It’s a holiday weekend which means extra time to roam around the Town, catch up with housework, or check out some fall events. Two we are looking forward to are the annual dahlia show and the Oakland International Film Festival. 

Have an event you’d like to see included here? We do our best to stay on top of what’s happening in our community, but we love a tip. Send us a note at azucena@oaklandside.org. You can also use the self-submission form on our events page to add it to our calendar for free.

Hot Ticket in The Town this week: Oakland International Film Festival

For the past 24 years, the Oakland International Film Festival has helped to elevate the work of independent filmmakers. For 10 days starting on Sept. 9, the festival will screen films and host mixers at venues throughout Oakland including Grand Lake Theater. This year’s screenings include “Oakland Ilokana,” a short documentary by Elenita Makani O’Malley about her grandmother, one of the first Filipino children born in 1930s Oakland (screening Sept. 16), and “Cities Like Oakland” by Jarod Backens, a short feature about an Oakland therapist grappling with a client’s death and her personal search for empathy and connection (screening Sept. 17). 
Wednesday, Sept. 9 to Saturday, Sept. 19, see website for a complete schedule, various locations in Oakland

Still from the short film “Cities Like Oakland” by Oakland filmmaker Jarod Backens. Credit: courtesy of Jarod Backens

Bilingual Dimond Park Bioblitz Saturday

For the past three decades, the Friends of Sausal Creek has been tirelessly working to restore and steward the Sausal Creek watershed. This weekend, the Oakland-based nonprofit is teaming up with El Tímpano and the California Academy of Sciences for a free, Spanish and English bilingual day of exploring the creek’s incredible biodiversity. Participants will be invited to use the iNaturalist app to help identify and log local biodiversity. The morning includes guided walks, games, a free lunch and a raffle.
Saturday, Sept. 5, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., register to participate, Dimond Park, 3860 Hanly Rd.

Annual dahlia show at the Gardens at Lake Merritt

If you’ve ever walked through the Gardens at Lake Merritt and admired the rows of colorful dahlias, you have the members of the San Leandro Dahlia Society and volunteers to thank. They manage and tend the garden with no funding from the city. This weekend, growers from the American Dahlia Society will display their perennials during a two-day competition. You’ll be able to see these gorgeous flowers and buy a bouquet for your house as well. 
Saturday, Sept. 5, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 6, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., free, The Gardens at Lake Merritt, 666 Bellevue Ave.

Virgo’s Groove day party

If you’re a Virgo, or have a Virgo in your life you want to celebrate, this day party at High 5ive Rooftop Bar (inside the Kissel Hotel) is the place for you. DJs Lexx Jones, Sean G, DCisChillin, and Oh El Knows will be behind the one’s and two’s. 
Sunday, Sept. 6, 4 to 9 p.m., free before 5:30 p.m., $10 to $66, High 5ive Rooftop, 437 25th St.

A view of Sausal Creek, along Dimond Creek Trail, January 2023. Credit: courtesy of Daniel Danzig

Goth yoga at Spire Church

Spire Church is a 1800s Gothic Revival building that has been transformed into a multi-use event space that hosts music shows, film screenings and niche exercise classes like “exercism” pilates and the goth yoga. Organizers call this weekly yoga class “a unique experience of spiritual enrichment that harmonizes mind, body, and soul with the realm of the divine.”
Every Sunday, 12 to 1:30 p.m., donation requested, Spire Church, 825 Athens Ave. 

Coming soon to The Town: The Oakland Skates hockey team inaugural season

The Oakland Skates are Oakland’s latest semi-pro team, and they’ll be launching their inaugural season this October. But the team isn’t entirely new. It’s a revival of a roller skating team with the same name that played from 1993 to 1996 at the Oakland Arena. Tickets for the home opener against the Santa Rosa Growlers go on sale on Thursday, Oct. 1. Season tickets are available now. 
Home opener, Friday, Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m., tickets on sale on Oct. 1, Oakland Ice Center, 519 18th St. 

“*” indicates required fields