Get ready to celebrate the 408 at San Jose Day this weekend

I used to worry that nobody loved San Jose the way they did when I was a kid in the 1970s and ’80s, and that all the time we spend online left people with less of a connection to where they lived. Those of us who did love San Jose were getting gray and sometimes even our passion was cooling a bit.

It turns out there’s no real need to worry, and one of the reasons is San Jose Day. You may not have heard about this, but there’s a huge, free event on Saturday — 4/08 on your calendar — at the Mexican Heritage Plaza to celebrate. It’ll have food trucks, live music, craft vendors, an art gallery and a car show. It’s everything San Joseans love besides orange sauce, swirls at Aqui and complaining about San Jose.

What I really like about this event is who is putting it together. The eclectic collective behind San Jose Day is led by Haley Cardamon, Alejandro Berber, Jorge “J. Duh” Camacho, Carman Gaines, Patricia Stokes and Esther Young.

These are all young people with a passion for making San Jose a better place to live and an understanding that we’ve got some problems to solve, too. They started small in 2017 and combined their energies to showcase San Jose’s creative culture in an event well worth applauding. But like many other events, San Jose Day went dark after 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s party runs from noon to 6 p.m. at the Mexican Heritage Plaza at 1700 Alum Rock Ave., with a musical lineup of eight performances including Jared Carbajal and the 408 Collective, Miss Hits, and Los Jefes Del 408. You can get more information (and RSVP so organizers know how many to expect) at www.sanjoseday.org. Then put on your favorite San Jose gear and head over on 4/08 to show your love for San Jose.

GARDEN PARTIES: After a three-year, COVID-forced hiatus, The UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County will host its popular spring garden fair and plant sale on April 15 at its demonstration garden at Martial Cottle Park in South San Jose. It’s a great event for gardeners — even beginners — with thousands of tomato and pepper plants, as well as flowers and herbs, for sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

One of the big draws this year will likely be a Brandywine tomato from Croatia that has an interesting story behind it. A member of the public brought one to a tomato testing at one of the spring garden fairs before the pandemic, and it was such a hit that the Master Gardeners started saving the seeds to grow them for the public. By the way, the tomato testing is back this year, and the public can weigh in on a couple of varieties.