During the late 19th and early 20th century, American cities showed their stuff by holding elaborate fairs. They showcased the host city with specially designed fairgrounds and elaborate exhibits. First popular in the mid-19th century, they reached new heights with the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893. National in scope, these fairs featured exhibits from around the country. Trends in architecture, agriculture, transportation, entertainment, technology and urban planning were set at these fairs, and a successful fair could bring great honor, investment and migration to the host city. In 1904 and 1905, two separate but related fairs were held in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Oregon.

There were a few storylines surrounding Sunday’s matinee at the Power Balance Pavilion where the Sacramento Kings hosted the Portland Trailblazers. 1) Coming into the first of a three-game home stand on Sunday, the Kings had lost seven straight games. 2) There was the return of former King J.J. Hickson, who played very little for Sacramento earlier in the season before being waived and claimed by the Blazers where he's played well. 3) Sunday’s game was the first since Friday’s news of the arena deal falling apart, which was followed by a weekend of bitter statements from George Maloof and Think Big’s Chris Lehane. The Kings were able to avoid the outside distractions and end their losing

Neighborhood streets and intersections in Portland, Ore. have become public gathering places and people have reported that they’ve felt much safer in their communities, a testament to community building through the City Repair project – the topic of Mark Lakeman and Marisha Auerbach’s presentation on Permaculture in an urban context Wednesday night, hosted by the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. City Repair is a small grassroots nonprofit organization, founded in 1995 in Portland by a group of neighbors, that facilitates multiple “placemaking projects” geared toward reclaiming one's neighborhood and inspiring alternative ways to think about what it means to have a community gathering space

Hundreds of spectators gathered Thursday night to watch waiters and waitresses from Sacramento restaurants as they gave their best definition of speedy service in the second annual Bastille Day Waiters’ Race in the courtyard behind 1801 L Wine Lounge. Waiters and waitresses from 25 central city restaurants made two laps around the block bounded by 18th and 19th streets and L Street and Capitol Avenue. With one hand, participants were required to balance a tray with a bottle of Perrier mineral water and two champagne glasses filled with water. The race began at 7 p.m. “From my perspective as the French consul, it’s great, that in a town like Sacramento, we have young waiters and waitresse

What could be more refreshing on a hot July night than a nice, cool martini? For a thousand fans at the Mondavi Center in Davis last night, the perfect martini was pink. Crisp and cool, elegant and sophisticated, Pink Martini was fresh and fun and funky. Pink Martini is a “small orchestra” from Portland which manages to produce a sound both wildly exotic and comfortably accessible to their diverse audiences. The ensemble of talented musicians produces a repertoire spanning several continents, a few of centuries and a baker’s dozen of genres. Ravel’s “Bolero” led off the program, starting with some hand drums, string bass and Pansy Chang’s beautiful cello. As the piece built and expanded

 The Sacramento River Cats return home for the final home stanza of the regular season after an amazing road trip in which they went 7-1. The homestand begins Saturday night with a four-game series with the Portland Beavers. The River Cats will be honoring three local heroes in Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker and Chicago Cubs first baseman Derek Lee. The first 1,500 people in attendance will get to choose from the three bobbleheads. The person whose bobblehead runs out first will be named the 2009 River Cats High School Hero. The fans in attendance should be excited to see Dana Eveland (8-4, 4.94) take the mound for Sacramento against Wade LeBlanc (3-9

August is the month where they separate the men from the boys. The Sacramento River Cats look to be one of the upper-tier teams in the Pacific Coast League. Tickets for the first round of the playoffs went on sale Wednesday at Raley Field. Even though Tony DeFrancesco’s club has a 7.5 game lead over their rival the Fresno Grizzlies in the Pacific South Division, Sacramento still feels they must always look in the rear-view mirror to see which team is creeping up behind them. The River Cats begin an eight-game home stand tonight that will go a long ways in deciding who they might face down the road in the playoffs. Sacramento begins its home stand against the Oklahoma City RedHawks. As of

 As the Sacramento River Cats finish up a four game-series with the Las Vegas 51s, the Fresno Grizzlies and Reno Aces are in Sacramento’s rear-view mirror in the PCL Pacific South Division standings. The River Cats are in the middle of a pennant race, and July will go a long way in deciding who wins the division. Sacramento plays Fresno and Reno eight times each in July. Sacramento begins the month with a three-game series at Raley Field against Fresno. As of Tuesday, the River Cats are six games ahead of the Grizzlies in the division. Sacramento then goes on the road for their longest road trip of the season, starting with four in Reno. The Aces trail the River Cats by seven games in th

I need answers. There has been something that's plagued me for many years and I need your help in getting some insight. Why is it that the three states that make the west coast of the United States are all known for cities other than their capitols? That's my question. It's simple. Understand, I'm a native Sacramentan. I'm a braggart when it comes to Sacramento and it always boggled me when people dissed our city, laughing in my face, saying, "Isn't LA the capitol?" But traveling around, I discovered this odd trend (three makes a trend!): All the cities people find magnificent on the west coast are not the capitol. Why?! Starting from the north, here's my very scientific study:   WASHI