The Peanuts Collectors Club is like a force of nature. It sweeps into Santa Rosa every two years – spreading joy and smiles as its participants move about the town and the Schulz complex, visiting the Ice Arena, Gift Shop and Museum.

Right now a camp of figure skaters is rehearsing on the ice for a mini ice skating show that will be performed on Friday night. I can tell you that the camp kids are mighty cute!  Before the show, a lucky raffle winner will get to ride the Zamboni around the ice.  Check back as we head into the Beaglefest weekend for some more pictures I’ll be taking…

The real fans show up early for the best views:

Victor Lee checks out the Peanuts decor at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.

Leslie Phinney, Ruth McIntyre, Gayna Lamb-Bang
arrived early to preview all the Museum exhibits.

Kristie Ferrara & Nicole Schley want to be sure that Adriana becomes a Peanuts fan.

Snoopy and Chris Carveth at the opening dinner.

All above photos by Derrick Bang

For many, many years The Peanuts Collectors Club members have designated Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) as the recipient of funds they generate through their auctions. Over the years, they have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to this program which matches superbly trained dogs to people with disabilities other than blindness. Beaglefest participants toured the Schulz CCI Campus Friday morning, where they watched demonstrations by two graduate teams (below).

To raise money for CCI, each year Beaglefest has an auction in which various items are open for bidding.  All of the proceeds raised during the auction go to Canine Companions for Indpendence, the charity chosen long ago by the Peanuts Collector’s Club. This year, Craig Schulz graciously offered rides in his bi-plane to be auctioned off during Beaglefest. Three lucky auction winners had a dream come true, as they got an aerial view of our beautiful area.

Saturday morning at Beaglefest is “market day.” For three hours, Peanuts items are available for sale.  Items are set up at tables by individual collectors who are selling their doubles of collectibles,  “trading up, ” or “clearing shelves” and making room for more Peanuts items.

Half of the fun on market day is talking with fans about their collection, how long they have been collecting, where they found the thing you are interested in, and what they are looking to add to their collection.

Pictured from left to right: Don Fraser, Derrick Bang and Judy Sladky (always looking for astronaut Snoopys)

Another very special treat this year, and one that will never be repeated, was orchestrated by Derrick Bang, author of the recently published Vince Guaraldi at the Piano. For his book, Derrick had interviewed Dean Reilly, Colin Bailey and Eddie Duran, all of whom had performed with Guaraldi at various times.  It was Derrick’s idea to bring them together for this special evening with Sacramento Jazz pianist, Jim Martinez.
The wonderful thing about jazz, and we saw it in action, is that even though they had not play together, the music was seamless. It is something that I will not soon forget.

From left, Jim Martinez (piano), Dean Reilly (bass), Colin Bailey (drums) and Eddie Duran (guitar)

As another Beaglefest ended, there is always the group photo to capture the happy memories and many happy faces…

—Jean Schulz