May Events

Events happening in and around Marin County in the month of May include exciting festivals, independent filmmaking, local music and food and wine.

Annual Events in May

Slide Ranch Spring Fling

Photo: Courtesy of Slide Ranch

Slide Ranch, a nonprofit in Muir Beach whose mission is to connect children to nature, will be hosting a day-long spring celebration featuring farm animal encounters, nature exploration, guided hikes, live music, and more.

May Madness San Rafael

May Madness is the longest running car parade in Northern California. Hundreds of vehicles of all types, including classic cars, hot rods and customs, line the streets of Downtown San Rafael.

Woofstock

Photo by Marin Humane

Marin Humane is hosting a fun summer event for animal lovers and their four-legged friends. Enjoy live music from Tom Petty cover band, Petty Theft, a variety of food trucks, local vendors and animal rescue groups.

Mill Valley Music Festival

Photo courtesy The Mill Valley Music Festival.

Marin’s favorite music festival returns with an amazing lineup. Bring a lawn chair, a hat and a refillable water bottle to the field behind the Mill Valley Community Center and celebrate the return of live music in a festival format, outdoors.

Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience

Healdsbrug Food and Wine Festival
Photo by Galdones Photography

In the heart of California wine country, the Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience is a weekend-long festival that will showcase the region’s makers — farmers, growers, winemakers and chefs — alongside globally recognized wines from the greatest wine regions of the world. 

BottleRock Napa Valley

Photo by BottleRock Napa

Annual Muir Beach Volunteer Firemen’s Barbecue

The annual firemen’s barbecue and fundraiser returns to Santos Meadows. The Firemen’s Barbecue is a festive gathering and fundraiser for the Muir Beach Volunteer Fire Department and a favorite Memorial Day Weekend tradition in Marin. Enjoy delicious food, fantastic live music, and craft beer, and support the volunteer fire department.

Annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase

The 45th Annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase will announce the final selection of the 2023 designers who will transform a magnificent 18th-Century-style Mediterranean Spanish home into this year’s showcase.

Memorial Day at Marin Center

The Marin County United Veterans Council will be hosting a Memorial Day service that will feature music, a remembrance program, flag displays, and wreath-laying ceremonies.

DocLands

The California Film Institute returns to San Rafael with a slate of documentary films in three broad categories: Wonderlands, the Great Outdoors and the Art of Impact.

CAAM Fest

The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) welcomes audiences back into the theater to celebrate stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences.

Marin’s Best Entertainment Venues and Galleries

Music

Sweetwater Music Hall
Photos by Cameron Cressman Photography.

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Sweetwater Music Hall

Peri’s Tavern 

Mystic Theatre 

Phoenix Theatre

Comedy

Novato Comedy Festival

Throckmorton Theatre 

Improv Marin

Museums

Marin MOCA

Bay Area Discovery Museum 

Gravity Train Museum (Friends of Mt. Tam)

Marin History Museum



Donna Glass

A freelance writer in Marin who writes about family, kids and parenting, Glass is the mother to one son, one dog and a hamster named Miss Geri. When she’s not writing, trekking up steep hills in Marin or driving her kid to sports practice, she and her family spend time in their tiny cabin in Lake Tahoe. She avidly supports the California Academy of Sciences, a world class science museum and research institution, and the Institute on Aging which provides much needed services to Bay Area seniors and disabled adults. Glass is obsessed with baking the perfect loaf of banana bread, something she makes so often she no longer needs to look at a recipe card.