Events

Los Gatos Election: Virtual Candidate Forum

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Patriot Cat Vote the Los Gatos ElectionIt’s an election year for the Town of Los Gatos! The Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce is hosting a virtual seminar for voters to meet the candidates. This is a free event, but you must sign up to receive the link to view. Public questions can be submitted at registration (one question per registration) and all questions will be curated for relevance to the topic of focus:  local business and economy. This is not a town-hall style meeting, but a moderated forum presented in a Zoom webinar.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2020

7pm – 8:30pm

For information, changes, and registration, please go to the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce page for this event, called Candidate Forum or through the URL listed below.

https://www.losgatoschamber.com/events/details/candidate-forum-14798

 

If you missed the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum for the Town of Los Gatos that happened on September 21st and you would like to view it, a recording of the session is available on the LWV Southwest Santa Clara Valley Youtube page through this link.

And remember to cast your vote on November 3rd or sooner!

Garden Against Fire!

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Landscaping for Wildfire ProtectionThe Los Gatos Library will host an online class, Landscaping for Wildfire Protection

Coming up Thursday, September 24th from 6-7pm Pacific.

Does your garden fight fires? With fire season growing longer and fiercer each year with devastating losses, you might be wondering what you can do to lower risks and protect your property against wildfires. Especially if you live near one of the Bay Area’s beautiful greenspaces! Join the Los Gatos Library with speaker Barbara Hunt, UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County, to learn about how wildfires spread and how to landscape to protect your home, from hardscapes to fire-resistant plants. This is a free lecture aimed at California homeowners but open to all.

For more information and the Zoom link, please view the event page.

Join the event on Facebook and set a reminder.

Want to learn more about fire in Los Gatos? Check out some of my other posts on this topic:

Los Gatos Fire Risk

Wildfire Evacuation Route Signs Being Installed (2016)

Fighting Fire With … Wine

A History of Los Gatos Fires and the Los Gatos Fire Department

Fiesta de Artes in Los Gatos

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It’s no surprise after 4 months of sheltering in place due to coronavirus, but the 2020 season of Fiesta de Artes is off. It had been planned for Sept 19-20.

Stay home and stay safe – we’ll see you again in 2020!

https://losgatosfiesta.com/

 

Info from last year is below…

 

Los Gatos Fiesta de Artes

 

Saturday September 21st and Sunday September 22nd mark the return of the Fiesta de Artes Los Gatos, Art & Wine Festival, the only Art & Wine Festival in town all year!  It will be located at the Civic Center lawn, and the hours are 10 am to 6 pm both days. (This year it was moved from August to September – hopefully there will be far less “beach traffic” with this timing, which seems like a great idea to me.)

What happens at the Fiesta de Artes?

Think food & drink, art & shopping, dancing & socializing! Once again, there will be more than 150 vendors with a huge variety of artists and vendors displaying and selling their artwork, plus booths with food and wine and of course loads of music throughout both days. Please check out the musical lineup here: Fiesta de Artes music lineup

Where is the Fiesta de Artes held?

Fiesta de Artes will be at the Civic Center lawn across the street from Los Gatos High School.

For more information, please visit https://LosGatosFiesta.com/

Southern Kitchen Coffee Shop Celebrates 25 Years

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Cocoa at Southern KitchenOn Saturday, March 3rd, Southern Kitchen marks an impressive 25 years of service*. This family-owned restaurant has been providing savory and sweet flavors with a touch of the South on E. Main Street for years – if you don’t know them you should!

Southern Kitchen invites you to celebrate with them, with a ribbon cutting and champagne toast from noon to 1pm (details on the Los Gatos Chamber events page). The restaurant’s web page does not have any information on the event, but it is advertised some on their social media pages. Regular hours should still be in effect, so if you can’t make it Saturday at noon, drop by weekdays from 7am to 2pm and weekends from 7am to 3pm for a scrumptious meal.

 

Event page: https://www.losgatoschamber.com/events/details/ribbon-cutting-southern-kitchen-25th-anniversary-10583

Southern Kitchen’s website: http://www.southernkitchenlg.com/

*I just hit my 25th anniversary in real estate, too! Apparently 1993 was a very good year for beginnings!

Los Gatos Historic Home Tour

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HHTBigBash2018_WebBanner.jpg

The annual Los Gatos historic home tour returns to town for one day only on April 21st, 2018, and tickets will be available to purchase online as soon as February 26th. Sponsored by the New Museum of Los Gatos (NUMU), the annual event showcases beautiful Los Gatos properties from different eras and frequently their gardens, too.

The focus of this 23rd annual Los Gatos historic home tour will be the lovely Johnson Avenue neighborhood!

Seven houses will be on display for tour-goers. The medley of event features also includes some live music and vintage cars for show on the street.

The NUMU site offers this teaser about the Los Gatos historic home tour: “The program guide provided to all tour goers includes historical and architectural information on the featured homes as well as back stories and trivia on the history of the Johnson Avenue neighborhood, including the locations of the former sites of a private zoo of exotic animals, and the baseball field where Los Gatan Hal Chase practiced. (He was later implicated in the Black Sox scandal of 1919.)”

Sunday evening, in lieu of the usual second tour day is a new event, entitled A Bigger Bash.

Please visit the link below or click on the image at the right to get all of the details and to purchase your advance tickets (more costly if you wait to the day of the event).

http://www.numulosgatos.org/hht

Please also see this list of downtown, central, and historic Los Gatos neighborhoods

Los Gatos Celebrates July 4th, Independence Day, Join in the Fun!

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It’s officially summer and Independence Day is fast approaching. What are your plans for the fourth?

Downtown Los Gatos has plenty going on!

First up, a block party:

Between 10:30 am and 4 pm the Saturday before Independence Day, a portion of Downtown Los Gatos will be closed to traffic for a patriotic block party! There will be live music on multiple stages, games, crafts, red, white, and blue decorations, face painting, a bounce house, and a dunk tank. Pedal in to avoid traffic and make use of the bike valet service! Enjoy shopping and dining at all your usual haunts downtown for a break from the sun. Catch the fun at North Santa Cruz Avenue from Main Street to Bachman Avenue.

Check out the block party events page on the Town website, share the flier with a friend, and plan the day with the schedule of events through the links.

Next up, the annual 4th of July Symphony and celebration!

The San Jose Wind Symphony will come together once again at Oak Meadow Park under the bandstand. There will be great American music, barbecue, beer, snacks, games, a few words shared, train rides on the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, carousel rides, and good fun for the family. So take some friends, wine, and a picnic, or a pooch and a Frisbee and enjoy your day at the park! Bring something to sit on, protect yourself from the sun, and prepare yourself to have some fun! Remember, parking in Oak Meadow is free to Town residents, but spots are limited so carpool if you can. Flag raising is at 4pm, and the concert starts at 4:15pm.

For more information, please see the info page on the town’s website for the July 4th happenings and the event flier.

Have a safe and happy Fourth, everyone!

Kid friendly things to do in and near Los Gatos

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Kids sailing at VasonaWill you be visiting Los Gatos for a day or weekend, or staying for a lifetime?  Either way, there are tons of things to do for children of all ages both in and near Los Gatos.

Outdoors

If the weather’s fine, as it often is here, you might start by introducing your kids to Oak Meadow and Vasona Parks, which are adjacent to each other.  Oak Meadow includes a great airplane that kids can climb on, a beautiful carousel and a small train that loops into Vasona and back. Vasona has paddle boats that can be rented (seasonally).  And of course there’s lots of playground equipment and sprawling lawn for those who want to toss a ball or frisbee around.  For time outdoors, these parks are hard to beat.  Read more about these very cool parks here:  https://liveinlosgatosblog.com/vasona-and-oak-meadow/

The Youth Science Institute is a program offered at Vasona to help educate students on nature.  This is not a one day event but is extremely worthwhile.  Check it out: http://www.ysi-ca.org/

If your little people like to hike and explore, the Montalvo estate and grounds in Saratoga is a great nearby option on a dry day, too.  Montalvo is an arts center but there are wonderful trails which can be enjoyed.  But no picnicing, sorry!  Learn more at my Valley of Heart’s Delight blog: http://sanjoserealestatelosgatoshomes.com/great-time-of-year-to-visit-villa-montalvo/

All ages: any of the free music events, all of which are out doors, virtually all summer long in Los Gatos!
https://liveinlosgatosblog.com/los-gatos-free-music-concert-series-music-in-the-park-jazz-on-the-plazz-and-vasona-vibrations-schedule-of-events-and-performers/

Touristy but still fun

Roaring Camp and Big Trees   http://www.roaringcamp.com/

The Mystery Spot http://www.mysteryspot.com/

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk  http://beachboardwalk.com/

California’s Great America in Santa Clara (amusement park, rides)   https://www.cagreatamerica.com/

Time to eat!

There are MANY great kid-friendly restaurants in Los Gatos.  A few of my favorites are these:

 Indoor Fun

The Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose https://www.cdm.org/

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose  https://www.thetech.org/

Petroglyph (in Los Gatos, Willow Glen, and Santa Cruz locally) http://www.petroglyph.com/

More?

Looking for more ideas?  There’s a slightly longer list of kid friendly things to do on another of my blogs. Have a read:

http://sanjoserealestatelosgatoshomes.com/kids-in-silicon-valley-fun-places-to-go/