The 19th annual Cherry Festival is this weekend at C.J. Olson’s historic stand on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, promising plenty of juice-stained faces and spit pits for everyone.
Deborah Olson will be giving tours of her family’s cherry orchard, and there will be live music and cherry-related fun both Saturday and Sunday, including cherry pancakes for breakfast, pitting and pit-spitting contests, and birthday cake on Sunday to celebrate Deb Olson’s birthday. Not a bad way to spend part of the weekend and step back into the Santa Clara Valley’s agricultural history.
You can get all the details at www.cjolsoncherries.com/events.html.
TASTE OF POLISH PRIDE: Another good weekend activity will bring together the Bay Area’s Polish community for PolCa, a huge heritage festival at Belmont’s Twin Pine Parks this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It sounds like it’ll be a real delight for foodies: Polska Foods of Saratoga bringing its organic, locally made pierogi to the festival; Seakor Polish Deli of San Francisco will grill several varieties of its Polish sausages; Maria’s Catering of Davis will provide the potato pancakes and Polish crepes; and cultural and church groups are adding their own recipes to the mix.
And just to show how entwined Polish and American cultures are, the entertainment includes Kuzyni, a Northern California band playing Polish music, and the Dixie Company Jazz Band, a traditional jazz band from Poznan, Poland, that’ll be joined by American jazz singer Diane Davidson.
Admission is $3-$5, and there’s more information available at www.polcafestival.com.
PLAYGARDEN A HIT: People sure have noticed that the Rotary PlayGarden at the Guadalupe River Park on Coleman Avenue is open for fun. Leslee Hamilton, executive director of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, says there were practically nonstop crowds all during Memorial Day weekend after the playground opened Saturday morning.
“When we were opening at 10 a.m. Sunday morning, there was a little toddler with her nose pressed up against the gate. She said, ‘Open that door!’ ” Hamilton said, adding that about 2,300 people visited the playground, designed to be accessible for special-needs kids, on Memorial Day itself.
Contact Sal Pizarro at spizarro@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5473. Follow him at Facebook.com/mercurynews.aroundtown and Twitter.com/spizarro.
