The edit staff at the Bohemian loves us our annual Boho Awards issue something mighty. We love it because the Bohos allow us a chance to really consider which people and entities in the North Bay have made a true and deep impact on our arts community. Every year we begin with the same silly pshaw that we've already honored everyone; every year we become increasingly excited by all of the many folks and organizations yet to be honored. We could quite honestly do this every week. But alas.

As always, we invite you to help us celebrate our honorees at our free party, open for all to attend. This year's celebration is slated for Wednesday, Sept. 29, from 5pm outside at Hopmonk Tavern (230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol). It's followed by our North Bay Music Awards celebration inside Hopmonk's Abbey from 7pm.

We hope to see you there to help us raise a joyful noise to the tireless volunteers who have made the Handcar Regatta such a sparkling, marvelous success for downtown Santa Rosa. We want you to raise a pint to the good folks at Lagunitas Brewing Co., who regularly turn untold gallons of beer into big piles of gold for nonprofits. We'd like you to help us give a round of applause for Napa developer George Altamura, whose decade-long mission to return his town's storied Uptown Theatre back to its original glory has been a no-holds-barred triumph. We ask you to help us huzzah Book Passage, which just passed the three-decade mark in providing a distinctive thump to the literary heart of Marin with its unwavering support of local writers and great literature. And not finally at all, we ask you to cheer along for Jessica Felix, recently reinstated to her own Healdsburg Jazz Festival, and her tireless mission to promote pure art.

We honor these stellar people on the following pages and hope that you'll come on down to help us get giddy about them on Sept. 29 at Hopmonk.

Jessica Felix/Healdsburg Jazz Fest | Lagunitas Brewing Co. | Handcar Regatta | George Altamura/Uptown Theatre | Book Passage

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