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Downtown Fort Bragg streets closed for summer kickoff First Friday event

FORT BRAGG, 6/3/23 — The City of Fort Bragg launched the official start of summer during June’s First Friday celebration. Laurel and Franklin streets were closed for music and a cornhole tournament. If people playing in the parks and bragging on social media is any indication, cornhole and pickleball are now among Fort Bragg’s most popular sports.  At June’s First Friday, players tossed beanbags from the steps of city hall into targets on the other side of the closed street. Around the corners, live music and dancing went on in the middle of East Laurel Street in the city-sponsored event. 

Artist Kevin Pearl poses in front of his work at Art Explorers, which held its 23rd birthday party on First Friday.

The art galleries were all open. Art Explorers, featuring art from the developmentally delayed community, hosted a big party to celebrate its 23rd  anniversary.Wine was provided by Husch Vineyards, and people partied to live music by Erin Brazill. 

A new gallery on Franklin Street, featuring the work of Robert Spies, held a first peek opening on First Friday, with the actual opening set for July 7.

Northcoast Artists Gallery held a tribute show to Doug Browe, with member artist Satoko Barash. The June show, “Joy of Making,” continues through July 3.

A big crowd gathered to see the opening for Rebecca Reynolds, featured artist for Edgewater Gallery in June. Reynolds read a poem she wrote based on one of her new paintings.

Rebecca Reynolds, featured artist at Edgewater Gallery poses in front of her “Eyes of Horus,” which is flanked by two Ukraine themed peace works. She read a poem about a new work at a presentation on First Friday.

Pacific Textile Arts Gallery, located adjacent to Otis Johnson Park, features an exhibit by Mari Yamaguchi, “Bast Fiber Textiles of Japan.” The ongoing exhibit celebrates the traditional plant sources of fiber used before the introduction of silk and cotton.

The post Downtown Fort Bragg streets closed for summer kickoff First Friday event appeared first on The Mendocino Voice | Mendocino County, CA.

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Frank Hartzell

Frank Hartzell has spent his lifetime as a curious anthropologist in a reporter's fedora. His first news job was chasing news on the streets of Houston with high school buddy and photographer James Mason, back in 1986. Then Frank graduated from Humboldt State and went to Great Gridley as a reporter, where he bonded with 1000 people and told about 3000 of their stories. In Marysville at the Appeal Democrat, the sheltered Frank got to see both the chilling depths and amazing heights of humanity. From there, he worked at the Sacramento Bee covering Yuba-Sutter and then owned the Business Journal in Yuba City, which sold 5000 subscriptions to a free newspaper. Frank then got a prestigious Kiplinger Investigative Reporting fellowship and was city editor of the Newark Ohio, Advocate and then came back to California for 4 years as managing editor of the Napa Valley Register before working as a Dominican University professor, then coming to Fort Bragg to be with his aging mom, Betty Lou Hartzell, and working for the Fort Bragg Advocate News. Frank paid the bills during that decade + with a successful book business. He has worked for over 50 publications as a freelance writer, including the Mendocino Voice and Anderson Valley Advertiser, along with construction and engineering publications. He has had the thrill of learning every day while writing. Frank is now living his dream running MendocinoCoast.News with wife, Linda Hartzell, and web developer, Marty McGee, reporting from Fort Bragg, California.

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