Long live the home town Americana parade and there's no small irony that this year's 2010 Butter and Egg Days Parade (Saturday, April 24th) was saved from the chopping block of lost and lamented traditions by the city's tenacious Downtown Association - spearheaded by none other than P'Town's most brilliant adopted Brit, Marie McCusker.
Without McCusker's superlative skills in rounding up and re-motivating the movers and shakers within this riverfront community of some 58,000 folk there would be no Butter and Egg Days this April.
Unthinkable? Then get your beach chairs out early and stake out a nice, shady place on the downtown route.
Better yet, ditch the deck chairs and head down to the Mail Depot at Fourth and C Streets for reserved VIP seating - the best bet in town. Fraternize the Butter and Egg Days festival of cool in the parking lot of the friendly Mail Depot and if you get there early enough you might just score a seat on the bleachers.
And what's more, the Mail Depot offers Valet Bike Parking for the day, courtesy of the inventive Petaluma Bicycle Advisory folk. So leave the car at home and put some pedal power into your Butter and Egg Days plans.
Take a break from the crowds between 10 am and 4 pm in the Mail Depot Parking lot and discover a wealth of local bounty, including Petaluma's own Pizza Politana crew on site with seasonal, artisan pizzas from the portable brick oven.
The ever popular Bus Stop Coffee Cart crew will be serving up ice cream sundaes alongside their signature java drinks, there will be face painting and a play area for the little ones, chair massage for moms and dads, fabulous jewelry sales by Blue Ribbon Salvage, booths by Heritage Salvage, Petaluma Bounty and Tara Firma Farms (have you signed up for a weekly food box yet?) and live music from 2 pm to 4 pm by the Green String Farm Band. Really, you could hang out there all day!
Mind you, I wouldn't miss out on Della Fattoria Bakery and Cafe's snow cones with house made syrups of cherry, strawberry, green apple, white peach, passionfruit and meyer lemon. In true Americana style, Della will have a cart outside the cafe at 141 Petaluma Boulevard North, just a five minute shuffle through the crowds from Fourth and C and stocked with delicious popcorn balls, Cracker Jacks, cupcakes and cookies.
It was a wonderful parade, which truly showed "Petaluma's shining" community. Thanks for sharing some of the history, and for letting people know about the Green String Farm band. What a rich community!
Posted by: Sono-Ma | Sunday, April 25, 2026 at 06:42 PM