Celebrating Community Connections in Cupertino

It was a beautiful day last Saturday at Cupertino Memorial Park, the first day of the Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival, which honors Cupertino’s sister city of Toyokawa, Japan, and on a bigger scale, community. Festivals like these are a mainstay of American towns. As hundreds of people enjoyed the sunshine and explored the cultural exhibits to learn about Japanese culture, they made connections.

Cupertino Patch was among the many local businesses and organizations there with a booth. Each time I attend one of these local events I am reminded of how extraordinary our communities are, how each festival uniquely highlights a town’s passions and cultures and how much we can learn there.

At the Fine Arts League of Cupertino booth, a group of passionate local artists was showcasing their great work. With 40 + members now, the ambitious FALC is recruiting new members, all part of their effort to build community and support the flourishing art scene in Silicon Valley. These artists are participating in the 27th annual Open Studios Silicon Valley, which runs the first three weekends in May (so plan an outing for today and support local artists!), when the work of more than 400 area artists will be on display at local studios in Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Palo Alto, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, and Woodside.Nearby at the JanoIndia booth, besides signing up for summer camps where kids can learn Hindi and have some fun too, people like Ruchita Parat, a Palo Alto powerhouse who seven years ago founded the US Hindi Association and JanoIndia and her volunteers shared facts about the local Indian community and culture. Saratoga artist Sachiyo Ueda from Japan, a.k.a. Origami Mommy, was selling her beautiful and colorful hand-made origami jewelry, cards and ornaments, and happily shared the secrets of the ancient art. After getting a taste of the delicious cinnamon roasted almonds from Oliver's Almonds, Maurice Friedauer, one of two sons of the German-born founder Oliver Friedauer, who helps run the family business in Belmont, relayed a bit about the fascinating history of his family business.

So many community connections to make, so many stories behind each festival booth.