April is packed with goings on, and with all the rain (now called a hydrologic event on my weather app) we had in March that means color — aka March showers bring April wildflowers!
No superbloom, they say, but the mountains have been celebrating St. Paddy’s Day the entire month of March by turning green! I have lived here for nine years and this is only the second time this has happened. The last time was 2019 and that year we were lousy with wildflowers. We also flooded, but that’s so 2019. Those rains that brought the superbloom came in February. This year they came in March so April should be bursting with color. And pollen. But they have pills for that ish.
Let’s get started on the rest, shall we?
The main events
April 1: Palm Springs Cruisin Association Car Show
April 1: AmDocs Festival at Palm Springs Cultural Center
April 1: Palm Springs International Dance Festival Nickerson Rossi Dance Studio
April 1 – May 7: Desert X. That link describes and shows photos. This link gives you options for a map and an app. (Learn more about a few of the art installations here on our blog.)
April 1: Desert Mountains Art Show. It is art in the mountains, what more can I tell you?
April 2: Palm Springs Vintage Market. Great market for vintage everything. You’d think they’d have run out of clothes by now, but not so much.
April 14-17: Coachella (Weekend 1). Waitlisted. Listen, if you don’t know what Coachella is, you’re never going to go. But here is my favorite YouTube clip from Coachella.
April 21-24: Coachella Weekend 2. Tickets still available at the time I am writing this.
April 23: South Palm Canyon Art Collective Sunday Soirée, 1500 South Palm Canyon. Work on display from five resident artists and several guest artists. The soirée is free.
April 28-30: Stagecoach. The country version of Coachella. Less drugs, more booze.
Saturdays and Sundays: College of the Desert Street Fair. If you’re down valley for Desert X or a music festival you have to stop here. It’s huge. I accidentally drove past it one weekend and was blown away by the size of it. I just made a plan to go.
This year’s Coachella lineup.
Repeat contenders
Hockey games and big name performers at Acrisure. April has Reba McIntyre and John Mayer. Concerts are pricey, but the hockey games are affordable.
Dinner and a show
Ticketed
Come On Up at the Palm Springs Cultural Center (Mildred’s small menu)
Come on up to Come On Up!
Reservations
Melvyn’s – Piano man.
Yaas Queen
Mondays: Bella da Ball, Palm Springs’ 6’4” Drag Mother at King’s Highway for Bingo, followed by Trivia in the Amigo Room.
Drag me to brunch
Great drag roundup article here
PS Air – Mile High Boozy Brunch
Reforma (Saturdays) Different date, different show. And in You Need To Calm Down news, the last one was a Taylor Swift drag brunch.
Nightclubs
Reforma (nightlife and dinner)
Cascade Lounge — Mixed entertainment, all A+, and home of Jazzville.
Sammy G’s Upstairs Bar — Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, The Evaro Brothers. Great pop dance music you can sing along to while dancing.
Theater
Dezart Performs — The Garbologists
CVRep — Hand to God
Desert Ensemble Theater — Future Thinking
Desert Theatricals – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Musicals Under the Stars). Act fast and you can snag a dinner seat too.
An iconic Palm Springs windmill farm. Photo: Nadine Conger
Just for fun
Windmill Tour — You’re driving, someone else is talking, but they aren’t in your car. How do they do that?
Desert Tasty Tours — Eat your way through Palm Springs history on a walking food tour.
Red Jeep Tours – San Andreas Fault, Jeep-y stuff
Cannabis Express Tours – April is National Cannabis Awareness Month. Get yourself educated on everything cannabis. It’s fun and educational too.
PS Historical Society Walking & Biking Tours — There are 14 to choose from.
MOGO Silent Disco — Their tagline? “Shut up and dance.”
Pro VR — Virtual reality gaming, including escape rooms.
Escape Room — Actual escape rooms.
Movies in the Park — Old-timey movies under the stars.
Hiking: Indian Canyons is closed April 1-8; Tahquitz still open. Here’s a great article from Visit Palm Springs on where to go. Keep in mind numbers 1 and 6 are part of Indian Canyons.
That’s it for me this month. As always, please shop and stay local. And that includes cannabis because it’s National Cannabis Awareness Month. I might have said that already. I’m hungry…
See you next time!
