Freebie of the week: There is a lot to love about Crockett, even if the tiny community in northern Contra Costa County is so small that Wikipedia calls it a “census-designated place” rather than a village or town or small city. Named after California Supreme Court Justice Joseph P. Crockett, the community has developed a reputation as a cool place to visit. There are coffee shops, a beloved local bar/restaurant, the Dead Fish, The Cat Vintage, charming antique-specialties store that caters to feline fanciers, and lovely trails to hike in Crockett Hills Regional Park. On Sunday, you can check out this fun stuff or simply head to the 17th annual Sugartown Festival, an outdoor music and street fair whose name references the community’s history in the sugar business. Running from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Crockett’s downtown at Rolph Park Drive and Pomona Street, the event includes artists’ booths, food stands and live music. The lineup offers: a School of Rock kids band at 11 a.m.; Mitch Polzak and the Royal Deuces, playing rockabilly and country from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Salvage Title, playing rock covers from 2 to 3:30 p.m.; and Sacred Fire, a Santana tribute band featuring former musicians from Santana, playing 4 to 6 p.m. Admission is free, but $20 VIP tickets include covered seat, a water mister, a drink and a snack bag. More information is at www.sugartownfestival.com.
A buffet of dances: The Peninsula International Dance Festival returns for its fourth installment in San Mateo on Saturday and Sunday. Name your favorite style and it’s probably on display: Flamenco, classical ballet, Indian Kathak, Chinese classical and folk dance, and more. Participating troupes include the American Dance Theatre, which performs U.S. dance forms representing Appalachia, Cajun and swing era revival; Charya Burt Cambodian Dance, which is dedicated to reviving genres once banned by the Khmer Rouge; Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, presenting Native American styles; the Parangal Dance Company, performing traditional dances from the Philippines; Ensambles Ballet Folklórico de San Francisco, which specializes in traditional Mexican dance; Ballet Nlolo Kongo, performing Congoles/Brazzaville styles; Peninsula Ballet Theatre; and Taiko Sobo, presenting Japanese works. All told, the show features 21 companies and some 250 dancers and musicians. The event is benefitted by consultation by choreographer Carlos Carvajal, co-artistic director of the popular San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival from 2005-2018. Peninsula International Dance Festival performances are 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $40-$70; go to www.peninsulalivelyarts.org.
Ride it again!: Due to popular demand, New Conservatory Theatre Center presents a return engagement of Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s musical-turned-TikTok sensation “Ride the Cyclone.” Running through Aug. 15, it features the troupe’s winning 2024 regional premiere cast. The “weird, wondrous, hilarious and surprisingly introspective” show is about members of a Canadian chamber choir who take a fateful rollercoaster ride to the great beyond. When they awake in limbo, a mechanical fortune teller invites each of them to tell a story to win the chance to return to life. Stephanie Temple directs and choreographs; Ben Prince is the musical director of the show. The theater is at 25 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Tickets, $35.50-$72.50, are available at nctcsf.org.
Three is not a crowd: Music@Menlo, the venerable festival devoted to the richness, elegance and intimacy of chamber music, launches its 23rd season this week, with some 50 events presented over three stages in Atherton through Aug. 9. Sunday afternoon’s 4 p.m. concert in the Spieker Center of the Arts seems especially intriguing. Dubbed “Trio Transformations” and given a repeat performance in the Stent Family Hall on July 22, this program to highlight how three essentially solo artists working in collaboration can amount to more than the sum of their parts, will deploy, in varying combinations, violinists Stella Chin, Jessica Lee, Richard Lin and Arnaud Sussmann, violist Aaron Boyd; cellists David Finckel (Menlo’s co-founder) and Jonathan Swensen and clarinetist David Shifrin. On the program are Antonín Dvorak’s Terzetto in C Major for Two Violins and Viola; Johannes Brahms’ Trio in A Minor for Piano, Clarinet and Cello; Joseph Suk’s Elegy for Piano Trio and Bedrîch Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor. Performance time is 4 p.m., with tickets, “$65-$87 ($26 for those under 30), available at music@menlo.org.
Byrd is the word: Revel in the polyphonic glories of William Byrd, perhaps the greatest and certainly most influential of all the English Renaissance composers, in a setting that surely would have felt home to him, as a composer of sacred songs. San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral is hosting two concerts they’re calling “Secret Byrd” to honor the 400-year-old-plus legacy of this giant of early music. Aided by the string players of the Bay Area-based ensemble The Wildcat Viols and with the interior lit by dramatic candlelight staged by Concert Theatre Works, Great Britain’s vocal ensemble The Gesualdo Six will explore Byrd’s oeuvre in depth. Cubed “weavers of rich and plangent tapestries” by BBC magazine, the six are directed by baritone Owain Park and include countertenors Guy James and Alasdair Austin, tenors Joseph Wicks and Josh Cooter and baritone Simon Grant. Performance times are 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday; find tickets, $60-$75, at www.sfems.org.