If you already live here, you know the summer rhythm: dinner at the Star, a Saturday morning at the Village Market, a hike before the heat sets in. This year, that rhythm has a spine. The 150th birthday of writer, adventurer and rancher Jack London, born January 12, 1876, is being celebrated throughout 2026 at his Glen Ellen home, now known as Jack London State Historic Park. The park has quietly become the village's programming engine for the season, and the calendar it is publishing is worth planning around rather than stumbling into.
The thesis is small but useful. In a village of 784 residents in the heart of Sonoma Valley, a park that draws visitors from three counties functions as de facto town square when it wants to. This summer it wants to. What follows is how the anchor events line up, and how the businesses you already patronize are threading themselves through them.
The anchor, in plain terms
The 150th is a year-long observance, but its center of gravity falls in September. The Jack London Park Partners 2026 Gala runs Saturday, September 19, 2026 from 5:00 to 9:00 at the park's Eucalyptus Grove and Winery Ruins, with appetizers and dinner catered by Park Avenue, wine from Lasseter Family Winery, and live music. That is the apex. Everything before it, the small Saturday programs, the plein air days, the tree walks, reads as build-up to a bigger civic moment than the park usually stages.
Two things worth knowing if you have lived here a while. First, the nonprofit that programs the park has been doing more with less for over a decade: Jack London Park Partners has managed the park since 2012 and increased annual visits, operating as a group of volunteers and donors working to preserve the park and offer recreational activities for the Sonoma Valley community and its visitors. Second, the orchard restoration that started in 2017 is now producing at scale. Volunteers gleaned 2,500 pounds of fruit in 2021, 3,600 pounds in 2022, and roughly 6,000 pounds in 2023, including about 900 pounds of plums and 5,000 pounds of pears. If you have wondered where the pear surplus at community events keeps coming from, that is the answer.
"Who knows what Romance, what Adventure, what Love, is lurking around the next turn of the road, ready to leap out on us if we'll only travel that far."
That is London's own inscription to his stepsister Eliza Shepard, and the park has been quoting it back to the community all year.
A summer calendar worth pinning to the fridge
The programming is more granular than most residents realize. A quick reference, drawn from the park's own event listings:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, July 11, 10a–2p | Summer in the Park, with the Sonoma Community Center | Jack London SHP |
| Sun, July 19, 9–11:30a | Tree walk: the trees that shaped London's ranch | Jack London SHP |
| Sat, Aug 8, 10a–2p | Summer in the Park, second date | Jack London SHP |
| Sat, Aug 22, 10a–2p | Plein Air Watercolor Landscapes | Jack London SHP |
| Sat, Sept 19, 5–9p | Jack's 150th Gala: A Bold Wish | Eucalyptus Grove & Winery Ruins |
The Summer in the Park dates are the friendliest entry point if you have out-of-town family visiting. The program invites participants to discover how wildlife survives the heat, create solar art, and enjoy a complimentary lunch. The Spanish-language companion program on July 12 is worth flagging to Spanish-speaking neighbors; it runs the same hours with the same content.
What is happening between the anchor events
The village has quietly picked up a second evening venue that a lot of longtime residents still have not walked into. Songbird Parlour, at Jack London Village, opened as a full-time restaurant after operating as a Victorian lounge and event space, per owners Lauren Kershner and Kenneth De Alba. The programming there is deliberately literary this summer: an M.F.K. Fisher evening at Songbird Parlour on Thursday, June 18, 2026, from 5:00 PM puts a food-writing icon back in conversation with the valley she wrote about. The room seats around 42, which means it fills. Daily social hours run from 3:30 to 5 p.m. spotlighting different winemakers, and the lounge hosts live music events and comedy nights.
For the Star loyalists, one bit of validation: Glen Ellen Star holds a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide USA for good quality, good value cooking. Chef Ari Weiswasser is still sourcing the way you would want him to. Biodynamic produce comes from nearby Glentucky Family Farm, feeding the salads and lightly charred roasted vegetables like sugar snap peas with truffle-chili cashew crunch. Reservations tighten in July and August, and the house's own policy is worth remembering: for parties of 1 to 7, reservations open online 20 days out. Set a phone reminder if you want a Saturday.
Outside the restaurants, the summer is a quiet one at the preserves. A Summer Solstice Sunset Walk runs at Bouverie Preserve on Saturday, June 20, 2026, from 4:00 PM. Bouverie's docent-led walks are the local answer to the more touristed trails, and if you have not gone in a couple of years the wildflower rhythms have shifted with the recent wet winters. For water, Morton's is doing more than swim days: Root & Resonance, a day retreat at Morton's Warm Springs, is scheduled for Thursday, June 4, 2026, from 10:00 AM.
The provisioning circuit does not change much year to year and does not need to. The Glen Ellen Village Market handles sandwiches, salads, and local bottles for picnics, while the red farmhouse at Oak Hill Farm carries organic strawberries, peaches, wreaths, and preserves. What is new this year is that the Market has become a fundraising partner for the park itself. A Dine & Donate for Jack London Park Partners ran on the back patio at Glen Ellen Village Market, with tickets sold in advance only at the Market and none at the door. Expect more of these small back-patio evenings between now and the September gala.
The trails, honestly
If you have not walked the park in a season or two, the scale is easy to forget. The park runs 1,400 acres, with 26 miles of trails, a museum, and London's 39-acre Beauty Ranch. The upper lot is the shortcut most residents already use: the upper parking lot provides access to a picnic area, the Cottage, the stables, the stone barns, the silos and the "pig palace," with the Kohler & Frohling winery ruins near the cottage.
Two practical notes that get missed. First, dogs. On-leash dogs are allowed in many areas, and bicycles and horses are permitted on some trails. If you have started walking a new dog since 2023, the on-leash policy has not loosened. Second, the museum. Park hours run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except December 25, with the House of Happy Walls Museum open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the Cottage from noon to 4 p.m. Bring visitors to the Cottage in the middle of the day or you will find it locked.
A walking week, if you already live here
The pattern that works for most residents is not a single big day. It is spacing.
- Morning of the Summer in the Park Saturdays. Arrive at 10, leave at noon, lunch at the Market patio.
- Mid-week evening at Songbird Parlour. The 3:30 to 5 social hour is the least crowded way to try the room, then a full dinner on a return visit.
- Sunday tree walk on July 19. Two and a half hours, home before the heat.
- A single Star reservation held for late August. Booked 20 days out on a Tuesday morning, right when the window opens.
- September 19 blocked. Whether you buy a gala ticket or watch the string lights from the trailhead, the village will be quieter that night everywhere else.
The point of the 150th is not that Glen Ellen suddenly has more to do. It is that the park is programming with more intention than usual, and the businesses you already care about are moving in step. If you have watched the village add and lose venues over the last decade, this is the summer to give the calendar a second look.
For neighbors weighing what the next chapter of their own Glen Ellen life looks like — whether that is staying put in the house that has held three decades of these summers, or handing the keys to the next family that will fill the porch — Lauren Berg and the team are quiet, local company for that conversation. Request a tour when the timing is right.
