WinterBlast, the annual arts festival in Santa Rosa’s SOFA Arts District , returns on Saturday, November 9 with open studios, live music, vendors, food and drink, and the popular lighted sofa parade.
You might hear it before you see it…
[Hub Bub Club music clip]
Music from marching bands like the Hub Bub Club and the Luther Burbank School Marimba Band lead you down side streets to a neighborhood tucked away behind Juilliard Park, and then you see it…fifty or more decorated sofas festooned with lights, propelled by people in costumes, dancing down South A Street, all inviting you to join in the holiday spirit.
For about two decades the area known as the SOFA District has celebrated the change in seasons with this quirky parade.
Event producer Spring Maxfield said it all came about organically.
“Sofas are the theme, mostly because the bunch of artists who had art studios in the district over there were kind of poking fun at the district being named the SofADistrict, and that stands for South of A Street,” Maxfield said.