Author: TownNews Staff - Amanda Keim-Morrison

Q&A with Baseball Champion Dusty Baker

Dusty Baker is only a year away from almost certainly becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer in a sport that wasn’t even his favorite growing up. And that is an irony that just about perfectly suits Baker’s sprawling, at times messy, and thoroughly enlightening life journey. “I love baseball because baseball is everything,” the 77-year-old Baker writes in his new memoir, Crossroads. “It brings out everything in us, at one time or another, and it can teach us just about anything, if we pay attention long enough.” A four-sport star at Del Campo High who now calls Granite Bay home, Baker opens up about playing and living through an openly racist era, what his mentor Hank Aaron taught him, and why Sacramento, at its heart, is a baseball town.
Mark Kreidler,

Learn Something New!

Ever wanted to know how to make pottery? You can learn at the hands of Sacramento artisans who create divine dishware for Michelin-recognized restaurateurs. Ever harbored fantasies of becoming a rock star guitarist? Then meet a bona fide rock star who will teach you how to strum with style. Whether you’re introverted or extroverted, indoorsy or outdoorsy, or simply looking to excite your senses with the wonder of the new, we have dozens of classes that will expand your extracurricular horizons. It’s time to get your hands dirty (in a good way).
Sean Timm,

A Mist Opportunity

In cities around the globe—especially hot ones like ours—an increasing number of public art pieces are incorporating misters to battle scorching summers. Why not here?
Rob Turner,

A Storybook Beginning

Talk about coming in hot. Devyn Defoe may have just published her debut novel, but already she’s attracting the attention of everyone from Publishers Weekly  to Pulitzer Prize nominees. The Sacramento-born author of Burnside  talks about finding inspiration in local literary greats Joan Didion and William T. Vollmann, returning to her hometown after her Lady Bird  moment, and how keeping her day job at Beers Books helps stoke her creative fire.
Hillary Louise Johnson,

Davis Farmers Market Cookbook

The Davis Farmers Market turns 50 this summer and marks the milestone anniversary with a new cookbook by its co-founder and a James Beard Award-winning author. Boasting almost 100 recipes using seasonal homegrown ingredients, Market Memories helps bring the farm to your kitchen table all year long.
Hillary Louise Johnson,

The Darkly Whimsical World of Suzanne Adan

Over six decades after first showing her work, the Crocker Art Museum is launching a major career retrospective of Sacramento artist Suzanne Adan in June. Touching on themes from mortality and sex to humor and truth (or the lack thereof), the multimedia artist’s pieces have been collected by the likes of art doyenne Marcy Friedman and Tower Records founder Russ Solomon. Oh, and if you’ve ever flown Southwest out of SMF over the last 15 years, she has touched your soles (and perhaps even your soul) with her bird-themed floor mosaic positioned at the entrance to the airport’s people mover. Now at 80, it appears that Suzanne Adan is flying high as well.
Hillary Louise Johnson,

The 2026 Sacramento Summer Reading Guide

Stephen King once wrote, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” So whether you're venturing to a faraway beach vacation this summer or simply looking to escape to your favorite reading nook, we've conjured up a list of 10 magical new books—all published by homegrown authors in 2026—that will inspire, thrill and transport you.
Hillary Louise Johnson,

Fire and Nice

The team behind East Sacramento’s Allora brings the heat with the launch of their new downtown live-fire restaurant. With its open flames and cross-cultural cuisine, Aiona serves up everything from souvlaki skewers to grilled branzino to smoky gnocchi.
Lark Park, Photos by Anna Wick,

Out & About in Summer 2026

Comedian Nate Bargatze shows what it means to be the greatest average American at Thunder Valley, B Street Theatre takes flight with Around the World in 80 Days,  Sacramento Pride brings the party to Capitol Mall, the Japanese Food & Cultural Bazaar cooks up some summer fun, and more.
Sean Timm,

Q&A with Actress-Director Danielle Moné Truitt

Many celebrities grow up in a place, move to Hollywood, make it big, and never look back. Danielle Moné Truitt is not that kind of celebrity. Her résumé ranges from serving as the visual inspiration for Princess Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog  to starring as Sergeant Ayanna Bell alongside Christopher Meloni in Law & Order: Organized Crime. But Truitt has always kept one foot firmly planted in the River City thanks to her family and also her work, like 3: Black Girl Blues—the one-woman show she performed at the B Street Theatre in 2022. And now, having moved back to Sacramento, she is standing 10 toes down on her hometown, shooting a short film she wrote about her childhood and directing Douglas Lyons’ play Don’t Touch My Hair, which runs June 12–28 at Celebration Arts.
Lesley Bargar Suter,
The City

Your summer 2026 guide to outdoor movies in the Sacramento region

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and catch an outdoor movie once in a while, you could be missing out. So grab your lawn chairs and blankets, and make the most of summer’s comfy evening hours with screenings under the stars around the region, from timeless comedies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off  to more recent releases like Wicked  and plenty of animated hijinks for the kiddos.
Sean Timm,

Keys to the City

Creative crosswalks have beautified cities all over the world, but have gained remarkably little traction in Sacramento. Here’s how—and where—to strike just the right note.
Rob Turner,