SUNSET MAGAZINE CELEBRATION WEEKEND
For as long as I can remember I have been subscribing to Sunset magazine, the magazine dedicated to life in the western part of the United States. As a California native and lifelong resident, Sunset has always been my go-to lifestyle magazine for gardening tips, travel & restaurant recommendations, recipes and home decor inspiration. So when I heard they were having their annual Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend at CornerStone in Sonoma, a location very near my bestie Lisa’s new home in Healdsburg, I bought 2, VIP tickets and told her I was coming to town.
Celebration Weekend is when Sunset brings its magazine to life, offering 2 full days of gardening, cooking and BBQ demonstrations, wine tasting from dozens of wineries, food trucks of every description, a beer garden, camping expositions, a wellness area, terrific shopping, etc., etc.
This is Sunset’s new Outdoor Kitchen where they test and photograph recipes and kitchen crafts. Here, local chefs did cooking demonstrations and signed their cookbooks afterward.
This was a BBQ demo area where guests enjoyed the view from their own adirondack chairs.
And, as I showed you in my last post, they had an entire area dedicated to camping, with beautiful Airstream trailers on display. I took you inside a super cute vintage Airstream trailer. If you missed that post you can enjoy it by clicking here.
Here in the Sunset Test Gardens they grow an interesting variety of plants and trees while experimenting with design techniques to keep visitors fed with fresh ideas. The new gardens are divided into distinct rooms: the Cocktail Garden, the Farm Garden, the Gathering Space, the Backyard Orchard, and the Flower Room. The gardens highlight food production, the Sunset plant line, a bee habitat, cut flowers and composting. There were demonstration gardens to explore with editors on hand who gave talks and answered questions.
As someone involved in hand forged wrought iron, I loved seeing these raised beds crafted in iron. I may have to try that in my own garden one day.
There was even this desert garden called White Cloud. The area was ornamented with the most amazing chicken wire trees that had crystals hanging from them.
Beautiful container gardens were on display all over the grounds.
In addition to gardens of the green variety they had this comfortable beer garden and cafe where one could relax over the latest microbrew.
Lisa and I preferred the wine tastings, which were unlimited as part of our VIP status.
We also discovered the Orchard Station Winery and loved their award winning 2013 Sauvignon Blanc.
Sunbrella sponsored this wine seminar in a beautiful setting next to an adjoining vineyard.
Meadowcroft Winery was giving away cute little carafes of their delicious wine. Their pretty tasting room is permanently housed at CornerStone Sonoma.
We also enjoyed the wine from Stargazer Barn which has a unique gift program. They ship their wine along with a bouquet of stargazer flowers, a lovely and delicious combination.
The California Flower Growers Association was on hand as well. They invited Sunset Celebration guests to choose the flowers they liked and they then wrapped them up into a free bouquet. Everyone was walking the grounds with lovely bouquets of flowers.
This area housed companies of every description that were on hand giving out samples and selling their wares. There was everything from candy to olive oil to lotions and housewares.
Waterworks, the wonderful purveyor of luxury bath and kitchen hardware, now has a beautiful line of housewares which were being debuted at Sunset Celebration Weekend.
And then there were the stores that operate permanently on the grounds of CornerStone Sonoma. CornerStone Sonoma is a wine country marketplace featuring a collection of world-class shopping, boutique wine rooms, artisanal foods, art-inspired gardens, live music, and now it is home to the newly completed Sunset Gardens + Outdoor Test Kitchen. It’s a wonderful place to sip, savor, shop, and explore. I particularly liked this Home & Garden store called Artefact Design & Salvage.
Artefact Design & Salvage is an emporium of antiques, oversized architectural elements and a supreme collection of oddities.
I fell in love with their friendly Bulldog, Axel, the store’s mascot who is not to be missed!
One of the best parts about the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend was this area dedicated to the VIP guests like Lisa and I. We got to enjoy a private, tented garden area where we relaxed, enjoy a delicious lunch and drank sangria.
As you can see, it was a wonderful event. I’m so glad that I was able to attend the Sunset Magazine Celebration Weekend and I hope to return again in future years. I highly recommend that you put this event on your radar for upcoming celebrations as well.
So there you have it: SUNSET MAGAZINE CELEBRATION WEEKEND
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All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Unless otherwise credited, all photos are the original property of Celia Becker @ www.AfterOrangeCounty.com and may not be reproduced without specific permission.
