Events · October through December
Concerts, readings, family celebrations, and community gatherings in Occidental and nearby West County.
Updated weeklyEvent times and details can change; check the organizer’s listing before you go.
Coming up
October brings art, bluegrass, civic gatherings, and Halloween; November and December carry the calendar into album releases, poetry, winter concerts, and New Year’s Eve.
October 2026
11 events in and around Occidental.
Poetic Visions pairs poets and visual artists in a two-way creative exchange: poems interpret artworks, artworks interpret poems, and the finished pairings meet in a gallery exhibition with selected readings.
A fifteen-piece Sonoma County ensemble fills the mandolin family out with mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, guitar, and bass for a program spanning folk traditions, classical works, contemporary arrangements, and music from around the world.
Altamont puts its outdoor event season to bed with a come-as-you-are dance party—onesies, silk pajamas, flannel, and other sleepwear encouraged.
OCA marks twenty years with special musical guests and presents its Harmony Award to Patrick Fanning for his dedication to the arts center and the wider community.
Occidental-raised singer-songwriter David Luning celebrates John Prine’s birthday with Jason Crosby, Ben Dubin, and Victoria George, returning to the former Harmony School for an indoor evening rooted in Prine’s storytelling tradition.
County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins and representatives from Sonoma Water, Sonoma County Library, and other agencies meet with residents to discuss the sewer situation, library plans, and local questions.
Bodega Land Trust gathers supporters for its annual dinner and auction, with a happy hour followed by dinner at Salmon Creek School on the Bohemian Highway.
Local bluegrass band Mission Blue opens for Nathan Stanley—grandson of mountain-soul icon Ralph Stanley—in an indoor tribute built around Stanley’s harmonies, banjo tradition, and enduring songbook.
Celtic harpist and storyteller Patrick Ball pairs the crystalline sound of the wire-strung harp with Irish legends, wit, and music in an intimate evening of tales and traditional melody.
Western Sonoma County’s THUGZ bring their communal, improvisational jam rock to Halloween Eve, mixing original songs with rock, blues, country, psychedelia, and the spirit of the Grateful Dead—plus a costume contest.
OCA’s daytime Halloween gathering gives local families a dedicated place to celebrate together, making it a gentler, community-centered counterpart to the previous night’s dance party.
November 2026
7 events in and around Occidental.
Sonoma County’s Electric Tumbleweed brings psychedelic outlaw country, twangy guitars, pedal steel, and a hard-driving rhythm section back to OCA for a night built for listening and dancing.
Dublin-born pianist and singer Eamonn Flynn joins Darcy Noonan, Hector Bragado, and Felim Egan for traditional and original Irish music shaped by soul, gospel, and the lively spirit of a Dublin house session.
Occidental acupuncturist and author Dennis von Elgg launches Heart Stories with selected readings, audience questions, and a signing for a book connecting Chinese medicine, cardiovascular science, emotion, and healing.
North Bay ensemble Gradina brings Balkan seasonal songs and dances into the present through a cappella singing and instrumental accompaniment, joined by Gaelen Genetti on Bulgarian kaval and Christina Penrose on clarinet.
An afternoon reading with poets Marjorie Stein, Kathleen Winter, Todd Melicker, and Claire Drucker, bringing four distinct voices together on the OCA stage.
A guitar-centered celebration of the Beatles songbook, bringing familiar melodies and arrangements to the Occidental Center for the Arts.
Bluegrass singer, songwriter, and fiddler Laurie Lewis leads the Right Hands through an afternoon of American roots music, joined by Brandon Godman, Hasee Ciaccio, and other musicians.
December 2026
4 events in and around Occidental.
The Occidental Community Choir returns for two performances, with a Friday evening concert followed by a Saturday afternoon program.
Award-winning songwriter Keith Greeninger and guitarist Nina Gerber join forces for an improvisational evening of songs, instrumental conversation, and deep roots in California’s acoustic-music community.
Barbara Higbie gathers musical friends at OCA for a winter-solstice concert and a warm community evening near the darkest night of the year.
Pete Sawyer and the Left Hand Monkey Wrench Gang ring in 2027 with a high-energy dance party and their exploratory take on the Grateful Dead songbook.
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