Scary Good Scare Faire!

The Scare Faire was a big success this year, with a nice big turnout (an estimated 150+ people). We ran out of pumpkins to paint, and most of the bags to decorate. Everyone tabling was engaged.

Thank you to high school students Aiden and Elsa (and others) from YCAB (Youth Climate Advisory Board) for their poster and hosting the pumpkin and bag-making tables. Thanks to middle schoolers Shreya and Reya from YCS and their mom Radhika, along with Wendy Breu for their incredible hard work setting up the costume swap (hundreds of costumes and fabrics!). Thanks to Andrea, Sumita, and Sue, who chipped in in many ways and set up signage so it was clear and bright. Shreya and Reya painted faces, set up the hanging rack, and helped clean up the inside room. Greenwaste’s trash sorting game was super popular. Milo’s piano music set the mood beautifully and kept people coming in. Peter’s welcome table was also sweet. Thanks to Emma, Lauren and everyone at MoAH for their help, clean up, set up and space and materials, plus their beautiful museum and garden – year after year. 

Thanks to everyone else who helped in small and large ways, and Barbara, Roy, Chris, and other regulars, who make the Scare Faire a friendly, warm place to hang out. 

Thanks again to MoAH, Zero Waste Palo Alto, Greenwaste, Fabmo, PTA Council, and YCS for all your support and getting the word out – it really made a difference! 

We found new homes for hundreds of costumes! The remaining costumes ad decorations found new homes in preschools, homes with small kids, adults who love dress up, and donation centers. The memories, however, will linger – until we get together again next year.

Thank you to everyone who came and shared, wore a new-to-you costume, and participated in being frugal, community-minded, and environmentally friendly.

Sunday, October 19, 2025, 1-3pm: Scare Faire and Costume Swap

The Scare Faire is yet again full of spooky fun and haunting the Museum of American Heritageon Sunday, October 19th, 2025, 1-3pm.

Old costumes gathering cobwebs? Float them over to possess a new home in Transition Palo Alto and Museum of American Heritage’s Costume Swap. Bring your adult and child costumes in good condition (as well as Halloween decorations) right at 1pm, get a number, and start choosing any of the costumes at 1:15!

Don’t have any old costumes? Come anyway – there are usually some left, and we’ll also have extra fabric from Fabmo to make your own.

We’ll once again haunt the bewitching Museum of American Heritage with our Halloween Scare Faire, a chance to get to know your ghastly neighbors, scare, and share.

  • Greenwaste – Trash sorting game and information
  • Fabmo – fabric samples for making your own costumes or crafts
  • YCAB students – Learn about clothing waste and fast fashion
  • YCAB students – Make and decorate your own trick or treat bag
  • YCS students – Face painting
  • Live piano
  • and more!

Come in costume if you like, or leave in a new one! Either way, come with your BOOtiful spirit for some cool tricks and treats.

And we’ll creep it real with each other while building a stronger community from the bones up.

Free, donations appreciated.

Want to learn more about our Sharing Events? More info here. 

Thanks to support for Moah, Zero Waste Palo Alto, Greenwaste, Fabmo and the Palo Alto Council of PTAs.

Transition Cafe Reboot

TRANSITION CAFE – Rebooted! 

2nd Thursdays, Cafe Borrone, 6-7:45 pm

“How to survive climate change and the fall of Camelot without needing to yell or weep all the time:

A support group for folks who’d like to make a difference, but don’t have the energy, feel too alone …. or just can’t find the right information.”

Come join us to share, learn together, and not be so alone.

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We had a very small group March 14th, but great conversation!

And we plan on a monthly meeting, every 2nd Thursday, at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park, from 6 to 7:45 pm.

They have a great area for us in the back, to the left of the coffee bar.  

For us it was hung with sustainable art!!

I chose this local, family-owned treasure mostly because they offer a lot of homemade organic food, and there is also a big parking garage (and elevator) right underneath!  And Kepler’s fantastic bookstore nextdoor!

Please come join us on April 11th!

If we get more requests for Friday night instead, we will switch – please let me know!

Hosted by Darshana Maya Greenfield “Love is the answer whatever the question”  ♥️

Saturday, October 19, 2024, 1-3pm: Scare Faire and Costume Swap

Scare Faire 2024

The Scare Faire is yet again full of spooky fun and haunting the Museum of American Heritageon Saturday, October 19th, 2024, 1-3pm.

Old costumes gathering cobwebs? Float them over to possess a new home in Transition Palo Alto and High School Green Teams’ Costume Swap. Bring your adult and child costumes in good condition (as well as Halloween decorations) right at 1pm, get a number, and start choosing any of the costumes at 1:15!

Don’t have any old costumes? Come anyway – there are usually some left, and we’ll also have extra fabric from Fabmo to make your own.

We’ll once again haunt the bewitching Museum of American Heritage with our Halloween Scare Faire, a chance to get to know your ghastly neighbors, scare, and share.

  • We’re working on these – would you like to present? Please reach out!
  • more to come…

Come in costume if you like, or leave in a new one! Either way, come with your BOOtiful spirit for some cool tricks and treats.

And we’ll creep it real with each other while building a stronger community from the bones up.

Free, donations appreciated.

Want to learn more about our Sharing Events? More info here. 

Thanks to support from Moah, Zero Waste Palo Alto, Greenwaste, and Fabmo.

Scaring up community

We didn’t need to scare to make community at the Museum of American Heritage on October 23rd at the Scare Faire and Costume Swap. I’m not sure exactly how many costumes changed hands but most people went away with at least a couple of items, and all the fabric was taken, too! Most of the times I looked over, the crafting station and basketball sorting station were busy with interested kids and adults. We also had time for some deeper conversations and building community, which is what Transition is all about!

Thanks to:

Allison and Wendy at the Museum of American Heritage (MoAH) for their beautiful, inspiring space and so much support and physical help on top of welcoming us here year after year

Kay from Greenwaste for the cool basketball sorting station and goodies, and reminding us that we are here for the larger purpose of cleaning up the planet

Roy, Joyce, Chris, Sarah, and Barbara for their dedication, for sitting at the tables and helping kids with crafts or putting up signs or any of the small tasks that are necessary for an event to happen at all, not to mention their conversation and contagious energy

Fabmo for their fun crafts and materials that were easy and quick to do so that we could not only make ghosts and masks and bats and the Queen of Hearts but also send so much material to places they will be loved instead of languishing in a landfill

Cynthia for bringing much-needed sustenance in the form of nectarines and grapes, and for her interest and conversation

Peter, for his demo of different types of nuts, for doing this with me (can you believe we’ve been doing Costume Swaps since 2011?!) and making it possible to see the bigger picture of a vision of a closer community.

and of course, thank you to all the people who came and shared what they had and took things and chatted and crafted and laughed and reminded us that we are not alone.

Scare Faire and Costume Swap October 23, 2022 1-3pm

Photo by Yaroslav Shuraev on Pexels.com

The Scare Faire is haunting the Museum of American Heritage again, full of spooky goodness – on Sunday, October 23rd, 2022, 1-3pm. 

Old costumes lurking? Send them packing to possess a new home in our Costume Swap. Bring your adult and child costumes in good condition (as well as Halloween decorations) right at 1pm, get a number, and start choosing costumes at 1:20!

Bring your old costumes at 1:00.  We’ll give you a sequential number.  At 1:20, we’ll call numbers, starting with 1, to let people in to look for new costumes.  Every few minutes we’ll let in people with the next few numbers. When all of the numbers are exhausted, we’ll open the room to share the remaining costumes with whomever is there.

While you’re waiting, check out our Scare Faire – a traditional Transition Palo Alto Share Faire with some Halloween twists.  Learn a skill, find something in need of a home, meet your neighbors, have some fun.

We’ll once again haunt the bewitching Museum of American Heritage with our Halloween and Holiday Scare Faire, a chance to get to know your ghastly neighbors, scare, and share.

Some of the fun activities we have planned:

  • Peter Ruddock will share a chance to check out some interesting foods
  • Make your own Costume with repurposed materials from Fabmo – and pick the best ones!
  • Sort trash with a basketball game from Greenwaste
  • Make masks and other Crafts with more salvaged materials from Fabmo
  • more to come…

So scare up your own costumes and halloween decor to bring!

And we’ll share each other’s good company while building a BOOtiful, stronger community.

Please plan to join us.  If you’d like to volunteer as a greeter, for set-up or clean-up, or for whatever, please sign up at https://signup.com/go/VOruzjN

Free, donations appreciated.

Want to learn more about our Sharing Events? More info here. 

Costume Swap and Scare Faire

It’s that time of year, with a brand new Costume Swap and Scare Faire, back in person, completely outdoors, at the Museum of American Heritage on Sunday, October 17th at 1-3pm. Bring your costumes and your mask!

Old costumes lurking? Send them packing to possess a new home in our Costume Swap. Bring your adult and child costumes in good condition (as well as Halloween and Holiday decorations) right at 1pm, and we’ll let everyone start choosing costumes at 1:20!

While you’re waiting, check out our Scare Faire – a traditional Transition Palo Alto Share Faire with some Halloween twists.  Learn a skill, meet your neighbors, have some fun.

We’ll once again haunt the bewitching Museum of American Heritage with our Halloween and Holiday Scare Faire, a chance to get to know your ghastly neighbors, scare, and share.

Join us in a Scary Story Circle, check out some fabrics from Fabmo, and more.

We won’t have goods this time, but do scare up some costumes and decorations, or just come and enjoy the fun.

This event is free. No need to RSVP. We’ll share each other’s good company while building a BOOtiful, resilient community.

Please plan to join us, and bring your neighbors, family and friends. 

Want to learn more about our Sharing Events? More info here. 

July Picnic!

Sunday July 18, start 11:30am
Mitchell Park (meet at the bowl area)
600 E Meadow, Palo Alto
Bring your own food, drink, and chair or blanket

Everyone had a great time at our May picnic, so we thought it would be fun to gather again under the trees at Mitchell Park. All are welcome! Bring your own food, drink, and chair – and maybe even a frisbee or ball if you’d like to get some exercise. We’ll try the bowl area again, but look out for any TPA signs, in case we need to relocate to another area of the park.

Small Simple Sharing

Our first Virtual Share Faire of the year was on June 19th, a Saturday afternoon, with a small group but plenty of great ideas! Here are some of the things that were shared:

  • my daughter and I shared some activities we have done during the pandemic
  • Peter gave us a small tour of his garden and setup, and described his experiences with Oya Farms and Eating with the Seasons
  • Dona shared about making friends with the animals and plants in her life
  • Michal showed her beautiful wine bags that she is making instead of her usual jewelry
  • William and Charlotte shared adventures in gathering and making with acorns as well as working the land and other crafts
  • Corina talked about some of the challenges of the pandemic and ways she has been coping
  • Barbara described her fabric crafts including quilting and pillow-making

We also were able to share some ideas and concerns about opening up and doing more and meeting others as time goes on, sharing our common worries and excitement as well.

Thank you to all who joined us, and we hope to see everyone else in person for the Halloween Share Faire in October!

Perfect Picnic and Hangout

It’s been well over a year since TPA hosted an in-person gathering, and it turned out to be a perfect day to reconnect under the trees at Mitchell Park. To keep things simple, everyone brought their own food, drink, and chair. That way we could concentrate on hanging out with no muss or fuss. In case you missed the fun, put July 18th on your calendar for a summertime TPA picnic.