Send ideas to montereycountynow.com/events 28 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY AUGUST 20-26, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com start on Aug 22. The workshops will be predominantly in Spanish but all materials will be available in both Spanish and English and sessions provide ample space for people wanting to write in English, Spanish or code-switch. Each session will focus on a specific theme and/or genre. Participants will spend a big part of each workshop writing. “The idea is to create a space in which native speakers of Spanish and Spanish learners can build community and find new ways to express themselves individually and collectively during these strange and challenging times,” Vaquer Fernandez says. [AP] 11am-1pm Saturday, Aug. 22. Monterey Peninsula College, Humanities building (#19), 980 Fremont St., Monterey. Free. k.vaquer@ gmail.com. PLANKTON PARTY The world of plankton is mostly invisible to the naked eye. And no, they don’t spend their days plotting to steal the secret recipe of a Krabby Patty. The Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve invites people of all ages over 7 to peek at this hidden world through the lens of microscopes. There’ll also be other tiny life forms to discover, all that live in the slough’s water. With a microscope in front of you, that’s all you’ll need to become a researcher for the day. Just in case, don’t bring a hamburger with you. [EC] 1:30-3:30pm Saturday, Aug. 22. Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, 1700 Elkhorn Road, Royal Oaks. Free; registration required. (831) 728-2822, elkhornslough.org. BUILDING ART One of the Monterey Museum of Art’s exhibits this summer has been A Visual History of Art and Architecture in Monterey, combining two of Monterey’s deepest traditions. The exhibit features over 30 artworks representing the city’s major architectural styles from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. The exhibit ends Aug. 30, but before it goes, the museum presents “Afternoon with the Curator: Cynthia Wagner Weick and Joaquin Turner.” Wagner and Turner, who co-curated the exhibit, share their insights into the art and artists featured. Turner is an award-winning local artist and gallerist. Wagner is the co-author of the 2019 book Preserving Nature: A Field Guide to the Art and Artists of the Monterey Bay. [PM] 2-3:30pm Saturday, Aug. 22. Monterey Museum of Art, 559 Pacific St., Monterey. $20; $5/members, ages 17 and under, military, those with SNAP benefits. (831) 3275477, montereyart.org. PORTRAIT MODE The place to see local budding musicians from Monterey County in Carmel is the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. This time around, strap on your boots and dig out a floral sun dress and a hat (if that’s your thing) for an evening with Victoria Lynn. The local artist performs her own repertoire of Americana songs, accompanied by more locals like Kelly Goldberg and Simon Stewart. The show promises to be an enchanting evening of real original music, with a few covers sprinkled in. Lynn recently recorded an album with Americana duchess Sierra Ferrell so any covers she plays with the ensemble won’t disappoint. [SC] 3-4:30pm Saturday, Aug. 22. Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel. $29. (831) 624-7491, carlcherrycenter.org. JAM BAND Formed in 2024, JAM and the Buttered Biscuits are a bluesy, funk rock band cooked up in Monterey Bay. The constituent ingredients include the jam, of course, or Jeffrey A. Meyer, and the HOT PICKS with fresh arrangements. The New Orleans-based duo (and sometimes trio or quartet) of Ella Thomasine and Scott Stobbe take favorites and lesser-known pieces and bring them to the contemporary world, without losing the danceability or the 20th-century vibe—which is why they have performed around the world. [DF] 7pm Friday, Aug. 21. Pacific Grove Art Center, 568 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. By donation. (831) 375-2208, pgartcenter.org. ROMANTIC NOSTALGIA It’s time to sing, dance and remember old loves. Bring your parents and grandparents to the Fox Theater for an evening of nostalgia. A trio of popular Mexican groups that rose to fame in the 1980s—Los Yonic’s Zamacona, Los Caminantes and Grupo Yndio—will ignite the stage with balladas, cumbia, grupero and regional Mexican music. Expect songs in Spanish full of romance, passion, longing and rhythm. They will take you to the times when grupero music was to pop culture what reggaeton is today. [CJ] 8pm-1am Friday, Aug. 21 Fox Theater, 241 Main St., Salinas. $79-$119. (831) 758-8459, foxtheatersalinas.com. Friday, Aug. 21- Sunday, Aug. 23 LAUGH OUT LOUD We know that dating in the app era in 2026 can feel like a tragicomedy. What about dating in 2099? One futuristic play envisions an even more comedic (you decide whether it’s more tragic) version of the first date with fine print and contracts to sign. First Date 2099 is one of three short plays in a lineup designed to make you laugh. Make American Names Great Again (MANGA) takes aim at a fictional (but in today’s world, plausible) federal program where everything is up for review. Other Worlds features podcasters talking to ghosts, or at least trying to. Soapbox Stageworks powers through these diverse stories in an hour of rollicking short-form contemporary comedy. [SR] 7pm Friday-Saturday, Aug. 21-22, 2pm Sunday, Aug. 23. Monterey History and Art at Stanton Center, 5 Custom House Plaza, Monterey. $35; $25/students, military. (831) 664-6587, soapboxstageworks.org. Saturday, Aug. 22 TAILGATE PARTY Ruddergate is the Salinas Area Modelers’ take on a “tailgate party.” If you are into flying planes, driving cars or racing drones, this gathering might be for you. Bring your friends who share similar interests and come hang out and see models take to the skies. Ruddergate is a monthly affair. A potluck lunch is served at noon. [AP] 9am-2pm Saturday, Aug. 22. 24200 Chualar Dump Road, Chualar. Free; bring food to share. tinyurl.com/Ruddergate. ESCRITURA CREATIVA Thanks to a grant from the Arts Council for Monterey County, locally-based Puerto Rican poet, translator and educator Kadiri Vaquer Fernandez offers bilingual workshops in creative writing—a total of 10 monthly classes that Learn about the hidden world of plankton and other tiny organisms that live in the slough. The Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve invites all to be a researcher for a day on Saturday, Aug. 22. ELKHORN SLOUGH NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE New Orleans musicians Scott Stobbe and Ella Thomasine make up The Silver Lining Serenaders. They are bringing fresh arrangements of standards (and obscurities) from the first half of the 20th century to Pacific Grove on Friday, Aug. 21. NAOMI BESSETTE
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