JetSuiteX is launching a new route to Carlsbad (San Diego)

JetSuiteX is a public charter airline that flies out of San Jose's swanky private terminal on the opposite side of Terminals A and B. They already have two routes, one to Burbank and another to Bozeman, Montana. Their third route will be a nonstop to Carlsbad that launches on October 17th.

The flight will depart Carlsbad at 7:45am and arrive in San Jose at 9:10am, with the return flight leaving San Jose at 5pm and arriving at 6:25pm. Fares are $499 each way, but hey you are basically flying on a private plane.

For more info, head over to the JetSuiteX website.

Source: SVBJ

Wednesday Wishlist: Halloween in the Park! (Part X)

Keeping with San Jose Blog tradition, in October we have a Wednesday Wishlist post for Halloween in the Park. The idea is to build on the momentum that Christmas in the Park brings to San Jose each year and create something of similar scale for the month of October with Halloween in the Park! A lot of the infrastructure such as wiring, lighting, and booths might even be able to be shared between the events. The goal would be to make Downtown San Jose the epicenter of October Halloween experiences.

Below you will find brainstorming ideas we have collected for this concept so far over the years. Please have a look and provide your feedback and suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

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The largest draw to Downtown San Jose for many years now has been Christmas in the Park. It has continued to grow year after year and brings in visitors from all over the Bay Area. It's economic impact is substantial and helps keep many Downtown businesses and restaurants alive.

What would you think about a similar event for Halloween? Picture Downtown lit up in orange and purple with elaborate Halloween displays assembled by local artists. Perhaps 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 summer months and Christmas in the Park. Here are the ideas we have so far:

• Animated Halloween Displays
• Created by 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 programmable LED lighting that can go from Halloween colors to Christmas colors with the push of a button, allowing the lights to stay up for Christmas in the Park as well and reducing setup/take-down costs.
• Halloween Food
• Booths with candied apples, chocolates, candy, pumpkin seeds, etc.
• Food trucks
• Trick-or-treating station - a free piece of candy to anyone wearing a costume any day in October (could also be used to hand out promotional flyers for Downtown events/businesses/resources)
• Retail Booths selling Halloween items, for example:
• Artwork (paintings, glass pumpkins, etc.)
• Home decor/crafts like candles
• Light-up hats/necklaces/bracelets
• Costumes
• Zombie/Halloween make-up station 
• Halloween-themed Carnival Games
• Pirates of Emerson and Candlelighters (Fremont) do a good job of providing family-friendly games themed around Halloween
• A handful of children's rides could also be added to the Paseo and reused for Christmas in the Park
• Interactive Art
• Subzero/ZERO1-style, but with a Halloween spin.
• Halloween-themed video game kiosks and/or arcades
• Pumpkins
• 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. 
• 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 / Mazes
• Would be ideal if these were nearby, perhaps in vacant retails spaces, surface parking lots, the San Jose Convention Center tent, or at SJSU.
• Could partners with one of the established San Jose haunt providers such as Deadtime Dreams or The World's Largest Haunted House.
• Potential Events
• Zombie-O-Rama can be used to kick off Halloween in the Park (late Sep. / early Oct. time-frame)
• Zombie Crawl
• Dia De Los Muertos Events
• Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos Bike Party
• Horror Movie Trivia Contest
• Weekly horror movie screening (perhaps in the Circle of Palms area?)
• Costume Ball

Inspirations:

• Candle Lighters
• Pirates of Emerson
• The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze (photos below)

Chamber announces Silicon Valley IDEA (Initiative to Drive Economic Advancement)

The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce announced a new initiative a couple weeks
ago to strengthen the Chamber’s regional economic development efforts. This includes a regional branding initiative and creating a shared voice for local businesses to identify and address issues related to regional business operations and quality of life.

The goal is to help maintain Silicon Valley's role as the world's top innovation powerhouse and market our area as such to the rest of the globe. Below are five short videos that introduce 'silicon valley IDEA.'

For more information on 'silicon valley IDEA' or to become directly involved in the program, please visit: https://siliconvalleyidea.org

Anne & Mark's Art Party

Check out this two-minute tour of Anne & Mark's Art Party, one of the coolest art festivals in the Bay Area. The video comes from our friends at WMS media Inc.

Anne & Mark's Art Party 2016 from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Young Creatures playing at Back Bar SoFA

Young Creatures is a psych/rock band playing at the Back Bar SoFA tomorrow. To get a feel for their music, you can sample their work at Soundcloud. There you can even check out Slow, the first single off of their upcoming 2017 album.

The show starts at 9pm, is 21+, and only costs $5 to get in. Back Bar is located at 418 S. Market Street. For more info, follow the Young Creatures Facebook Page.

Creative Convergence Silicon Valley: C2SV returns to San Jose’s SoFA District, Oct. 6-8

The fourth annual C2SV conference kicks off next week in SoFA. It is Silicon Valley's version of South by Southwest, combining a tech conference with music festival. For all of the details, schedules, and for tickets (which range from $99-199), head over to the C2SV website.

San Jose, CA., — Now in its fourth year, Silicon Valley’s pre-eminent technology and music festival, Creative Convergence Silicon Valley (C2SV), will bring together business disrupters and technology luminaries for two days of forward­-looking discussions and three nights of music and parties with established and emerging musical artists.

The festival will take a deep look at the technology industry’s mixed record of promoting women into leadership positions as Michele Madansky and Hillary Mickell take the stage to present “The Elephant in the Valley.” Thursday evening will feature the SoFA Design Crawl, in which the district’s marketing and product design firms welcome visitors into their studios, and a night of music headlined by electronic music legend DJ Donald Glaude.
                                                                     
Friday will feature a rich lineup of speakers and topics, with highlights including best-selling author Antonio García Martínez talking about “Chaos Monkeys,” and a discussion about business reinvention with George Zimmer, former CEO of Men’s Wearhouse and current CEO of Generation Tux.

More notable presenters will be added. Previous conferences have featured industry legends such as personal computer inventor Steve Wozniak, video game pioneer Nolan Bushnell and antivirus buccaneer John McAfee.

C2SV will be held at the historic California Theatre, 27 South Market Street, in downtown San Jose’s creative district, SoFA. The conference starts on Thursday, Oct. 6, and ends on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016.

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About C2SV

Creative Convergence Silicon Valley (C2SV) was established in 2012 as the one­-day Silicon Valley Sound Experience (SVSX) and was greatly expanded in 2013 as the first conference of its type at the expanded San Jose McEnery Convention Center.  Visit:  www.c2sv.com  for more details.

1st Annual Little Italy San Jose Street Festival

Little Italy is throwing a huge party this Sunday from 11am to 8pm! The very first Little Italy San Jose Street Festival will feature authentic Italian cuisine (of course), local bands, traditional Italian entertainment, children's activities, Italian Cars, Italian Arts & Crafts. There may even be a sneak peak into the future Italian Museum & Cultural Center.

Admission is free and the event is family friendly. Free parking will be available at 333 West Julian. For more info, head over to their Facebook page.

San Jose Murder Mystery Dinners

Last weekend, my wife and I attended "A Dance with Death," a 50's-themed interactive murder mystery dinner in Downtown San Jose. The event was a blast!

The story is told during three acts where the mystery unfolds live. There are actors but some of the guests are also turned into characters in the story. Obviously, one or more people are not going to make it through the night and your goal is to figure out who the murderer (or murderers) are. In between the acts you have time to do investigation and interact with each character to collect clues. Throughout the show you also get a three-course meal and can order drinks to help lubricate your brain.

The Murder Mystery Co. hosts a dinner every Sunday at the Old Spaghetti Factory in San Pedro Square. They have been performing in the Bay Area for the last 3+ years and have a very talented group of actors. There are different themes and stories, but it looks like the two that are alternating right now are "A Dance with Death" and "Midnight at the Masquerade." The also host a Thursday event in Redwood City at another OSF.

Fore more information and for tickets, head over here.