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A Perfect & Flexible Gift for Any Occasion – The Davis Downtown eGift Card!
We’re excited to offer the new Davis Downtown eGift Card!
These virtual cards allow shoppers to spend them at any participating Davis Downtown merchant or restaurant. By providing this opportunity, we can keep dollars local that often end up going to Amazon or other large chains outside of our community.
The new Davis Downtown eGift Card is a perfect present for anyone who lives or works in town. They’re great for any occasion: employee/teacher/volunteer appreciation, birthdays, graduations, holidays, and more. These eGift cards work like a MasterCard when a customer redeems them.
Find the list of over 50 participating businesses and purchase your gift cards here. Be sure to spread the word about this exciting new gifting opportunity with your friends, family and co-workers!
Upcoming Events
Information on 2024 events is coming soon! Be sure to sign up for our email newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date on important announcements.
Past Events
December to Remember
Throughout December, Davis Downtown’s December to Remember provided a variety of activities that helped bring people to downtown businesses and spark holiday spirit. A holiday favorite, the business Window Decorating Competition, was back! Other interactive activities and chances to win gift cards were new additions in 2023. Click here to learn more. Thank you to our wonderful community for participating in our festive activities while enjoying the holidays in downtown Davis!
Shop Small Weekend 2023
Small Business Saturday is an annual holiday shopping tradition – just one part of the larger Shop Small movement that supports small businesses every day, everywhere.
For the three days after Thanksgiving, many merchants in downtown Davis celebrated Shop Small Weekend. The promotion began on Black Friday, Nov. 24 and continued through Sunday, Nov. 26. Those who made purchases at participating businesses turned in tickets toward prize drawings worth up to $500. For more information and a list of raffle winners, click here.
The weekend also included family-friendly activities and entertainment in downtown Davis.
Davis Downtown’s Spooktacular
Zombie Mash Afterparty: The Davis Odd Fellows Zombie Bike Ride took place on Sunday, Oct. 29. Community members were encouraged to head downtown to Central Park for family activities following the event, and was hosted in collaboration with Davis Downtown. For more information on the Zombie Bike Ride & Zombie Mash Afterparty, click here.
Downtown Treat Trail: Thousands of children and their chaperones flooded the streets of downtown on the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 31. The UC Davis Princess Pals joined the festivities in the E Street Plaza and handed out goodies and took pictures with kids. Dozens of downtown businesses handed out candy and other special treats. Click here for more information!
Tommy J’s Wins the Burger Battle!
A dozen Davis restaurants competed in July for the coveted title of Davis Downtown’s Best Burger. The winner – for the third consecutive year – was Tommy J’s Grill & Catering.
Participating restaurants each showcased one burger for the contest. Throughout July, customers ordering those burgers were encouraged to scan a QR code at their table, and rate them on their own merits. Scores from one to five were awarded for taste, presentation, creativity, patty, toppings and bun. More than 400 patrons scored the burgers – some of them trying multiple establishments. More than 600 burgers were judged.
Entries in the Davis Downtown contest included beef, chicken, veggie and vegan burgers, and some creative combinations of toppings and breads. Tommy J’s Firehouse Burger had the highest average score – and the most entries. Falafel Corner’s Badmash “Gangster” Burger was a close second, scoring similarly but with fewer entries.
Other participants included Village Pizza & Pints with a Gorgonzola Burger with Bacon, The Halal Guys with a Chicken Sandwich, Handheld Sweet & Savory Pies with a Brie Burger wrapped in dough, Bull ’N Mouth with its Down the Hatch Burger, Third & U Cafe with a jalapeño burger, Steve’s Pizza with a Sticky Burger with maple syrup and peanut butter, The Davis Food Co-op with The Vegan Vaquero Burger, Three Ladies Cafe with a Veggie Teriyaki Tofu Patty Burger, El Patio Fresh Mexican Grill with a Mex Burger, and Cloud Forest Cafe with a Valley Veggie Burger.
The results showed that the Davis community truly enjoyed experiencing the variety offered and creativity of our downtown restaurants. Thank you to all the participants and patrons!
Cars & Coffee Heated Up Downtown
More than 250 cars came to Central Park on Sunday, Aug. 13 for Davis Downtown’s third annual Hot Davis Days Cars & Coffee event.
The family-fun affair, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., was free for the hundreds of participants and a few thousand attendees. It attracted vintage, new, electric and other specialty vehicles as well as visitors from the greater Sacramento region. Participants parked under the Farmers Market Pavilion, with overflow on adjacent C Street. A few dozen vehicles from the event’s collaborative organizations were showcased on the park grass.
Thank you to the vendors who served snacks and coffee: Pachamama Coffee, Upper Crust Baking and Kona Ice. Davis Downtown collaborated with several other organizations to make this year the largest and best Cars & Coffee yet. These included the car-enthusiast groups Cars & Coffee Sac, Davis Motorsports Club, and Yacht Club Premier Car Club.
Hot Days = Sizzling Deals
We hope you enjoyed the 2023 Summer Sidewalk Sale in downtown Davis. Businesses offered some sizzling deals during the hot summer days. The sale encouraged support for our local downtown businesses and provided shoppers with a preview of merchandise and service offerings.
Shoppers were encouraged to also stay for the 2nd Friday ArtAbout, which is a regular happening in the downtown that is a vibrant celebration of community arts and culture every 2nd Friday. All in all, it was the perfect blend of creativity and retail therapy. Click here for a full list of businesses that participated.
Pawlentine’s Day Photoshoot
& Adoption Event
In mid-February, community members signed up their pets for a mini photo shoot at The Davis Commons in downtown Davis with a local Davis photographer. These 40 spots went fast! In exchange for the photoshoot, pet parents brought donations for the YOLO County SPCA. All donations were kept in Davis for pet foster homes. The YOLO County SPCA was in attendance at our event with adoptable furry pets!
On Friday, May 24th the Davis Odd Fellows will present internationally acclaimed guitar player, Joscho Stephan. He will be part of a trio this evening.
The Odd Fellows Hall is located at 415 2nd Street in downtown Davis. There will be no presale of tickets or reserved seating for this show. We expect this to be a “sold-out” show meaning once we’ve reached seating capacity, we will not let people in.
Donations for the trio will be taken at the door. Doors open at 7PM and the show starts at 7:30PM.
Stephan shapes modern gypsy swing with his playing like no other. With his authentic tone, his harmonic finesse, and his sense of rhythm, but above all with his breathtaking solo technique, Stephan has earned himself an outstanding
reputation on the international guitar scene.
Stephan knows how to stand out from the multitude of current Gypsy Swing adaptations by combining Gypsy Swing with Latin, Classical and Rock, in addition to numerous interpretations of the well-known classics of the genre. This is where Stephan’s strength as a creative visionary shines through. The result is a delight for concert audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Joschos’ YouTube version of “Hey Joe” has now reached 3 million views. His debut album ‘Swinging Strings’ was voted CD of the month by Guitar Player magazine. In 2004, Acoustic Guitar Magazine celebrated Joscho Stephan as the future of gypsy jazz guitar. For the CD “Guitar Heroes” in 2015, Joscho Stephan invited guitar greats like Bireli Lagrène, Stochelo Rosenberg and Tommy
Emmanuel. The 2018 production “Paris – Berlin” was released as a limited “Direct to Disc” vinyl, recorded at the legendary Hansa Studios (where David Bowie’s “Heroes” was recorded, among others). In total, 4 of Joscho’s albums have been nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award.
In the USA, too, he has thrilled audiences with concerts in Nashville, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, the legendary jazz club Birdland, and the Lincoln Center in New York. Joscho Stephan has toured with Tommy Emmanuel. His current trio includes Sven Jungbeck (rhythm guitar) and Volker Kamp (double bass).
For more information please contact Juelie Roggli at juelrog@gmail.com.
Davis Odd Fellows Thursday Live! returns on June 6th with singer-songwriter Maurice Tani. The Odd Fellows Hall is at 415 2nd St. in downtown Davis. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. All ages are welcome. Thursday Live! shows are free, but
donations are encouraged to support the musicians.
We are so proud and thankful for music lovers in our community who continue to keep live music alive and thriving. The Davis Odd Fellows Music Committee is proud to be a part of that effort!
San Francisco’s Maurice Tani has been a fixture on the local alt-country scene for more than a decade with his band 77 El Deora, and previously sang and played guitar for the seminal Motown-style party bands Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat. The
San Francisco Chronicle has praised his “twangy modern country sound” and called his songs “wry yet romantic, tender but aggressive.”
Known for his agile guitar style and expressive singing, Maurice Tani’s flavor of Americana is a broad-spectrum tincture of influences to cure the wide range of ills his fertile imagination conjures. While rooted (at times distantly) in country music, his writing is centered on an urban-western perspective. Short musical narratives of life on the left coast. A sort of cinema for the blind. No one blends Americana, Blues and Country quite like Tani.
“I was blown away! Maurice Tani writes songs that sound at once familiar, ethereal, and beautiful. A songwriter’s songwriter with recurring themes of his own life experiences.” – Robert Sproul, No Depression Magazine
Thursday Live! is sponsored by the Davis Odd Fellows Music Committee with support from KDRT radio. It’s a continuous music series that happens the first Thursday of most months. For more information, or to be put on the email list, contact Juelie Roggli at juelrog@gmail.com
Join us on the second Wednesday of each month for our Governing Board of Directors meeting. The meeting is open to all interested. Stay up-to-date on business and initiatives related to downtown Davis, and the opportunity to provide public comment will be available.
Meetings are currently held virtually on the Zoom platform from 8:35am to 10:00am. If you are interested in attending, please contact us at info@davisdowntown.com to request a Zoom meeting invitation.
To view, download and/or print Board of Directors meeting agendas or minutes, click on the following link: https://davisdowntown.com/agendas-meeting-information.
Meeting locations and times are subject to change.
A monthly evening of open galleries and artists’ receptions at businesses, galleries and other art-friendly locations in downtown Davis and beyond. Events occur year-round, are free and open to the public. Many venues include receptions, refreshments and opportunities to meet artists.
Each venue has their own specific times. See the monthly 2nd Friday ArtAbout Guide and Map for specifics (available at the Pence Gallery and online at https://davisdowntown.com/2nd-friday-artabout during the week of the ArtAbout).
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JUNE 21 – 23 | 11:30 AM – 5 PM
The Pence Gallery’s annual Treasure Sale is a great event for those who are looking to downsize their unwanted family heirlooms, or pick up a few new treasures. This year we are adding some extra excitement to our already popular sale! Current Members can join us for special pre-sale shopping hours, or Non-Members can join at the door in order to participate, on Thursday, June 20, from 4 – 6 PM.
MONDAY, JUNE 24 | 11:30 AM – 3 PM
On the last day of the sale only, you can bring your own bag and fill it up for $5!
All proceeds from this sale support the Pence’s exhibits & education programs.
Join us on the second Wednesday of each month for our Governing Board of Directors meeting. The meeting is open to all interested. Stay up-to-date on business and initiatives related to downtown Davis, and the opportunity to provide public comment will be available.
Meetings are currently held virtually on the Zoom platform from 8:35am to 10:00am. If you are interested in attending, please contact us at info@davisdowntown.com to request a Zoom meeting invitation.
To view, download and/or print Board of Directors meeting agendas or minutes, click on the following link: https://davisdowntown.com/agendas-meeting-information.
Meeting locations and times are subject to change.
A monthly evening of open galleries and artists’ receptions at businesses, galleries and other art-friendly locations in downtown Davis and beyond. Events occur year-round, are free and open to the public. Many venues include receptions, refreshments and opportunities to meet artists.
Each venue has their own specific times. See the monthly 2nd Friday ArtAbout Guide and Map for specifics (available at the Pence Gallery and online at https://davisdowntown.com/2nd-friday-artabout during the week of the ArtAbout).
Join us on the second Wednesday of each month for our Governing Board of Directors meeting. The meeting is open to all interested. Stay up-to-date on business and initiatives related to downtown Davis, and the opportunity to provide public comment will be available.
Meetings are currently held virtually on the Zoom platform from 8:35am to 10:00am. If you are interested in attending, please contact us at info@davisdowntown.com to request a Zoom meeting invitation.
To view, download and/or print Board of Directors meeting agendas or minutes, click on the following link: https://davisdowntown.com/agendas-meeting-information.
Meeting locations and times are subject to change.
A monthly evening of open galleries and artists’ receptions at businesses, galleries and other art-friendly locations in downtown Davis and beyond. Events occur year-round, are free and open to the public. Many venues include receptions, refreshments and opportunities to meet artists.
Each venue has their own specific times. See the monthly 2nd Friday ArtAbout Guide and Map for specifics (available at the Pence Gallery and online at https://davisdowntown.com/2nd-friday-artabout during the week of the ArtAbout).
Join us on the second Wednesday of each month for our Governing Board of Directors meeting. The meeting is open to all interested. Stay up-to-date on business and initiatives related to downtown Davis, and the opportunity to provide public comment will be available.
Meetings are currently held virtually on the Zoom platform from 8:35am to 10:00am. If you are interested in attending, please contact us at info@davisdowntown.com to request a Zoom meeting invitation.
To view, download and/or print Board of Directors meeting agendas or minutes, click on the following link: https://davisdowntown.com/agendas-meeting-information.
Meeting locations and times are subject to change.