{"id":347048,"date":"2026-06-04T21:24:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347048\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:24:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:24:30","slug":"weekend-events-kick-off-a-festive-season-in-the-south-bay-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/347048\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend events kick off a festive season in the South Bay \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first full weekend of June is upon us, and if your calendar has some empty spaces, there are plenty of outdoor events starting this weekend to fill up that schedule.<\/p>\n

That kicks off Friday night with the return of SubZERO, the DIY mashup of tech, music and art that fills South First Street in downtown San Jose. SubZERO coincides with the monthly First Fridays art walk \u2014 when galleries stay open late in the SoFA district and beyond \u2014 but it brings the creativity out onto the street with bands and artists stretching for blocks. It runs from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday night and then returns Saturday from 2 to 8 p.m. The lineup of Friday\u2019s gallery offerings is available at southfirstfridays.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople visit booths set up by artists, poets, performers and craft vendors during the SubZero Festival in downtown San Jose on Saturday, June 6, 2024. The festival returns for its 16th edition on June 6-7, 2025. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

This weekend also marks the 50th annual Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival, which will likely draw thousands of people to Washington Avenue and South Murphy Avenue on Saturday and Sunday. Any event that\u2019s been around as long as this one \u2014 that\u2019s going back to the 1970s \u2014 likely has a strong following.<\/p>\n

And then on the other side of the spectrum, Santa Clara has launched a Night Market series that continues this Friday and Saturday on the 900 block of Lafayette Street. It\u2019s got your usual \u201cnight market\u201d amenities with food and music, but there are a couple of fun additions for soccer fans anticipating the FIFA World Cup games at Levi\u2019s Stadium. There\u2019s a Vintage Village, curated by Pop Up San Jose, where fans can pick up vintage jerseys and sports memorabilia, and visitors can use their creativity on Saturday to help make a Community Soccer Mural.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re still in a shopping mood on Sunday, you can swing by the Tiki Bazaar at Dr. Funk Tiki Bar in downtown San Jose. There\u2019ll be live music and vendors selling all things tropical and tiki from noon to 6 p.m. at 29 N. San Pedro Street.<\/p>\n

BUILDING A COMMUNITY HUB: Palo Alto celebrated the opening of the Bryant Street Community Center on Wednesday, which could actually help bridge the generation gap. The city-owned building, formerly a private gym, went through a $1.3 million renovation and now includes not only a Teen Center but a downtown home for La Comida, a program that\u2019s been providing meals and social activities for seniors for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

Palo Alto leadership used some smarts when working on the new Teen Center. They actually let teens \u2014 the young people who will be using it \u2014 design it, and that includes a new mural, too.<\/p>\n

\"PaloPalo Alto City Manager Ed Shikada, far left, applauds as Palo Alto Vice Mayor Greer Stone cuts the ribbon on the new Bryant Street Community Center on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (Photo courtesy City of Palo Alto)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBryant Street Community Center reflects the city\u2019s commitment to fostering community wellness and belonging through the renovation of an unutilized space into something amazing for us to continue programs like senior meal services that our community relies on and a new hub for teens created by teens improving community connection and wellbeing,\u201d Palo Alto Vice Mayor Greer Stone said at Wednesday\u2019s ribbon cutting ceremony.<\/p>\n

KICKING IT WITH THE SYMPHONY: Symphony San Jose Executive and Artistic Director Robert Massey didn\u2019t want to pass up a chance to celebrate soccer\u2019s biggest event coming to the Bay Area this month. The symphony\u2019s program on Saturday and Sunday, \u201cSymphonic World Cup,\u201d<\/a> features works from international composers and featuring conductor Carlos Vieu and harp soloist Katherine Siochi.<\/p>\n

For a little pre-show warmup, the San Jose State men\u2019s soccer team will be showing off their skills at the California Theatre, which I\u2019m told will be appropriately decorated.<\/p>\n

As a bonus, Symphony San Jose will have an open rehearsal at the California Theatre during the SubZERO festival Friday night, starting at 7:30 p.m. There\u2019ll also be live music in the lobby from the Pre-Pre-University Percussion Group, directed by Galen Lemmon, the symphony\u2019s principal percussionist. They\u2019ll play at 6:45 p.m. and again during a break in the rehearsal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first full weekend of June is upon us, and if your calendar has some empty spaces, there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[417,184,7,4978,181,23,419,88,90,89,197,198,200,203,420],"class_list":["post-347048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-around-town","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-downtown-san-jose","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news-columnists","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay","tag-sunnyvale","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}