Cotati Musical History Takes the Stage

The Cotati Historical Society & Museum's annual fall event, Sunday, Nov. 5, will feature live music by Sourdough Slim and Robert Armstrong and their cowboy country stylings of yesteryear. Regular headliners at the city's Accordion Festival, the duo will appear at the Cotati Community Center's Cotati Room from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., free of charge. Tours of the museum inside Cotati City Hall will be offered, 12:00-4:00 p.m. Cotati City Hall and Community Center are located at 201 West Sierra Ave., Cotati.

The family-friendly event will also include a Twin Oaks (Hop Monk) food truck, beer-and-wine and dessert bars, a local restaurant gift certificate raffle, as well as tables to sign up for historical society membership and volunteer opportunities.

For a musical preview, see this video by CHS volunteer Dave Wasson of Sourdough Slim "Casting my lasso toward the sky" at the Cotati Accordion Festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brsCuBhSLMU

The nonprofit Cotati Historical Society was founded in 2007 by the late Prue and Lloyd Draper as the first step to developing a Cotati history museum. Longtime residents, the Drapers published The Cotatian weekly newspaper in the 1950s and 1960s and authored the 2004 Images of America Cotati book of historical images and stories.

Over the decades, they collected photographs, the archives of local clubs and associations as they disbanded, and unique artifacts like the barber chair from Burt’s Place, a combination hair cutting emporium, bar, and volunteer fire fighting headquarters in the mid-20th century.

Today, the museum is packed with ever more art and artifacts, personal effects and scrapbooks, newspapers, books, maps, documents,photographs, music recordings, videos, posters—all donated by Cotati residents and visitors, cataloged and curated by volunteers.

Current featured exhibits are dedicated to the city’s music history, especially The Inn of the Beginning and Cotati Cabaret clubs. There are also pop, rock, blues, classical and jazz memorabilia and recordings. Original artwork and printed posters created by the late Pat Ryan advertise Cotati’s Prairie Sun recording studio and the Cotati Accordion Festival from its inception in 1991.

The museum is open every Saturday afternoon, 1-4 p.m., and staffed by a team of trained volunteers. Clubs and schools are invited especially to schedule general and subject-specific tours. Research appointments are also available. Admission is always free. Visit www.cotatimuseum.org for more information.