Sacramento Folk Prepare to Party on Sunday Evening!

Wondering what Erik Daniells will do? Host his own party, perhaps?:

Time to break out the thrift store formal and take a turn in the spotlight. On Oscar Night, “Lady Bird” has a chance to soar – and that’s inspired some creative celebration.

Sacramento-grown filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story is nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Saoirse Ronan, who plays Lady Bird, and Laurie Metcalf, her beleaguered mother, were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectfully. The Oscars will be broadcast live from Hollywood at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Starting with a 4:30 p.m. red carpet walk, the biggest local bash will be at St. Francis High School, Gerwig’s alma mater.

“We’ve never had an Oscar party,” said MaryAnne Kelly of St. Francis High School, “but we’ve never had an alumnus nominated for five Oscars before.”

On Sunday evening, a life-size cutout of Gerwig (Class of ’02) will greet 350 guests to St. Francis’ Oscar party. (Tickets – $25 – are almost sold out.)

...“We found old VHS tapes of (theatrical) shows Greta did when she was in high school plus a video of an Oscar party she had with friends,” Kelly said. Those vintage tapes will be part of a video tribute.

...“Lady Bird” already has put Club Raven on the must-see map.

“It’s a funny thing; people from all over stop by just to say they’d been here,” Barnes-Arguijo said. “When I first saw the movie at the Tower Theater, the crowd started cheering when they saw the neon signs (of Sacramento landmarks).”

That same mix of pride and curiosity has filled walking and running tours of “Lady Bird” landmarks. On Sunday, Sac Running Tours will host at least three “Lady Bird” tours, maybe four, in a pre-Oscar party on the move.

“It’s blown me away,” said Jenn Kistler-McCoy, owner of Sac Running Tours. “Way more people than I anticipated have wanted to go on a ‘Lady Bird’ tour.”

Kistler-McCoy, who started the tour Feb. 11, already has guided more than 150 people on a 3.2-mile loop through East Sacramento.

“It started out with just locals,” Kistler-McCoy said, “but now we’re getting people from Grass Valley and the Bay Area. We’re reaching people from a wide area.”

The tour stops at such sites as the McKinley rose garden, Club Raven and that big blue house on 44th Street.

“My favorite stop is the same as everybody else’s; I love the big blue house,” Kistler-McCoy said. “The owners (Chris and Amy Wood) have been just fantastic; they’re so receptive.”