Delta Heritage Courier
Nov/Dec 2025
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DELTA STORIES
Antioch Celebrates Mexican Rodeo Traditions
The Archives Department of the East Bay Regional Park District has unveiled a new virtual exhibit to highlight the history of Mexican rodeo traditions held for decades at Antioch’s Contra Loma Regional Park.
"Los Charros at Contra Loma” tells the story of the Asociación de Charros Los Costeños de Brentwood, and its connection to the park. Formed in the early 1970s by Mexican and Mexican American residents in eastern Contra Costa County, the group brought la charrería—Mexico’s national rodeo tradition—to the East Bay.
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Three Sisters Gardens
 Three Sisters Gardens was founded in 2018 by Alfred Melbourne.
The West Sacramento nonprofit is an urban farming program transforming unused, vacant lots into thriving farms. All food production, says Melbourne, is based on “Native, Indigenous knowledge and wisdom.”
Three Sisters was conceived by Melbourne “around survival and a way for us to take care of ourselves,” he says – a “resistance” to a landscape and culture where he believes today’s youth are adrift and unmonitored, with poor access to “good, healthy, nutrient-dense food.”
Melbourne’s goal? To reconnect young people to the land and their community, help them learn valuable skills and pay them for their work.
“We call it growing a revolution,” he explains, “rebuilding urban soil, taking part of our destiny into our own hands. We are growing for the community, not for profit. This is sustainable, regenerative farming.”
The combined farms are producing 38,000 pounds of produce annually, and Three Sisters gives away “pretty much everything that we have” back to the community, says Melbourne. Farm staff deliver produce year-round to low-income housing complexes in the area. Local organizations also pick up produce directly from the farms to be delivered to churches or to be used in the preparation of meals for the needy.
Three Sisters is funded in large part by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. “They are Patwin people originally,” says Melbourne, “people from this area. They've given us a tremendous amount of support and believe in us.” Other funders include the Sierra Health Foundation, the California Endowment and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Islands Magazine Gives a Shout-Out to Isleton
In October, Islands online travel magazine featured Isleton for a fun day trip. The article mentions the small city’s “fascinating history,” making it a “too good to skip” destination for regional travelers.
Highlighted is Brannan Island State Recreation Area, where visitors can enjoy “boating, fishing, windsurfing, and taking in the beautiful marsh scenery,” as well as historic Peter’s Steakhouse and Isleton’s Chinese and Japanese Commercial Districts.
Foster’s Bighorn’s Taxidermy Collection is Up for Sale
Multiple news outlets, including the Sacramento Bee, have reported on the proposed sale of Foster’s Bighorn’s historic taxidermy collection in Rio Vista.
Sourced from big game hunter Bill Foster’s “far-flung safaris and hunting expeditions” from the 1920s to the late ’50s, the mounted trophies include several very rare specimens.
Customers over the generations have visited the 90-year-old restaurant and bar to gawk at the large collection, mounted in long rows on the walls.
“It’s an imposing taxidermy gallery of lion and wildebeest, water buffalo, hippopotamus, rhinoceros and, most dramatically, an elephant from Africa,” notes the Bee. “Mule deer, moose and the bar’s namesake bighorn sheep come from North America. Other species from Asia, South America and across the globe sit in static display.”
The collection is currently available for $15 million. This is the first time in 90 years the collection has ever been offered.
“Honestly, I’ve been forced into a tough choice,” explained Chris Wakeman, owner of Foster’s Bighorn, to the Suisun News. “For years I have carried the cost of maintaining and restoring this incredible collection, but the insurance companies are making it harder to run a small business, especially a restaurant.”
Wakeman maintains the valuable collection “deserves to be preserved” in a climate-controlled environment.
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Artisan Market Returns to Oakley
The Makers Boulevard, an artisan market providing an open-air platform for local creators, artists, designers, and small businesses to sell their unique, handcrafted goods directly to the community, has returned to Oakley. The event takes place every fourth Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The next market will be on Nov 23.
“Our downtown is buzzing with energy as new businesses open, community events take root, and exciting projects take shape,” says Josh McMurray, Oakley’s city manager. “This market is the perfect way for our community to connect, celebrate local talent, and enjoy everything that makes Oakley such a dynamic place to live, work, shop, and visit.”
The event is located at the downtown Oakley parking area on Newman Lane (south side), between Main Street and Journey Way in front of the Mercantile Building.
Did You Know Benicia Has its Very Own Song?
Benicia’s 8th Poet Laureate (2020-2023), Mary Susan Gast, is author of the lyrics for “Benicia Our Home,” set to the traditional hymn “Morning Has Broken.” The song has been recorded by a number of community groups in a collaborative effort with co-author Roger Straw.
Gast started writing poetry in her early 20s, “when the intensity of emotions like young love, and the enormous awakening to global issues of justice and peace kind of pressed me into using the imagery and rhythm of poetry to convey my thoughts,” she says.
Benicia’s Poet Laureate program, notes David Dodd, City of Benicia’s director of Library and Cultural Services, “promotes the importance of poetry in daily life in our community.”
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Martinez Has a Renovated Fishing Pier!
On Saturday, November 8, the Martinez community celebrated the “Grand Reopening” of its fishing pier.
The recently renovated pier sports new decking and railings, improved lighting, and amenities such as benches, picnic tables, and receptacles.
The City of Martinez says the renovation’s substructural reinforcements and update of the structure’s sheet pile breakwater will extend the pier’s lifespan by another 50 years.
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A Grisly (and Fascinating) Exhibit in West Sacramento
Halloween may be over for the year, but the shivers continue in West Sacramento.
“The Cadaver Hunters,” created by the West Sacramento Historical Society and located within the city’s Community Center, will be featured through October 30, 2026.
Through old photos, notebooks, newspaper articles and first-hand accounts, the exhibit documents the ghastly job of brothers Ellis John and Seth Gainsley Barry, who located and retrieved corpses from local waterways from the 1930s through the 1960s.
The innovative methods and equipment (including a fabricated 8-foot drag bar with fishing hooks) devised by the brothers to dredge for bodies became the foundation for later search and rescue teams.
1075 West Capital Ave., Mon-Fri; call for hours (916) 617-5320
New Hotel Project Planned in Hood
The small community of Hood has some big plans: construction on a new waterfront resort in the Delta burg could begin by the end of next summer. A project to develop a 60-room boutique hotel along the Sacramento River is currently undergoing environmental and entitlement review.
“There’s a growing wine industry and vineyards [in the area],” says Robert Leach, CEO of developer West River Hotels LLC, but “very few little hotels left down in the Delta for people to stay at." Currently, he notes, visitors to Delta wineries “all have to drive home at the end of the day.” He hopes the project will change that.
Plans for the property include a restaurant, lounge, marina, fitness center, yoga lawn, mineral baths, indoor pickleball courts, ballroom and day spa.
Cantonese Opera in 1920s Delta
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100 years ago, the Delta towns of Courtland, Locke, Sacramento, and Stockton enjoyed traditional Cantonese opera performances by the Kiang Ying Chung Sing Chinese Operatic Theater Troupe.
According to the Center for Sacramento History, George Owyoung founded the Troupe in Courtland in the 1920s, “connecting the Chinese communities of the Delta through theater.” In 1980, the Owyoung Family donated several elaborate costume headdresses used by the Troupe to the Center.
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MUSEUMS
Learn About Dia de Los Muertos in the U.S.
The Sacramento History Museum has partnered with community arts group La Raza Galeria Posada for a special exhibit titled “RCAF in Mictlán: 50th Anniversary of Dia de los Muertos.” The exhibit will be on display through April 5, 2026.
The multimedia project aims to educate the public about the Mesoamerican origins of the Dia de los Muertos and its transformation in the U.S. into a public observance during the Chicano Movement.
The exhibit also highlights the pivotal role played by the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF), a Sacramento collective of artists and activists whose members initiated the city’s first Día de los Muertos observance in 1975.
The Cambodian Experience
Stockton’s Haggin Museum is featuring “The Cambodian Experience: Our Journey to America – Finding Freedom” through January 24, 2026.
The exhibition offers an immersive exploration of the Cambodian genocide and the courageous journeys of refugees who resettled in Stockton.
Through personal narratives, historical accounts, photographs, and artifacts, “visitors will gain insight into the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime and the enduring strength of those who fled persecution in search of freedom and a new life in America.”
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History of the Caterpillar Tractor
The Haggin Museum’s exhibit “Caterpillar: Celebrating 100 Years” ended on November 2, but if you missed it, here’s an informative video discussing the creation and history of the continuous-track tractor.
Invented by Stockton’s Benjamin Holt, the tractor was designed to spread its weight more evenly over the Delta’s region’s heavy peat soil (“soft, spongy, and prone to swallowing tractor wheels’), preventing it from sinking.
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GRANTS
 The City of Sacramento's Office of Arts and Culture (OAC), with support from Sacramento County and the California Arts Council, has introduced the Small Organization Sustainability Fund grant program.
Grants provide general operating support for small arts and cultural organizations with budgets under $25,000. Funds can be used for qualifying expenses such as administration costs and staffing. Maximum award amounts are up to $5,000.
To be eligible for funding, applicants must have a clear commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, meet standards of artistic and/or cultural contribution, and demonstrate successful organizational planning approaches.
The deadline to apply is December 5, 2025.
See the application guidelines here. OAC staff are available for questions at artgrants@cityofsacramento.org.
CLASSES AND WEBINARS
Los Medanos College Lecture Series
Lifelong Learning Center's lecture series includes lectures by local historian and Delta NHA Advisory Committee member Carol Jensen and author Dan Hanel.
The following courses will be held at the College's Brentwood Center:
Farming in East County: From Chinese to Bracero and Today’s Farmer – 1-3 p.m. Nov. 19, BRT-307. Session fee: $25
Beneath the Tangled Vines – 6-8 p.m. Nov. 20, online. Session fee: $25
Mediterranean Pioneers: Spain, Portugal and Italy – 1-3 p.m. Dec.10, BRT-307. Session fee: $25
Enrollment at Los Medanos is not required, but you must register in advance at the Los Medanos College website.
EVENTS
Submit your event for inclusion in our bi-monthly Delta Heritage Courier newsletter by emailing submit@delta.ca.gov. The deadline for inclusion in the next newsletter is Dec 31; the newsletter comes out Jan 8.
Nov. 14 in Benicia: "Fun, Festive & Spirited Fall Celebration" – 6-9 p.m. at the B.D.E.S. Portuguese Hall of Benicia. A fundraiser for Arts Benicia featuring spirit and wine tastings, live music and catered food. Activities include a photo booth, live and silent auctions, and tarot readings. Early bird tickets $75, general admission $85. Tickets available on Arts Benicia’s website.
Nov. 15 in Walnut Grove: "First People of the Delta: Indigenous Histories of the Sacramento Region" – A conversation about how the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's vibrant Indigenous communities’ deep knowledge of the land and waterways sustained them for generations. A free event presented by the Sacramento River Delta Historical Society. Jean Harvie Community Center, 14273 River Road; 2-4 p.m. Email srdhspresident@gmail.com for more information.
Nov. 22 in Oakley: Big Break Star Party – A special evening of star gazing at Big Break Regional Shoreline. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Visitors will discover constellations and “learn about our place in the galaxy.” Only red light headlamps or red lens flashlights are allowed - white light disrupts the group’s night vision. This is a free drop-in program - no registration is required. For information call (510) 544-3050.
Nov. 29 in Brentwood: 43rd Annual Holiday Parade & Tree Lighting - 5-7 p.m. This annual event features illuminated floats, community groups, and a variety of holiday-themed attractions. Parade route starts on First Street, goes through downtown Brentwood, and ends on Brentwood Blvd. at Oak St. A Christmas tree lighting ceremony in City Park follows the parade.
Nov. 29 in Martinez: Contra Costa Historical Society presents “The Cocoa with CoCo authors Book Fair” – a conversation with Contra Costa County authors. Also featured - rare and collectible books for purchase. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 724 Escobar St., Martinez. For more information call (925) 229-1042.
Dec 5-21 in Suisun City: Santa Trains - The Western Railway Museum offers its annual holiday “magical winter train rides,” followed by an indoor light show and a chance to meet Santa Claus and slurp homemade cocoa. 5848 State Highway 12; (707) 374-2978. Visit here for more information and to purchase tickets.
Dec 6 in Rio Vista: Holiday Home Tour 2025 – Self-guided tour of eight decorated homes, “decked out in their holiday best.” 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. General admission $33.85, VIP tickets $60.54. Tickets here.
Dec 7 in Stockton: Bayanihan Recognition Awards and Annual Charity Holiday Gala – event celebrates “outstanding community members, honors our shared heritage, and supports the ongoing mission of the Filipino American National Historical Society-Stockton Chapter.” 2-6 p.m. at the Stockton Hilton, 2323 Grand Canal Blvd. See here for more information.
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