Petaluma Veterans Day Parade still happening, but other events canceled by smoke

Despite tainted air caused by smoke from the Camp fire in Butte County, some local venues planned Friday to go ahead with events scheduled for the weekend, including Sunday’s Veterans Day Parade in Petaluma.

“The parade will go on,” said Steve Kemmerle, the parade coordinator. “The forecast is for a wind change. There is no way to notify 200 entries.”

The event includes marching units, a Huey helicopter flyover and military vehicles, some of the them already parked in town and ready to go on Sunday, Kemmerle said. The parade kicks off from Walnut Park at 1 p.m.

Both the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa and Green Music Center in Rohnert Park reported no cancellations as a result of the smoke so far. The big event at Green Music Center’s Weill Hall this weekend is the “Fare Thee Well Tour” performance by iconic folksinger Joan Baez at 7 p.m. Sunday, which will go on as planned.

At SOMO Village in Rohnert Park, where Atlanta-based hip-hop and rap artist Playboi Carti was scheduled to perform Friday night, spokesman Bryce Dow-Williamson declared, “The show will go on!”

Cancellations were announced at other sites. Santa Rosa Junior College closed Thursday and Friday because of the wildfire smoke, which meant canceling a Friday night chamber music series concert by the Zofo Piano Duet in Newman Auditorium. For more information, call 415-392-4400 or visit communityed.santarosa.edu. The college announced Friday both its Santa Rosa and Petaluma campuses will remain closed through Monday.

The Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa cited the poor air quality in a notice on its website that it had canceled an appearance by cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, creator of the “Mutts” comic strip, scheduled for today.

The Sonoma Valley Community Health Fair scheduled for today at Sassarini Elementary School in Sonoma has been postponed. For more information about the event, contact SVCHC by phone at 939-6070 Ext. 112, email at events@svchc.org, or Facebook by visiting Sonoma Valley Community Health Fair.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.