by three Bay Area artists, each with a unique take on the love of the car and travel. Their work honors our rapidly disappearing, uniquely American, decadent automotive past.

Phillip Hall will display digital light painted photography (pictured), Bill Silveira will show auto inspired assemblage sculpture and Laurel True will exhibit Asphalt Mosaics. The show runs from July 13 through September 6 at the FLOAT Gallery in Oakland.

FLOAT is the only floatation center & art gallery in the San Francisco Bay Area, floatation therapy is a unique and powerful tool that allows you to shut out the world, and drift into the deepest possible level of physical and mental relaxation. FLOAT an urban art spa offers new, public exhibits of local artists to stimulate and challenge your senses. For more information visit www.thefloatcenter.com or call (510) 535-1702.

In celebration of Shark Week, Aquarium of the Bay will host two opportunities for families to sleep and dream with the sharks and its 20,000 animals, with special sleepover events scheduled for July 26 and August 2. These family-favorite sleepovers are sure to sell out, as they allow guests the unique opportunity to dream in the Aquarium’s crystal clear tunnels, as sharks, bat rays and other animals swim overhead. The first sleepover will allow guests to wake up with the sharks, on the first day of Shark Week and the second sleepover will provide an unforgettable end to the week of shark fascination. You really will be sleeping just inches from sharks, while species including the mighty sevengill, leopard, spiny dogfish and angel sharks swim overhead, along with nearly 200 species of other aquatic animals. The sleepovers will also feature a guided tour of the Aquarium, lots of shark-related activities and trivia from the Aquarium naturalists, hands-on meeting and greeting with select animals, evening snacks and a full breakfast. Admission is $65 per person; $55 for members. For more information visit www.aquariumofthebay.com or call (415) 623-5326.

Every summer, the Fillmore Jazz Festival welcomes more than 90,000 enthusiastic guests, who gather over the Independence Day weekend to celebrate a prosperous tradition of jazz, culture and cuisine, against the picturesque backdrop of Fillmore Street. Blending art and soul in one of the country’s most unique neighborhoods, the Fillmore Jazz Festival is the largest free Jazz festival on the West Coast. From sunup to sundown on July 5-6, visitors can groove to the sounds of live music from multiple stages, browse the offerings of over 8 blocks of fine art and crafts and enjoy gourmet food and beverages. Asian to Cajun, paintings to pottery, old favorites and new directions, the Fillmore Jazz Festival is not to be missed. For more information visit www.fillmorejazzfestival.com.