If you’re the DIY type with HGTV on lock, Sunset Celebration weekend may be your happy place. Acres and acres of inspired home and garden design, peppered with celebrity chefs and artisanal cocktails. Widgets and gidgets to make your house smarter, and a “glamp” site to make your Coleman stove weep. It’s Sunset magazine’s annual ode to lifestyle, at Cornerstone Gardens May 20 and 21.
Along with a panoply of exhibitors demonstrating everything from solar options to salsa, this year’s Celebration includes some innovative new displays. Primary among them is the two-bedroom “Smart Cottage,” a high-tech addition to the Cornerstone hardscape. The home will remain when everything else goes, as a bridal cottage in service to wine country brides.
In the succulent potting tent there will be demos on use of the year’s hottest houseplant, and a slick Airstream trailer to hang out in afterward. The Tommy Bahama Special Edition Travel Trailer may sour your feelings toward your old, stalwart tent, but it will likely inspire aspirational thinking.
Interior design consultants will be on site giving free consultations, staging interventions on the color beige. For gardeners there will be a Versailles of options and ideas, including a “cocktail garden” for the mixologists.
A rotation of the West’s best chefs will appear on two separate stages: Esquire’s “Chef of the Year” Douglas Keane, “Top Chef” Ryan Scott, artisanal ice creamer Tyler Malek, Ari Weisswasser of Glen Ellen Star, and the powerhouse trio of camp cooking women who reference themselves collectively as “Dirty Gourmet,” among others.
Live music is planned for both days of the event, and a whole raft of special seminars are available by reservation. From whiskey tastings to sommelier secrets to Sunbrella’s reveal of the on-trend palette for 2017, there’s a little something for everyone at the Sunset Celebration.
“This year is going to be really special,” said Sunset spokesperson Dana Smith, “because we have all of these hands-on activities for people to do. We’ve got all these amazing makers this year, and incredible Instagram-worthy displays. Think beautiful white canvas tents. Think summer camp,” Smith said.
General admission tickets are $35 in advance and can be purchased on-line ($45 at the door), with a two-for-one discount available with the code BOGO2017.
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Free shuttle busses are scheduled to collect patrons from the Plaza, Adele Harrison Middle School, and the Sonoma Valley Airport on Arnold Drive.
Email Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.
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