Sonoma Chef | Foodie Events — This Weekend

Foodie Events — This Weekend

Your Sonoma Chef cheat sheet for Healdsburg, Sebastopol, Windsor, Santa Rosa, Cloverdale, Guerneville, Point Reyes, and northern Sonoma County.

The tightest filter on the page: what is real, happening this Saturday and Sunday, and actually worth going to. No fill. No maybes. The cheese festival turns 20 this year. Pigs & Pinot moves to Appellation Healdsburg. Pliny the Younger opens. It is a genuinely excellent weekend.

This weekend's short list

Everything here is confirmed for Saturday March 21 or Sunday March 22. Gold badge = the clearest yes.

Top pickHealdsburgChef weekend

Pigs & Pinot

March 20–21, 2026 · Appellation Healdsburg

Price$$$ event packages

Chef Charlie Palmer's pork-and-Pinot weekend at Appellation Healdsburg — this is it, this weekend. Serious chef energy, top Russian River Valley Pinot producers, and a room that wants to talk about what's in the glass.

Why go: Pinot's acidity cuts pork fat the way a good argument cuts noise. This is the weekend it happens.

Open event Open Appellation

Top pickSebastopolCheese Festival

Cheese Crawl at The Barlow

Saturday March 21 · The Barlow Market District, Sebastopol

Price$ with festival ticket

The Barlow turns into a cheese-and-pairing playground this Saturday as part of the 20th California Artisan Cheese Festival. Walk from vendor to vendor. Taste. Repeat. Very Sebastopol — funky, delicious, walkable.

Why go: Best single afternoon of the whole cheese festival weekend.

Open schedule Open festival

Top pickSanta RosaCheese Festival

Cheese Festival Marketplace

Sunday March 22 · Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa

Price$$ marketplace ticket

The big Sunday finale of the California Artisan Cheese Festival — 20th year running. Producers, pours, specialty food vendors. Laura Chenel, Point Reyes blues, Bellwether Farms under one roof. Go early. Bring a cooler.

Why go: Buy something for the cheese drawer at home. Always a good reason.

Open schedule

Top pickWindsor + Santa RosaBeer

Pliny the Younger — Opening Weekend

March 20–April 2, 2026 · Russian River Brewing, both pubs

Price$ per pour + food

The Pliny the Younger release kicks off this Saturday at both the Windsor and Santa Rosa pubs. Day one of two weeks of the most talked-about triple IPA in the country being on tap. It will be crowded. Go anyway.

Why go: Opening weekend energy. Northern California beer culture at full volume.

Open release info Open brewery

More picks for Saturday and Sunday

All happening this weekend. Click through to confirm.

SebastopolWeekly anchor

Sebastopol Farmers Market

Sunday March 22 · Downtown Sebastopol · Every Sunday year-round

PriceFree — pay for what you buy

The Sunday market runs regardless of what else is happening. This week it runs alongside the cheese festival. Asparagus. First strawberries. Snap peas. Show up early.

Why go: Best Sunday morning ritual in West County.

Open market

Point ReyesCoast option

Hog Island Oyster Bar — Tomales Bay

Saturday–Sunday · Marshall, CA · Reservation required

Price$$

If you want to skip the crowds and drive west instead, Hog Island's outdoor oyster bar on Tomales Bay is open both days. Raw oysters, BBQ oysters, salads, salt air. Book ahead — it fills fast.

Reservation only — book at exploretock.com
Farm tours also available

Why go: This is the oyster day.

Open oyster bar

Alexander ValleyWorth the drive

CYRUS Dinner in the Wine Cave

Saturday March 21 · 6–9 PM · Alexander Valley Vineyards

Price$$$ cave dinner

Three courses inside a barrel cave built around CYRUS — the flagship Cabernet blend. Candlelight, stone walls, old-school Sonoma romance with structure in the glass.

Why go: You either love a cave dinner or you don't. If you do, this is the right one.

Open event

Sonoma Chef's tightest weekend plan

Saturday: Start at Pigs & Pinot in Healdsburg, drive down to The Barlow in Sebastopol for the Cheese Crawl in the afternoon, finish at Russian River Brewing Windsor on the way home — opening weekend of Pliny the Younger.

Sunday: Sebastopol Farmers Market first thing, then the Cheese Festival Marketplace at the Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. If you still have appetite and mileage, Hog Island Oyster Bar on Tomales Bay is the quiet coastal reward.

That is a very full, very good 48 hours. Cheese, pork, Pinot, triple IPA, spring produce, and a bay view if you earn it.

How this list was chosen

The strictest filter on the page — two days, confirmed events with real URLs, specific dates of Saturday March 21 or Sunday March 22, 2026. The cheese festival alone — in its 20th year — makes this one of the best food weekends of the spring. Pigs & Pinot landing at Appellation Healdsburg is the right cherry on top.