San Jose Christmas Parade Photos

Thanks for the photos Tom!

Merry Christmas San Jose!

Santa-GO-Round 2010 - Dec 12th!

The people that brought you Zombie-O-Rama (SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery) and the San Jose Downtown Association and throwing a unique holiday event this Sunday, December 12th... Santa-GO-Round! Expect to see Downtown San Jose overrun by people in Santa costumes... ice skating, pub hopping, and causing all sorts of holiday mischief! There will also be the obligatory costume contest as well as an innovative toy drive. By giving an unwrapped toy, you will get certificated redeemable for a little something from all of the participating venues listed below. For all of the details, continue reading!

Come down to the Circle of Palms in Downtown San Jose

Here Is Your List Of Events. Check It Twice!

The Circle of Palms is located between  the San Jose Museum of Art and The Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose. Santa-Go-Round activities will be wedged in between the fun of Downtown Ice and Christmas in the Park. Be sure to bring a donation for the Christmas in the Park fund and help keep that uniquely San Jose event alive for future generations.

STUFF GOING ON!

In addition to bringing a buck for Christmas in the Park, Santa-Go-Round HQ wants you to bring a new toy to be donated to Innvision. Metro Newspapers and Channel 92.3 will be on site with giveways and promotions and the SLG Art Boutiki will have a special Santa-Go-Round shirt on sale.

1-4 pm – Discount Skating: Skate Hawaiian Airlines / Kristi Yamaguchi Downtown Ice IN COSTUME and receive $5 off.

1 pm –closing – InnVision-sponsored Toy Drive: Bring an unwrapped toy to Circle of Palms and receive a certificate to collect one free item 5:30 pm-close at each participating business, only on Dec. 12.

4:30-5:30 pm – Costume Contest (Downtown Ice):   Categories will be:
Most Inventive Santa Costume
Best Mrs. Claus

• First Prize: Two tickets to Wondercon, the Bay Area's Premiere Comic Book and Pop-Culture event plus gift certificates worth more than $100 to downtown San Jose’s best places.

• Second Prize: $100 in gift certificates to downtown’s best places.

4:30-5:30 pm – “Letter to Santa” contest (Downtown Ice): For children 12 and under.
Write a letter, read it aloud and win a prize. All participants will get a free prize.

5:30 pm – Christmas Carolers: Up to three separate groups of carolers will circulate among participating businesses. Imagine singing all over Downtown San Jose! Feel free to join in – even if you’re out of costume. Caroling route maps and
timetables will be available at Circle of Palms Downtown restaurants, bars and venues participating, each providing discounted options for participants dressed for the event. Don’t forget to donate a toy and receive a special certificate good for a
free item at each stop along the “Go-Round.”

PARTICIPATING VENUES

Mmoon’Empanadas – 177 W. Santa Clara St.
O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub – 25 N. San Pedro St.
Peggy Sue’s Diner – 25 N. San Pedro St.
The Tabard Theatre / Theatre on San Pedro Square – 29 N. San Pedro St.
Satori Tea Shop - 37 N. San Pedro St.
Sonoma Chicken Coop – 31 N. Market St.
Morrocco’s Restaurant – 86 N. Market St.
Carl’s Jr – 15 S. First St.
Bronze Tanning Studio – 36 S. First St.
Macieo’s Brazilian Restaurant – 72 S. First St.
A Perfect Finish Wine Bar – 55 S. First St.
Bella Mia Restaurant - 58 S. First St.
Mezcal - 25 W. San Fernando St.
Azucar – 71 E. San Fernando St.
Loft Bar and Bistro – 90 S. Second St.
Tandoori Oven – 150 S. First St.
Ruffled Feathers – 200 S. First St.
Psyhco Donuts – 288 S. Second St.
Slave Labor Graphics – 577 S. Market St.

Merc: Holiday Happenings in Downtown San Jose

There is a great link in the Merc today listing all of the holiday events happening in Downtown San Jose. You have great traditions like Christmas in the Park, Winter Wonderland, Downtown Ice, The Holiday Parade (ranked one of the best in the country), the Nutcracker. Then you have several stage shows ranging from the San Jose Symphony to several Pavilion concerts including the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Now some items that I didn't even know about: $5 family movies at the opulent California Theater in SoFA, free concerts in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, and a new museum exhibit at The Tech (okay this last one I did know about). To read the full list in the Merc, just click here. Thanks Jon for the heads up!

1st Annual Downtown Ice Clause Crawl (?!)

Earlier this year Downtown San Jose was infested by hundreds of zombies in it's first annual Zombie Crawl. This raises the question...what will they think of next, a Santa Crawl?? What's that you say, Santa Crawl this Friday starting 4:30pm at Billy Berk's? Well, I guess all I can do now is give you the details:

Claus Crawl Schedule
4:30 – 5:30pm (non-skaters) Billy Berk’s
5-6pm Downtown Ice Rink
6-7pm The Fairmont Hotel Lounge
7-8pm The Temple Bar & Lounge
8-9pm Mezcal Restaurant
9-10pm Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge

This brilliant event is being hosted by the San Jose Downtown Association. If you dress up as Santa and bring a can of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank, you'll get to skate for free AND be eligible for prizes awarded to the most unique, most authentic, most San Jose, and most crowd pleasing Santas. The restaurants above will even be offering drink specials and prizes to Santas. Wear a reindeer hat and you'll get free non-alcoholic reindeer drinks all night long. For more information, check out the facebook page here!

At this rate, we'll have a drunk-zombie-Easter-bunny crawl hopping through downtown come April.

(Thanks to DH for the tip!)

South First Fridays Art Walk Tonight!

It's that time again! Today, not only can you enjoy art and music from 8pm-late in SoFA, but you can also walk over an check out Christmas in the Park which should be in full swing today. If you want to see downtown San Jose full of life, today is the day to go! It should be a perfect example of what downtown San Jose could be like everyday at some point in the future. As you walk around, also keep in mind that something like Halloween in the Park could extend the excitement by at least another month. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy the Art Walk tonight, it should be a good one!

Halloween in the Park, Part II

A couple of weeks ago I posted a suggestion to have a Downtown San Jose event similar to Christmas in the Park... except themed for Halloween. Everyone seems to think that this is a really good idea and Dan Vado (sponsor for Zombie-O-Rama) volunteered to take point.

Here is a revised list of ideas to reflect what was previously posted in comments.

• Animated Halloween Displays
• assembled by talented local artists
• analogous to the Christmas displays that attract many families during Christmas in the Park (almost half a million visitors)
• family friendly so that everyone can enjoy it (PG/PG13, perhaps around the same level as Great America Halloween Haunt)
• Halloween Lighting
• orange, purple, and green LED lighting on trees
• may be possible to use new controllable lighting that can go from Halloween colors to Christmas colors with the push of a button... that way the lights could stay up for Christmas in the Park as well and would only have to be put up and taken down once
• Retail Booths selling Halloween items, for example:
• home decor like candles
• artwork (paintings, glass pumpkins, etc.)
• costumes
• light-up hats/necklaces/bracelets
• zombie/Halloween make-up station 
• Food booths with candied apples, chocolates, candy, etc.
• Halloween-themed carnival games
• Instead of the sponsored Christmas trees in Christmas in the Park, how about decorated Pumpkins (can even be Styrofoam so there is no mess/decay)?
• Pumpkin carving station for families. Perhaps a pumpkin carving contest.
• Costumed entertainers 
• walking around the area, not necessarily scaring people but adding to the ambiance and providing photo opportunities for families
• Haunts
• Would be ideal if these were nearby, perhaps in vacant retails spaces, surface parking lots, the convention center, or at SJSU.
• Potential Events
• Zombie-O-Rama can be used to kick off Halloween in the Park (late Sep. / early Oct. timeframe)
• Dia De Los Muertes Bike Party
• Weekly horror movie screening (perhaps in the Circle of Palms area?)

As before, please post your suggestions below!

Halloween in the Park?

The largest draw to downtown San Jose for many years now has been Christmas in the Park. In has continued to grow year after year and brings in visitors from all over the bay. It's economic impact I'm sure is substantial and helps keep many downtown businesses afloat.

What would you think about a similar event for Halloween? Picture downtown lit up in orange and purple with elaborate Halloween displays assembled by talented local artists. Perhaps a lot of the infrastructure could even be shared with Christmas in the Park (e.g. retail booths). A strong event in October would help maintain traffic between the Music in the Park months and Christmas in the Park. It would be nice to flesh out this idea and perhaps make a formal proposal in a year or two if there is interest.

Here are some ideas I'm tossing around for what I would want to see in a "Halloween in the Park" event:

• Animated Halloween Displays (analogous to the Christmas displays that attract many families during Christmas in the Park)
• Orange, purple, and green LED lighting on trees.  It is also possible to use new controllable lighting that can go from Halloween colors to Christmas colors with the push of a button... that way the lights could stay up for Christmas in the Park as well and would only have to be put up and taken down once)
• Retail booths selling Halloween items 
• Food booths with candied apples, chocolates, candy, etc.
• Halloween-themed carnival games
• Costumed entertainers walking around the area, not necessarily scaring people but adding to the ambiance and providing photo opportunities for families.

Any thoughts?