With the beautiful weather this weekend, I decided to take some friends and head down to Campbell for their annual Oktoberfest street fair. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw there. The entire downtown stretch of East Campbell Blvd. was shut down to traffic and booths lined the streets with people of all ages walking around enjoying the day. It made me have faith that events geared towards the younger crowd in this area can be fun without turning into something undesirable.
Though the lines for beer were way too long, the concept was great. And if you had the patience to stand in two lines, you could buy your own beer stein along with five $1 tickets, and then get a nice cold Spaten poured right into it. My friends and I cruised the streets people watching, eating Bratwurst and just meeting new friends and old ones. There was plenty of shade, a fun atmosphere and even traditional German music with dancing (though I saw a few too many people wearing lederhosen than probably should have been legal). But, overall, it was a great experience; there is something to be said for being able to drink in the middle of the street in the middle of the day. It reminds me of being in New Orleans.
So it brought back memories of the Brew Ha Ha that we used to have in downtown San Jose. What ever happened to it? Would an Oktoberfest-type celebration that works so well in Campbell ever work in downtown San Jose? Or is the main factor why it is successful in Campbell is that it is a quaint little town? I hope many people got a chance to make it there; it shows you that people want events like this—and they can work!
Single Gal, I don’t see any particular benefit from having a celebration in the downtown area. Festivals, art fairs, etc. work quite well anywhere people choose to have them. For some reason, folks seem to get major constipation that everything isn’t downtown.
Hey Barney,
That’s like, your opinion man….
Downtown can and should have these types of events. If you get the right kind of events and the right kind of crowds, the animals won’t come around anymore…
Single Gal,
Growing up in this valley and having picked prunes, Campbell was a little farm village with drying sheds and a packing house. This valley use to be the prune capital of the world… or so it seemed.
Now in northern California, there is the Yuba-Sutter Prune festival it’s alive and doing well. Interesting how they do it.
http://www.syix.com/yubacity/prunefestival.html
It looks like their festival is a product of area’s interest and volunteer effort.
I doubt that the Yuba-Sutter politicos voted $1.8 mil to fund it… flew to France to learn about the origin of Prunes… and promised the area it would be a huge money maker.
Maybe when the climate is right and down town has a critical mass of residents that feel in the mood and want put something together from the ground up, San Jose might have a Village-like festival that is warm, safe and enjoyable. Until then… it takes a village.
I love Downtown Campbell and miss it terribly. Many of my fondest memories of life in Silicon Valley come from spending a lazy day at the Oktoberfest, Boogee on the Bayou (formerly the PruneFestival), St. Patrick’s Day event, Carol of Lights parade or even a simple Sunday at the Farmer’s Market.
Sadly, I don’t think Downtown San Jose will ever be anything other than what it is, a 9am-5pm place where people work and nothing else. Downtown Campbell is “real” and sadly Downtown San Jose is “plastic”. The city has tried to create something grand but it just comes off as artificial. These things have to be organic to be successful, or at the very least driven by the marketplace, not the RDA.
Many San Jose residents prefer to Not go downtown because of it’s many problems unfixed after decades so go to other cities – Campbell, Los Gatos Milpitas Palo Alto, Gilroy which means on any weekend you can see your friends anyplace but downtown
A great city has many great neighborhoods and neighborhood events and if San Jose would start supporting neighborhood events equal to downtown events we can bring many of our residents, jobs and money back to San Jose rather than giving it year after year to other cities
San Jose’s “Downtown or Nothing” Events Policy is not working regardless of many downtown supporter dreams since you can not force people to go places where they are uncomfortable like downtown.
We all go to other cities rather to what could be many well attended city supported neighborhood events until downtown is a desirable place to go
I drove by the festival Sunday on my way elsewhere, and noticed a significant contingent of what appeared to be National Guard troops manning the gates. Wassup widdat?
Anyway, it seems the Oktoberfest went off well, which is to be congratulated. The Downtown Campbell Merchants’ Assoc. seems to have something going on, since this isn’t the first even there that has been a success.
Willow Glen has Dancin’ on The Avenue, which goes off well. Sadly, they cancelled Founders Day (AGAIN!), presumably for lack of funds.
Seems like there’s no predicting when a**holes will show up to ruin a perfectly good eventfor the rest of us; but they seem to show up downtown San Jose more than elsewhere. [Anyone heard of riots after the Campbell, Los Gatos, Almaden, Mt. View, Los Altos, Cupertino various wine/arts and crafts fairs?]
Anybody venture a guess as to why that is?
Couldn’t be the respective demographics of the partygoers, could it? OOOps, it would be politically incorrect to suggest such a notion.
Granted, there are downtown events that do not result in violence. Indeed, they greatly outnumber the ones that do result in violence. But if some non-politically-correct person were to objectively examine the makeup of the groups that do engage in violence, the results would shock those willing to accept them, but would be dismissed by those not so willing. It’s time to get real about who the troublemakers are, and deal with them harshly. Then, we could have more successful events like those SG speaks of above. That would bring more people downtown, and, after successful implementation, rid downtown of both the troublemakers and the type of police presence that unfortunately turns everyone off.
Hey, it worked with the massive hooker presence in what is now calle SoFA in the late 70’s-early 80’s(forgetting for a moment their somewhat less obvious presence on The Alameda these days).
SG,
Events will never work in downtown again. The police have made sure of it. They treat event visitors to san Jose like animals; so all you get are animals.
We are not the caliber of city to ever have style or substance again. I will never go downtown; and thus my money goes elsewhere.
Dream on if you think that downtown will ever have a cool event like this. The police will never allow it!!!!! Nicer people just won’t come downtown in force; except for maybe a sharks game.
Natalie has is right with post #5. The downtown areas of Campbell and Los Gatos have character. The morons in charge here in SJ allowed all the character of our downtown to be pushed over, paved over, or replaced with sterile office towers or failed retail pavillions. Downtown SJ no longer lends itself to a retail environment where shoppers could stroll for several blocks and enjoy the shopping experience out of doors instead of in a climate controlled stamped out mall. We may end up with a contrived scene similar to Santana Row downtown when the CIM project is done, but we will never get back what we had with storefronts lining First and Second Streets for blocks. If those still existed we’d be seeing specialty shops trickling in slowly and the eventual re-creation of the thriving retail district that existed downtown up until about 45 years ago. Thanks to the Santa Clara style of thinking that past SJ councils subscribed to, we will never see a viable retail district in downtown SJ again, period.
Long time listener, first time caller here….
Hey Single Gal,
Glad you were able to make it down to Campbell for Oktoberfest last weekend. I was there on Sunday, and although it started to get really crowded in the late afternoon, I had a great time. The weather was perfect, the crowd was fun, the beer was good, and the music was…..well……hmmm……uhhhh…..German (actually, it was pretty fun to listen to). All in all, not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon (particularly in light of how our local pro football teams are doing this year).
Before I continue, let me say this: I was born and raised in San Jose and have lived in or around SJ for most of my life. I will always consider San Jose my home town and wouldn’t want my home town to be any other city (well, it would be kinda cool to have Rome as a home town, or maybe Venice, or New York…..nah, everybody is from NY……never mind). Anyway, San Jose will always be considered MY city.
Having said all that, I currently live in Campbell, and quite frankly, I love it. The sense of community, its location, local events, etc, all make it a good place to live. Right now I live within a couple of blocks of Campbell’s downtown, so events like Oktoberfest and the weekly farmer’s markets are just a short walk away (as are the local bars, restaurants, shops, etc.) The great thing is, once I get home from work, I don’t have to get back in my car again to go anywhere (huge plus).
Now, can this be downtown San Jose? I think it can. There are events like Tapestry ‘n’ Talent, Sharks games, Christmas in the Park, etc, that draw good crowds without resulting in riots. But, I don’t think that will happen until there is a critical mass of people living downtown. Enough people to develop a sense of community and support local businesses so the RDA doesn’t have to bring in every chain restaurant and retailer they can get a hold of.
So, to answer SG’s question, yeah, I think an event like that could work in downtown SJ, maybe not now, but eventually…….
I could be wrong though…..it’s happened before.
Oh, BTW JMoC (#7), the people you saw in uniform working the festival were most likely kids from the local high school ROTC classes. They work many of the Campbell events.
Jim K #9—Thanks for the 4-1-1 on the “uniforms.”