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- 🎆 Pups, Parades & Priceless Gems: Your Peninsula Weekend Guide!
🎆 Pups, Parades & Priceless Gems: Your Peninsula Weekend Guide!
July 4th plans, jewel heists, and weekend plans - get all the local scoop!
Greg Kemper
June 26, 2025
Hey neighbors,
Welcome to this week’s San Mateo Scoop! We’re keeping the summer vibes rolling as we close out the month of June.
We’ve got another issue packed with events to keep you outside and active, local news and updates on businesses, and a new feature - pet of the week!
Dive in and let’s make the most of the weekend together!
In this week’s edition:
🗞️ Local news: $100 million burglars indicted
🌅 Weekend lineup: Music in the park, pups, and sunset hikes
🎆 Holiday Weekend: Start making plans for 4th of July
💎 $100M Brinks Heist Charges
Seven California men have been indicted for the July 2022 Brink’s truck raid that netted about $100 million in jewels and watches—the biggest jewelry theft in U.S. history. Prosecutors say the crew stalked a San Mateo trade show, drove the armored rig 300 miles to a Grapevine rest stop, then made off with 24 bags of jewels. They now face up to 20 years per robbery count, plus conspiracy charges, while jewelers still wait to retrieve their stolen stones. Read more here.
🚔 Sheriff Shown the Door
San Mateo County supervisors voted 5-0 to oust Sheriff Christina Corpus—the first use of voter-backed Measure A—after a 500-page, 42-witness probe alleged legal violations and obstruction. Corpus calls the move political and her lawyer insists she did nothing wrong. An appeal now starts a 135-day countdown before the removal can go into place. Read more here.
Back by Popular Demand: Best of San Mateo
Your clicks and comments on our last “Best of Business” roundup were off the charts, so we’re rolling out some more of the well-deserved winners.
We still can’t showcase every honoree, but check out this week’s highlighted categories below—and a huge congrats again to all the winners!
💼 Best Wealth Manager: Ting & Associates
🦴 Best Chiropractor: Cassandra Mason, DC
😁 Best Orthodontist: Alborzi Orthodontics
👵 Best Age-Friendly Services: Neighborly Senior Placement
🛋️ Best Interior Design: Mondolfo Interior Design
💍 Best Jewelry Store: The Edna Collective
🎒 Best Pre-School: Serendipity School
🥞 Best Breakfast/Brunch Spot: Apple Fritter
Find the winners for all categories here!
🍺 Congratulations to Refuge San Mateo for celebrating 4 years in business! They are hosting an anniversary celebration on June 26th starting at 5PM, featuring giveaways, special beers, food, and fun. Stop by and a grab a world famous reuben or cheesesteak! Learn more here. |  66 31st Ave, San Mateo, CA 94403 |
 2260 Bridgepointe Pkwy, Foster City, CA 94404 | 🍖 Armadillo Willy’s shut its Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Blossom Hill (San Jose) smokehouses on June 17, citing difficulties after sales never bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. You can still visit them for the same slow-smoke BBQ you’re accustomed to at the Bridgepointe shopping center! Read more here. |
Peninsula Humane Society Pet of the Week! My name is Toby and I'm a 7-year-old Pit Bull mix that currently weighs about 63lbs. I'm a big softy that absolutely LOVES people. Get more information about me and adopt me here! | Featured Subscriber Pet of the Week! |
Want your pet to be featured next week? Respond to this email with your favorite picture of one your pets and we’ll pick one at random each week to include!
🌄 Filoli Sunset Hike | at Filoli | Woodside | 06/26 | More
Guided 2-mile twilight trek through Filoli’s Natural Lands — catch golden-hour views and wildlife.
🎸 Music in the Park – Groove Ride | at Burton Park | San Carlos | 6/27 | More
Free Friday concert with dancing—pack a picnic & your dancing shoes.
🎉 Music in the Park – Pride & Joy | at Washington Park | Burlingame | 6/27 | More
Bay Area party-band favorite kicks off Burlingame’s summer series, with onsite beer & wine sales.
🍻 Bark n’ Brewfest | at Washington Park | Burlingame | 6/28 | More
Dog-friendly craft-beer tasting raising funds for Peninsula Humane Society—pups, pints & live tunes.
🎶 Summer Songs – Intimate Musical Performance | at Sound Union | Redwood City | 6/28 | More
Four singer-songwriters share uplifting originals in an intimate 8 PM show celebrating summer songs.
🌱 Terrarium Workshop | at Luludi Living Art | San Mateo | 6/28 | More
Design an open-glass succulent terrarium in a relaxed 90-min class—materials & green-thumb tips included.
👩🔧 Women in Engineering Story Time | at San Mateo Main Library | San Mateo | 6/28 | More
Kid-friendly story hour celebrating women engineers plus hands-on STEM crafts.
🛩️ Flying Gatsby Ball | at Hiller Aviation Museum | San Carlos | 6/28 | More
Roaring ’20s gala amid vintage aircraft—live swing band, speakeasy cocktails & costume contest.
🎬 Movie Night – Field of Dreams | at Burton Park | San Carlos | 6/28 | More
Grab blankets & lawn chairs for the classic baseball flick under the stars; film rolls at dusk.
🎻 Belmont Concert – Tom Rigney & Flambeau | at Twin Pines Park | Belmont | 6/29 | More
Cajun fiddle fireworks light up the meadow—family-friendly, food concessions on site.
🐾 Paws for Tales | at San Carlos Library | San Carlos | 6/30 | More
Kids (6-11) build reading confidence in 10-min sessions with therapy dogs; free, registration required.
Fourth of July Sneak-Peek!
Next week, we will be featuring a special “Fourth Of July” events section. We didn’t want to make you wait, so here’s some of the main events for the 4th!
🎇 Fourth of July Celebration | at Downtown | Redwood City | 07/04 | More
Fire-station pancake breakfast 7:30 AM, grand parade 10 AM, day-long festival, and a drone light show over the Port at 9:30 PM.
🥞 Pancake Breakfast & Ol’-Fashioned Parade | at Main Street | Half Moon Bay | 07/04 | More
Lions flip pancakes 8-11:30 AM, then the Main St. parade steps off at noon, with a downtown festival running until 4 PM.
🐾 Pancake Breakfast & Family/Dog Parade | at Leo Ryan Park | Foster City | 07/04 | More
Rotary pancake breakfast 9 AM kicks off a kid- and dog-friendly parade plus live music, games & vendors through the afternoon.
🇺🇸 4th of July Concert in the Park | at Central Park | San Mateo | 07/04 | More
Free patriotic concert noon-2 PM with Club 90; family activities start 11 AM and flag-raising at 11:45 AM.
How'd you like today's issue of San Mateo Scoop? |