The Mendocino Music Festival, which spans two weeks each July, features every kind of music imaginable ranging from jazz, blues and folk to popular contemporary. The festival has its own orchestra and hosts guest performers yearly, while lectures and recitals are a part of each day. Children can take advantage of a matinee and petting zoo, and there are chamber concerts at venues across Mendocino Village and Fort Bragg for all to enjoy. Tickets go on sale each May.
The botanical gardens, founded in 1961, has all kinds of plant life. Also home to more than 150 species of birds, the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens has manicured gardens, native flowers and habitats, a dense pine forest and moss covered canyons that has gardeners and nature loves coming back each year. The gardens are open daily throughout the year with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Saturday following Labor Day.
One of the most famous wine tasting festivals happens in Mendocino with the Alsace Varietals tasting each February. The festival is one of the most unique in the country, as it features white wines made from grapes native to Northern California, and are made in a style that resembles that of the Alsace region in France. The festival begins with seminars on growing and making the particular kind of wine. Tasting sessions last three hours into the afternoon and lead to a dinner in the early evening.
Located two miles north of Mendocino, Russian Gulch State Park has it all. The state park features a heavily forested Russian Gulch Creek Canyon and the Devil's Punch Bowl, which is a collapsed sea cave with churning water. The park, which has 7,630 feet of ocean frontage, extends out into the Pacific Ocean, offering visitors a 3-mile bicycling trail, and a beach that offers swimming, rock fishing and skin diving. There are also miles of hiking trails available, as well as a 36-foot waterfall located inland.
