Get ready for a spooktacular week of fun! Campers will enjoy games, crafts, and other fall-themed fun activities.
Embrace the spirit of the autumn season with Coyote Hills CAMPtober! From relay races to scavenger hunts, there’s plenty to keep everyone active. Get creative with you join the scarecrow design contest and experience the deliciousness of the fall harvest with hot cider and mini pie creations. Join in on all the festivities with CAMPtober!
Don’t miss out- CAMPTober is the place to be!
Age at least 5yrs but less than 12yrs 11mos, Mixed
September 28 – October 2
Weekdays 9:00 a.m – 3:00 p.m
$210 resident/$231 non-resident
Click here for more information and to register and let the CAMPtober countdown begin!
Catch the iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile at Antioch’s 7th Annual Big Truck Day.
Explore big trucks up close and see the legendary Wienermobile.
Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind Big Truck Day!!
September 17th, 4PM-8PM.
Antioch Community Center parking lot at Prewett Community Park, 4703 Lone Tree Way.
For more information about Antioch’s 7th Annual Big Truck Day click, here.
Source: Oscar Meyer
Wienermobile Historical Highlights
According to Wienermobile Rolling Through History In 1936 Carl Mayer, nephew of the company’s founder, came up with the idea of a 13- foot metal hot dog on wheels to transport the company spokesperson. General Body Company of Chicago, Illinois, designed the first Wienermobile, which featured open cockpits in the center and rear. It was a common sight on the streets of Chicago as it promoted Oscar Mayer “German-style Wieners.”
In 1952 the Wienermobile made a triumphant return as five new vehicles hit the streets of America. Designed by Gerstenslager of Wooster, Ohio, and built on a Dodge chassis, the 22-foot-long hot dogs were the first to have a sound system and sunroof. A 1952 Wienermobile is currently on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
Source: Oscar Meyer
In 1988, six new 23-foot-long fiberglass hot dogs on wheels, toured the country in style. They featured microwave ovens, refrigerators, cellular phones, and stereo systems that played 21 versions of the Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle.
Stand Up on the Delta by local non-profit connects U.S. veterans with community and critical services like housing and jobs
By Ella Sogomonian
Antioch, CA –Delta Veterans Group continues its mission to serve those who served our country. The local non-profit is inviting U.S. veterans on Friday, Sept.11 to the VFW Post 6435 in Antioch for the inaugural “Stand Up on the Delta”. This one-day event (video here) connects vets with medical treatment, housing, jobs, as well as mental health and drug counseling. In addition to these critical services, the event builds a sense of camaraderie for veterans who have a hard time creating a sense of community after they end their military service. DVG partners with East Bay Regional parks to take vets and their families fishing on the Delta shores. They will provide a backpack, collapsible fishing pole, tackle and lunch will be catered. Competitions, such as farthest cast, will also take place. There is a 50 veteran limit for the fishing experience.
“As a vet myself I understand how critical it is to extend a helping hand and create a welcoming space,” said J.R. Wilson, Founder of Delta Veterans Group. “Veterans serve their country and community so we give them a new mission to serve the community and these events bring them together to make that happen.”
Since 2015, the non-profit has helped more than thousands of veterans by finding permanent housing, serving over 23,000 meals, providing half-a-million-dollars in dental care, and sleeping bags.
Who: U.S. military veterans and their families
What: Stand Up on the Delta resource event
When: Friday, Sept. 11 from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: TWO LOCATIONS: Resource fair at VFW Post 6435, 815 Fulton Shipyard Road Antioch, CA 94509 & fishing experience at Antioch/Oakley Regional Shoreline Pier at Bridgehead Road at Wilbur Avenue in Antioch, CA 94509
Two locations to serveas partof the 42nd Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day
By City of Antioch Recreation Department
Do you wish to see less litter around our marine environment? Join California’s more than 35,000 volunteers in cleaning up local areas and waterways for the 42nd Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day.
Volunteer alongside your families, friends, coworkers, scout troops, school groups and service clubs. Help us preserve wildlife by taking trash out of the environment and our waterways.
Register now and be part of our group of volunteers at the Antioch Marina and the Antioch Water Park.
Volunteer letters can be used toward community service hours, youth community engagement requirements, college and scholarship applications, and much more.
The Antioch Recreation Department is happy to provide letters highlighting the volunteer hours completed for this event for any participant or organization. Please email La’Nae Jackson to inquire about how to receive your volunteer letter for yourself or your organization.
How to Volunteer
To register for the Antioch Marina site: Click Here
To register for the Antioch Water Park site: Click Here
For AUSD and Antioch youth only ages 12-18 during two sessions; register by Sept. 8th
By City of Antioch Youth Services Network
Get ready to roll! You’re invited to Teen Skate Night at Paradise Skate in Antioch. This event is open to ages 12-18 and includes free skate rentals, food, and admission. Rest assured, adult supervision will be provided throughout the event.
Ages 12-15 will skate from 4:30 pm-6:00 pm
Ages 16-18 will skate from 6:00 pm-7:30 pm
Make new friends and connect with others in your community!
Please be advised: A parent/guardian signature is required for sign-out at the conclusion of the event. Please come to the front entrance to sign out. Should you have any inquiries or concerns, please contact youth@antiochca.gov.
More than 500 swimmers, volunteers and supporters expected
Over $7 million raised by Bay Area Swim to support pediatric cancer research and survivorship programs at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals
By Jenifer Howard, Swim Across America – San Francisco
Swim Across America, the national nonprofit organization that makes waves to fight cancer through charity swims across the U.S., will host the 21st annual Swim Across America – San Francisco Bay Area Open Water Swim on Saturday, September 12, 2026. The iconic 1.5-mile point-to-point swim starts at Little Marina Green, 3650 Yacht Road, in San Francisco, and finishes in Aquatic Park. Swimmers, volunteers and kayakers are invited to participate and help raise funds for pediatric cancer research and patient care supporting the swim’s beneficiary UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in Oakland and San Francisco. Those who cannot participate in person can still make waves to fight cancer through SAA My Way, Swim Across America’s virtual option. To register, volunteer or donate, visitswimacrossamerica.org/sanfrancisco.
Established in 2006, Swim Across America – San Francisco Bay Area has granted more than $7 million to support the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals’ Oakland Research Institute and the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco Survivors of Childhood Cancer Program. Each year, the charity swim brings together more than 500 swimmers, volunteers, spectators and supporters, along with Olympians and other special guests, for one of the Bay Area’s most memorable open water events.
“For 20 years, this community has shown what can happen when individuals take something they love — swimming — and turn it into a way to help families facing cancer,” said Laura Hovden, co-event director of Swim Across America – San Francisco Bay Area. “More than $7 million has gone directly to our local UCSF programs because swimmers, volunteers, kayakers, donors and teams keep showing up year after year. Our swim is about coming together, making waves and giving patients more hope and researchers more funds to make a difference.”
Few embody that commitment more than longtime swimmer, former San Francisco event director and three-time cancer survivor Susan Helmrich, captain of Team Susan Survives and one of this year’s leading fundraisers.
This year marks 49 years since Susan Helmrich’s first cancer diagnosis. She was just 21 years old when she was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Her second cancer diagnosis came 28 years ago. In 2009, she faced cancer for a third time and underwent a 6½-hour Whipple procedure for neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, followed by 23 days at Stanford Hospital.
Through it all, Susan has made raising money for cancer research a central part of her life. Throughout the years, Team Susan Survives has raised more than $1 million for local pediatric cancer research programs. As Susan approaches her 71st birthday, she has set an ambitious goal for this year: recruit 71 swimmers, kayakers, runners, cyclists, yogis, dancers, hikers, walkers and other supporters to Team Susan Survives and together raise $171,000 through the open water swim and SAA My Way.
“I am honored and proud to have survived cancer three times, and I want nothing more than to have anyone who ever gets a cancer diagnosis have the chance to live and survive as I have,” Susan said. “As the years go on, I realize that I am committed more than ever to raising money to help investigators, researchers, physicians and support services find a cure for cancer in our lifetime.”
Susan Helmrich is also swimming in memory of her mother, Edna Helmrich, who passed away in 2019 at age 92 and was herself a 53-year breast cancer survivor.
“She was my role model and my hero,” Susan said. “This year, I’m hoping that friends, old and new, from near and far will join me and Team Susan Survives to raise money for pediatric cancer research at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland.”
Another team entering the San Francisco Bay this year will be carrying the memory of someone deeply loved.
Team Batt Bunch, also known as KeckCrewSF, is captained by Mike Keck and will swim in honor and memory of Brian Batt, husband of Rene and father of swimmers Amelia and Sarah Batt. The team has participated in Swim Across America for many years, but its fight against cancer became profoundly personal when Brian was diagnosed with cancer.
Even while undergoing treatment, Brian remained determined to be there for his daughters. He scheduled his treatment so he could travel to England when Amelia and Sarah participated in an English Channel relay in 2022, where Amelia had the honor of touching France for the team, and again for their Loch Lomond swim in 2024. During treatment, Brian continued showing up at Aquatic Park to cheer the girls on during their training swims. Brian succumbed to cancer in the fall of 2025.
“Brian fought with strength, courage and dignity, and he kept showing up for his family through all of it,” Mike Keck said. “For years, we swam with Swim Across America to fight cancer. Then that fight became very real for our family and our team. Brian is missed terribly, but we will carry on just like he did, and we hope what we do can help spare other families from experiencing that same loss.”
The money raised by swimmers such as Helmrich, Keck and their teammates is already helping scientists at UCSF pursue promising new approaches to pediatric cancer.
Julie Saba, M.D., Ph.D., a UCSF pediatric oncologist, cancer researcher and director of the Swim Across America-supported research laboratory at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, leads research examining the genetic and metabolic drivers of childhood cancers. Her research team has identified important genetic drivers of neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, and has shown that disrupting the gene’s activity can prevent neuroblastoma cells from forming tumors. This research could ultimately offer a new avenue for targeting cancers in which the AF1q gene plays a role. Swim Across America funding helped support this work.
Saba also leads the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Swimmers, now in its eighth year participating in the San Francisco event.
“Without Swim Across America, I could not undertake the high-risk, high-reward studies that we believe hold benefit for the children and adults with cancer of tomorrow,” Saba said. “Nonprofit support of research is more important than ever.”
For Swim Across America – San Francisco Bay Area Co-Event Director Jackie NeJaime, the connection between the swimmers and researchers is what makes the event especially powerful.
“Our swimmers get to see exactly why their fundraising matters,” Jackie said. “Researchers like Dr. Saba are pursuing ideas that might otherwise struggle to get early funding, while our survivorship programs are helping young people long after their cancer treatment ends. When we swim from Little Marina Green to Aquatic Park, we know where the money is going and the impact this community is helping make.”
The event is also inspiring a new generation of swimmers to get involved.
Friends of Armada, captained by Julie Herson, returns for its third year with youth competitive swimmers from Albany Armada Aquatics Club. The team has already raised more than $17,000 during its involvement with Swim Across America and is working to raise even more this year for UCSF patients, physicians and researchers.
Also returning is UCSF Team Newborn, captained by Tom Shimotake, M.D., which will mark its 15th year participating in the San Francisco Bay swim. The team is made up of friends and supporters of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Intensive Care Nursery who share a commitment to fighting childhood cancer. Nearly one-quarter of pediatric malignancies are diagnosed during the first year of life, giving the team’s mission a particularly close connection to the patients its members serve.
Among the San Francisco community’s other leading fundraisers this year is Berkeley marathon swimmer Maya Merhige, who completed both the North Channel and Strait of Gibraltar this summer as part of her quest to complete the Oceans Seven. Merhige will be away at college on the day of the San Francisco swim but continues to raise funds for Swim Across America and its cancer research mission.
From cancer survivors to families swimming in memory of loved ones, young competitive swimmers and UCSF physicians and researchers, the September 12 swim will bring together hundreds with a shared goal: using the waters of San Francisco Bay to help create better outcomes for people facing cancer.
“Whether this is your first open water swim or you’ve been swimming in the Bay for decades, there is a place for you in this community,” Laura Hovden noted. “Swim, kayak, volunteer, create your own SAA My Way activity or support someone who is participating. Every person can help us make waves to fight cancer.”
Nationally, Swim Across America has raised more than $150 million for cancer research since its founding in 1987 and has helped fund clinical trials that contributed to the FDA-approved cancer immunotherapy medications Keytruda, Opdivo, Yervoy and Tecentriq. In the past year, Swim Across America funded a breakthrough clinical trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering that showed that immunotherapy alone could successfully treat certain types of cancer. The organization also recently awarded two first-of-its-kind gene editing innovation grants to the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, advancing novel CRISPR gene and base editing techniques used in targeted therapies, immunotherapies and cellular therapies. Swim Across America supports more than 60 cancer research projects annually, has eight named Swim Across America labs, and supports work at many of the nation’s leading cancer institutions.
For more information, to join as a swimmer, volunteer or kayaker, or to participate virtually or donate to Swim Across America – San Francisco Bay Area, visitswimacrossamerica.org/sanfrancisco.
Swim Across America, Inc. (SAA) is dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events. With open water and pool swims in 27 communities across the United States – from Nantucket to under the Golden Gate Bridge – Swim Across America, along with the help of thousands of swimmers and volunteers nationwide, and past and current Olympians, is helping find better treatments and a cure for cancer through athleticism, community outreach and direct service. To learn more, visit swimacrossamerica.org.
With great success and back by popular demand, the brightest and loudest day of the year is here. The City of Antioch Recreation Department will host its 7th Annual Big Truck Day – a day that gives families and kids of all ages an opportunity to learn more about local companies and the large vehicles they use to keep our community safe and green. Enjoy food truck options brought to you by Foodie Crew, while you explore fire engines, school buses, tractors, and many more vehicles that help our city function.
Photos: City of Antioch
Explore BIG TRUCKS while learning more about our local organizations and companies behind them. Plus, enjoy delicious food truck options from Foodie Crew while you take in all the BIG excitement!
Thursday, September 17th
4:00pm – 8:00pm
Join us at the Antioch Community Center in Prewett Community Park | 4703 Lone Tree Way
Bring the whole family for a BIG day of learning, fun, and community connection!
If your company wishes to register vehicles or large equipment for this event: Fill out the Big Truck Day Application (PDF) and send completed applications via email to La’Nae Jackson.
