October 2, 2007

Founders’ Day, Italian Festa bring out crowds

Parade leads off weekend with fun

By Carol Rosen
Editor

There were crowded streets, crowded sidewalks and crowded stores on Saturday and Sunday Sept. 28-29 as Willow Glen closed Lincoln Avenue to celebrate both the 80th anniversary of Founders’ Day and the 27th annual Italian Festa.

While the bands on the Roma Stage played, attendees danced or just sat and enjoyed the music. There also were several dance contests where prizes came with an Italian flair. Photo by Carol Rosen

There was a two-hour parade filled with bands, floats and cars and led off by honorary grand marshal John Buzzone, and grand marshal Pierluigi Oliverio, both of whom are Italian. Other politicos also attended including Assembly member Jim Beall, Evan Low representing State Senator Elaine Alquist, San Jose Vice Mayor Dave Cortese, Council member Forrest Williams, Santa Clara County Supervisors Ken Yeager and Pete McHugh, District Attorney Dolores Carr and Sunnyvale Mayor Otto Lee and Vice Mayor Tony Spitaleri.

They were followed by Nancy DeVincenzi-Melander, the president of the Italian American Heritage Foundation, which put on the festival that opened after the parade and the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association with a recreation of the neighborhoods incorporation into San Jose in 1927 and its current board of directors. Deputy Chief Jim Carter, a Willow Glen resident who’s spent 33 years with the San Jose Fire Department was in the parade riding on a 1937 American LaFrance fire engine.

Other highlights include S.J. Sharkie, the Shark’s mascot, Schallenberger Elementary School staff and students with a classic car and playing music of the 50s and 60s. The Willow Glen Relay For Life, Willow Glen High Leadership and Robotics Clubs as well as Vintage Chevrolet Car Club of America and the Santa Clara Chapters of the Model T and the Model A Ford Club, the Royal Custom Car Club, Willow Glen Automotive’s Vintage muscle cars and a 1963 Buick Wildcat lent a whiff of auto history to the parade.

Large crowds sometimes made walking difficult as lines developed for food and drinks. But everyone seemed to have a great time and there were many things to do and see. At least 35,000 people were expected for the two-day event and while numbers weren't available at press time, it appeared that even more people attended exceeding expectations. Photos by Carol Rosen

At least 7,000 people viewed the 150-minute parade that also included students from school from Booksin, Schallenberger, Willow Glen and Hammer Montessori Schools. The San Jose Mounted Patrol was also in the parade and on the streets later in the day. Other parade entrants included shops from the Avenue, the San Jose Giants, a cart from the Festa, Girl and Boy Scouts and the Willow Glen Business Association.

The Italian Festa followed the parade with booths full of Italian made items including linens, jewelry and lots of Italian, and some American, food. There was entertainment with bands, both on the Roma Stage at the northern end of the street, and at Details, where owner Bernie Levine hired the Old Brown Shoe, which played all day to the delight of customers, as well as the Silicon Valley Accordian Society.

The Preservation Action Council of San Jose and the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association had a booth at the Garden Theater building where they sold books called “A Touring History of Willow Glen.”

Written by Joan Bohnett with help from PAC-San Jose and the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, the book has 131 pages describing 10 walking loops throughout the area providing history, backgrounds of the homes and their styles, a history of the streets, developers and architecture.

The parking lot by Jamba Juice served as the Kids' Corner and allowed the children to play games and jump in the Jump House.

PAC-SJ hopes it will be the first in a series of books that describe walking tours throughout the city of San Jose. The book sold well, the joint effort netted $1,500 for WGNA and PAC-SJ. The two groups also offered walking tours and took several groups of five to seven people on different neighborhood tours explaining the style—Victorian or Craftsman, for example—as well as architectural styles and so forth.

The shops along Lincoln Avenue remained open throughout the day, some later into the evening. All the businesses noticed increased shoppers and more sales than is typical on a weekend. However, a number of business owners south of Brace complained most of the Italian Festa was north of Brace so that they thought they had fewer customers because all the food, entertainment and cultural and arts and crafts booths were farther away.

There were nine major sponsors of the event including Mark Fagan, DDS, Fratellos Ristorante, Sobrato Development Companies, Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, The Morley Brothers, SDS NexGen, Taiwan Restaurant, WGNA and the city of San Jose.