Skip the crowded malls and bring your wish lists and cameras down to the MARRS Building to visit Santa’s Workshop in Midtown, Sacramento. This Saturday, Santa's elves will be welcoming the whole family down to capture their holiday portraits with Santa during his final day in Midtown. Attending the workshop is FREE and open to the public. Families will have the opportunity to take their own photos or they can purchase instant photos from the on-site photographer. Children are also encouraged to bring their letters to Santa and place them in Santa’s Mailbox for express journey to the North Pole. This Saturday we will also be having FREE Milk & Cookies available for all the kiddos to enjoy

Skip the crowded malls this Holiday Season and bring your wish lists and cameras down to the MARRS Building to visit Santa’s Workshop in Midtown, Sacramento. Santa's Workshop is open every Saturday in December, leading up to Christmas Weekend. This Saturday Santa's elves welcome the whole family, even the pets, to capture their holiday portraits with Santa. Grateful Dog Daycare will be on hand to give the photogenic pooches a special treat. Families will have the opportunity to take their own photos or they can purchase instant photos from the on-site photographer. Children are also encouraged to bring their letters to Santa and place them in Santa’s Mailbox for express journey to the No

Your favorite neighborhood just got a little merrier. Midtown is all dressed up for the upcoming holiday season with events and specials that are sure to fill visitors and residents with holiday cheer. The 12 Days of Midtown festivities run from Saturday, Dec. 1  through Wednesday, Dec. 12 with festivities for all ages. The event, which is in its third year, features local businesses and showcases hundreds more throughout the district. The annual holiday promotion is designed to engage the public and make Midtown a part of their annual holiday tradition. Throughout the 12 days, attendees can experience a variety of events and activities. Whether it's supporting our local retailers, givi

Families, art enthusiasts, music lovers, beer aficionados and everyone in between are invited to the second annual Midtown Arts Festival (MAF) Saturday, Oct. 20th, from noon - 6 p.m. in the heart of Midtown on 20th Street between J and K streets. This free event is part of ARTober – Fall for the Arts, a Sacramento regional arts campaign running the entire month of October. This vibrant, artistically diverse outdoor festival will cover a broad spectrum of creativity, from the exquisite to the experimental, the visual to the performing, and every medium in between. The festival will feature performance programs on two stages: The SMUD Performance Stage and the SUBMERGE Band Stage as well as

Launch 2012 presented an exciting evening full of art and music on 20th Street between J and K Streets. The front of the Midtown Art Retail Restaurant Scene (MARRS) building served as the stage for some great music. The Honey Trees, I’m Dirty Too and Doombird played and also featured a CD release and performance by Exquisite Corps. Terra Lopez of Sister Crayon was also on hand and served as DJ for the event. The first band to perform was The Honey Trees. The band is composed of musicians from Sacramento and San Luis Obispo. Becky Filip and Jacob Wick founded The Honey Trees in 2008. The current line-up includes Jacob’s brother, Aaron Wick on drums and Austin I'Anson on bass. In betw

The primarily yoga-focused Lululemon Athletica clothing company opened a showroom  Friday in the MARRS Building at 20th and J streets, a space vacated by Newsbeat last year. Showroom Manager Victoria Tanforan, 24, said that the showroom is designed to be a temporary space with a retail area to introduce Lululemon’s attire to the local market. If it garners enough interest, she said, a full retail store could be forthcoming. “We’re a company that specializes in high-quality yoga and running wear,” Tanforan said. “We are all about becoming a part of the community we’re in, and we have free classes every week.” The Lululemon showroom will work with 10 athletic ambassadors, which range from

Skip the crowded malls this Saturday and bring your wish lists and your camera down to the MARRS Building to visit Santa’s Workshop! Santa and his elves have opened up their workshop for the past two Saturdays and this Saturday they are inviting the whole family, even the pets! Residents and visitors are invited to visit Santa’s Workshop at the MARRS Building from 11am-4pm. Pets are welcome to come down from 2pm-4pm. Grateful Dog Daycare will even be on hand to give the photogenic pooches a special treat. The MARRS Building is located in the heart of Midtown at 20th & J Streets. MARRS retailers invite all, big and small, to join them at this festive event. Retailers at MARRS include Pete

Sacramento art galleries hosted small crowds of visitors during the last Second Saturday of the year. Many visitors took advantage of the smaller crowds to do Christmas shopping. Galleries and other businesses sold art, crafts, gift certificates and other items to Christmas shoppers. Festivities in Sacramento began earlier in the day with the annual Santa Parade. Thousands of children, along with their parents, lined the parade route. The parade started at the corner of 9th and I Streets and an anticipated crowd of over 25 thousand watched. The annual parade began at 10 a.m. and participants included marching bands, cheer squads, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, several floats, car clubs,

  The Capital Cities Artober celebration is in full effect and Midtown is excited to give the Sacramento region another opportunity to explore and commemorate the arts in a big way. This Saturday, October 15th, the Midtown Modern Arts Festival (MMAF) will take place on 20th Street between J & K. The FREE family-friendly street-fair will occur from Noon – 6:00pm and is guaranteed to offer attendees a broad spectrum of creativity including Music, Dance, Comedy, the Visual Arts and every medium in-between. The festival will feature a performance program on two separate stages: the KlickNation Stage and the MARRS Building Stage. Performing artists include the Sacramento Ballet, The Sacrament

Santa landed on MARRS today and wished everyone a Merry Christmas during 12 Days of Midtown "Holiday on MARRS". I was there to document this historic event: Santa and his helper trekked on MARRS bringing good cheer to one and all. First stop was to get Santa in the zone with some yoga (above and below). Photo with Santa was part of his adventure. In and out of doors we went. Shaking hands and bumping fists is all part of his work. Off to his sleigh he went when his work here was done. For more info about midtown CLICK HERE SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

If you missed the last screening of The Next American Dream, you'll have another chance to see the film this weekend.  This documentary and dialogue-driver about revitalizing America's urban cores will be showing for free in front of the MARRS building on Saturday evening. When:  Saturday Oct. 2, 6:30-8.  Screening will begin at 7pm Where:  In front of MARRS, 1050 20th Street Cost:  Free Sacramento stands poised for a 21st century transformation.  Come and join the discussion about shaping our city's future!

Rob Kerth has been getting plenty of Zamboni action the last few nights. Midtown Business Association's executive director has been staying up late and going out in the early-morning dark to use the ice groomer to help create an ice-skating rink that opens at 10 a.m. Friday in Midtown. "It's a tremendous amount of work to put up one of these portable rinks," Kerth said Wednesday. "I've been there until 4 in the morning at least five out of the last 10 days." While most business association leaders might not even know how to spell "Zamboni," Kerth not only knows how to drive one, he owns one. And he has the license to drive it. That's because until last year, Kerth owned Ice Unlimited,

The Anti-Cooperation League christened the Sacramento Comedy Spot's new location with a long-from improvisational performance on Friday night. A compelling blend between dry wit, slapstick and quick thinking enthralled the crowd of over 100. During the performance, the comedians welcomed audience volunteers to the stage to share details about their lives. Adeptly transitioning between scenes portraying gambling-obsessed women, lustful elderly men and hypochondriac middle school children, the performers created a series of hilarious scenes inspired by the volunteers' lives. One audience volunteer mentioned that he works at the UC Davis Medical Center and has an affinity for stealing pen

The city of Sacramento has announced its plans to demolish the Bel-Vue Apartments, a registered city landmark, in order to clear land on 8th Street for a potential future parking structure. Located adjacent to the now-vacant corner of 8th and K Street, the Bel-Vue was built in 1910 as the American Cash Apartments. Built in the Craftsman style with Asian overtones, the three-story brick building contains apartments above a commercial ground floor. When the Bel-Vue was built, it was one of many downtown apartment buildings. If it was built today, the Bel-Vue would be described as a mixed-use, transit-oriented infill project. The building is currently owned by the city of Sacramento’s housi