There are a few events planned for this weekend in the Mother Lode.
There will be a Girl Scout Cookie Tasting and New Family Info event in San Andreas that will take place this Friday at 5 PM. Sample a variety of Girl Scout Cookie types while learning what Girl Scouts is all about and how to join. Details are in the event listing here.
This weekend is Sonora’s Second Saturday Art Night. Starting at 5 PM participating galleries, restaurants, and shops offer a blend of art, live music, performers and art demonstrations. The Mother Lode Art Association will present the first 2026 “Art Party” with artist Stefany Haynie from 5 to 6 PM. Stefany will lead participants in a step by step acrylic painting of an Anna’s Hummingbird on a wood panel. All materials are provided and participants leave with a painting, but seating is limited.
The Columbia College Men’s Basketball team will host Merced on Saturday at 6 PM, it is a Central Valley Conference game for Claim Jumpers. Details about the season’s games are in our events calendar here.
On Sunday at Courthouse Park in Downtown Sonora a rally at noon called Patriots Against Tyranny—Stand for Our Republic will be held. Participants are encouraged by the event organizers to wear red, white, and blue to symbolize shared ownership of democratic values. Organizers also invite attendees to display the American flag upside down, a traditional signal of national distress, as a call for accountability and urgent civic action. The rally will include speeches about the erosion of constitutional checks and balances, defiance of court rulings, the use of federal authority, immigration policy and recent foreign policy actions. Organizers emphasize that the rally is not about political ideology but about shared civic values, peaceful assembly, and a call for citizens to remain engaged in the democratic process. The event is explicitly nonviolent and nonpartisan and free and open to the public as detailed here.
This Sunday is the first Granny Basketball game between the Oakdale Broncos and the Sonora Poppies in the Escalon area at Valley Home School at 2 PM. Join the team for practices at the Columbia Elementary gym on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7 PM. The Granny Basketball players range in age from 50 to 82 and the game’s rules are no running and no jumping. It is based on the 1920s “six on six” basketball game.
The Sonora Library Craft Cart will get pushed out on Wednesday, January 14 from 1:00pm – 5:00pm for paper flowers. All the supplies and directions will be provided by the library free of charge and no sign up is necessary.
Starting in January, the library will once again put out various games for patrons. Possible choices will be chess, Scrabble, dominoes, checkers, and various card games. Bring your friends or make new friends at Game Day at the Sonora Main Library. Games will be provided every Thursday 10:00am – 4:00pm.
Local ski resorts are open as detailed here. The restaurant of the month in our dining guide is Mikes Pizza of Sonora. View the movie times at Angels Camp, Sonora Regal Cinemas is closed as detailed here, skiers and snowboarders check out local webcams here and the snow reports from open California ski resorts are in the weather section here.
