Fleet Feet Monterey is happy to announce that Diadora shoes are officially here! We're excited to carry them in our store. Come check out all the fun styles and colors we have in stock at 472 Alvarado Street in Downtown Old Monterey.

Is your Monterey County restaurant resuming outdoor dining? Chic Event Rentals can get you covered! We carry a wide variety of tents for every outdoor space. Give us a call today to get something started, 831-375-1055.

The Monterey showroom of Chic Event Rentals, a locally-owned small business, is located at 485 Lighthouse Avenue.

Chic Event Rentals officially began in 2009 with 1 employee in a 3,000 sq ft warehouse and has quickly grown to be the premier event rental company in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, with a virtually limitless inventory in a 60,000 sq ft warehouse.

On Valentine's Day, surprise him...by taking someone else to the beach! But seriously, folks, Pocket Change Restaurant is offering some nice picnic baskets full of food and drink for you and yours. They'd be perfect for an outing on or around Valentine's Day. Be sure to phone Pocket Change soon to place your order, 831-643-9169. Supply is limited.

Pocket Change Restaurant, your source for comfort food that will tickle your taste buds, is located at 204 Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey.

The Perfect Crumb Bakery needed to take a little time off over the holidays, but we're reopening on Thursday, February 4 for take-out and curbside pick-up. Come on down and enjoy our fresh baked cookies, cakes (and cake slices), breads, coffee drinks, and more! It seems like we could all use a little comfort food these days.

Our owner and head baker, Susan Carter, will be back in the kitchen, whipping up sweet treats just for you. New hours are Thursday - Sunday, 8am-2pm. We're located at 301 Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey.

We have wonderful news about the end of the end of the Governor's Stay-at-Home order... or maybe it's terrible. Whatever it is, most people are confused and many are angry about its abrupt end. Let's all take a deep breath and unpack why the order was ended and what it means.

The recently terminated Stay-at-Home order was a blunt instrument deployed at a moment of great urgency and was at least in part designed to fight the effects of holiday travel and gatherings exacerbating an already rising infection surge. The system of colored tiers that is formally known as the Blueprint for a Safer Economy was devised as a much more nuanced set of everyday measures designed to best balance the needs of public health with the needs of a functioning economy so that we can have a functioning society.

That we are no longer under a stay-at-home order should not be seen as an all clear signal nor any indication that things are fine. It merely means that without the looming threat of a surge upon a surge from holiday gatherings, our public health officers believe that our regular "Blueprint" colored tiers framework for regulating allowable activities should be sufficient to navigate our way back down.

We're on the right track, but we have a long way to go so we need everyone to be their most responsible selves for at least another two months. Our infection rate trajectory (the R number) is encouraging, but the total number of active infections is still very high so we are still in a very uncertain situation that's about the same as when the stay-at-home order was issued.

Now that we're back in the Purple Tier, it means that restaurants will start opening for outdoor dining and you can get salon, beauty, and wellness appointments with restrictions. If you choose to come see us, more than ever follow the rules to the letter or don't come. You'll just land us right back in another shutdown. Keep your mask on, maintain distance, and do not gather with people outside of your household.

What's Open in the Purple Tier

Most businesses are allowed to be open in at least some capacity in the purple tier, but call ahead to make sure they're open and have availability for you. Some businesses have not re-opened yet and even when they do re-open, they may be operating under erratic hours so please be patient and understand the great difficulty that they're working under.

Masks must be worn at all times except when it's physically not possible to wear one.

• All retail stores limited to 25% capacity.
• Restaurants open for outdoor dining and takeout only.
• Bars can operate as restaurants. You have to order food if you want a beer.
• Fitness studios can operate outdoors.
• Salons, Skin Care, Massage are open.
• Entertainment centers can operate outdoors.

For salons...Read More

MY Museum presents an engaging online conversation with New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center followed by a Q&A on Saturday, February 13, at 4pm. Tickets are $20-$65. All proceeds go to MY Museum to support the nonprofit organization during its temporary closure during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Katherine Center is the author of several novels about love and family: The Bright Side of Disaster, Everyone Is Beautiful, Get Lucky, and The Lost Husband. Her books and essays have appeared in Redbook, People, USA Today, Vanity Fair, and Real Simple as well as in numerous anthologies.

Katherine believes joy is just as important as sorrow. That’s why her stories are always about resilience and struggle and finding ways to savor life’s moments of grace. That’s why her characters joke around so much, even in the shadow of hardship. And that’s why Katherine will never, ever, run the main character over with a bus in the final chapter.

Katherine is a graduate of Vassar College and the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program. She lives in Houston with her husband and two children.

Great news, everyone! On January 25, 2021, the California Department of Public Health announced that the recent Regional Stay-at-Home Order has lifted and regions throughout California have reentered the Purple Tier of Covid-19 restrictions.

This means that restaurants may now offer outdoor dining and hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, skin care spas, massage studios, and tattoo parlors may reopen.

You're invited to call to your favorite hair professional or personal service provider and make an appointment. But please be patient - the announcement was a surprise, and it may take a day or two for businesses to get up and running again.

The coronavirus remains prevalent here, so please continue to follow the mask and social distancing protocols required by Monterey County to keep everyone safe. Be aware that most restaurants continue to offer take-out, curbside pickup, and delivery, while many retail stores welcome orders online and over the phone along with curbside pickup and shipping.

Great news, everyone! On January 25, 2021, the California Department of Public Health announced that the recent Regional Stay-at-Home Order has lifted and regions throughout California have reentered the Purple Tier of Covid-19 restrictions.

This means that restaurants may now offer outdoor dining and hair salons, barbershops, nail salons, skin care spas, massage studios, and tattoo parlors may reopen.

You're invited to call to your favorite hair professional or personal service provider and make an appointment. But please be patient - the announcement was a surprise, and it may take a day or two for businesses to get up and running again.

The coronavirus remains prevalent here, so please continue to follow the mask and social distancing protocols required by Monterey County to keep everyone safe. Be aware that most restaurants continue to offer take-out, curbside pickup, and delivery, while many retail stores welcome orders online and over the phone along with curbside pickup and shipping.

Youth Arts Collective invites you to visit our virtual Valentine's Art Show featuring new artwork by YAC students. Our online art exhibit and store will open on February 10 on our website and run through April 2021. Support young artists from our community!

Youth Arts Collective is a nonprofit art studio and mentorship program for motivated high school and college artists. Our mission is to inspire creativity, kindness, and confidence in our youth through expression and mutual respect. YAC continues to operate, in a socially-distanced manner, during the pandemic.

Do art. Be kind.