How do you get into?

It’s Friday night in Redwood City. Live mariachi music blares from the Margaritas Restaurant. Outdoor tables at numerous other eateries are packed with diners enjoying absolutely perfect weather. Earlier in the evening, several hundred people filled Courthouse Square for free live blues music.

By all indications, downtown “Deadwood City” is getting a [...]

The following events, held at Courthouse Square (2200 Broadway, Redwood City), are free. The Family Fun series is held at nearby Theatre Way. For more information and events, visit www.redwoodcity.org/events.

WEDNESDAYS

Movies on the Square

Each screening begins about 8:45 p.m.

Aug. 8: `Over the Hedge’

Aug. 15: `Back to the Future’

Aug. 22: `My Big Fat Greek Wedding’

Aug. 29: `The [...]

The following events, held at Courthouse Square (2200 Broadway, Redwood City), are free. The Family Fun series is at nearby Theatre Way. For more information and events, see

www.redwoodcity.org/events.

WEEKDAYS

Lunchtime on the Square

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

This series, featuring singers, songwriters and musicians representing many styles, runs through the summer.

Aug. 2: Orquestra Pacheco

Aug. 3: Steve Key

Aug. 6: Chuck McCabe

Aug. [...]

July 30-Aug. 5

How much was served at the 2006 festival

Garlic bread: 16,485 servings

Calamari: 3,977 servings

Garlic sausage sandwiches: 3,435 servings

Stuffed mushrooms: 8,810 servings

Pacific Rim garlic chicken stir fry: 3,365 servings

Scampi: 5,916 servings

Penne con pesto: 3,948 servings

Pepper steak sandwiches: 10,391

How much will be used at the 2007 festival

Beef: 10 tons

Pasta: 4 tons

Calamari: 4 tons

Scampi: 2 tons

Fresh garlic: 2 tons

Source: [...]

Almost everything you need to know about the Gilroy Garlic Festival

The basics

What: 29th annual Gilroy Garlic Festival

When: Friday-Sunday .

Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; gates close at 6 p.m.

Where: Christmas Hill Park, Gilroy. Take Highway 101 to Gilroy. See map.

Admission: $12 general, $6 ages 60 and older, $6 ages 6-12, free ages 5 and younger

Parking: Free shuttle [...]

Garlic in lives, lore

Garlic has been said to heal everything from toothaches to consumption to open wounds. Supposedly, it was fed to Egyptian slaves to fortify them for building the pyramids. Garlic also wards off vampires - or so the legend goes.

[...]

At high noon on Sunday, festivalgoers can check out the “Garlic Showdown.”

For the first time at the festival, professional chefs will get a chance to strut their stuff. Four Bay Area chefs will battle it out for two hours, Iron-Chef style.

[...]

July 16-22

Ball of Fire:

Barbara Stanwyck Centennial

2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley

It’s already been a big year for Hollywood centennial celebrations - 100 years after they were born, Katharine Hepburn and John Wayne still seem larger than life - but now comes a bash at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley worthy of the great Barbara Stanwyck, an [...]