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Sonoma Family Life Magazine

Listen to Live Music at the Apple Festival

Sam Chase has been playing guitar since he was teen. He grew up a punk rocker and now makes music that combines rock and folk with a bit of his old punk sensibility. The award-winning songwriter will be bringing his gruff voice (think a melodic Tom Waits) and world-wise tunes to the Gravenstein Apple Festival, when his band the Sam Chase and the Untraditional performs. Joining him will be 14 other acts, including Poor Man’s Whiskey, the Rainbow Girls, Royal Jelly Jive, La Agencia, and Eki’Shola and E. Doc Smith. Along with live music, the festival will also feature apple-based treats, ciders, and kids’ activities. Children can play games, enter contests, and make crafts, such as flower crowns, seed balls, felted soap, and sunprints. There will also be a Life on the Farm exhibit featuring live horses, piglets, llamas, cows, sheep, turkeys, Pygmy goats, and baby chicks. The festival, which won the Bohemian’s 2023 Best Festival award, will happen August 12–13, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., at Ragle Ranch Regional Park in Sebastopol. General admission is $10–$30; ages 5 and younger get in free; a family pass (2 adults and 2 kids) is $55. To purchase tickets and see a complete performance schedule, go to gravensteinapplefair.com.