The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ annual “Be Our Guest” luncheon, which came about Friday on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, is the place the advocacy group bestows its annual Influence Awards. However the occasion is healthier recognized for the embellished pumpkins created by elected officers and neighborhood leaders — or their staffs — to public sale off in a fundraiser.
The decorations vary in complexity from pumpkins which are superbly painted or adorned with ribbons to elaborate dioramas the place the gourd itself is nearly incidental. And like many occasions within the occasion’s historical past, this yr’s pumpkins had been a mixture of inventive whimsy and severe messages.
A Unhealthy Bunny pumpkin takes the sector at Levi’s Stadium for Tremendous Bowl LX on this scene created by Daniela Ruvalcaba of the Silicon Valley Neighborhood Basis for the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
A “K-Pop Demon Hunters” scene made with pumpkins and Funko Pop figures was submitted by Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga’s workplace for the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
A pumpkin embellished because the Golden State Valkyries mascot was made by Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg for the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
A pumpkin embellished by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s workplace, titled “Mahan Mayhem 2026” depicts the 2 main sporting occasions coming to Levi’s Stadium in 2026, the Tremendous Bowl and the World Cup. The pumpkin was auctioned on the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
A trio of pumpkins embellished for the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon reference “K Pop Demon Hunters,” “Up,” and baseball on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
Visitors on the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” lunch have a look at embellished pumpkins on show on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
San Jose Metropolis Councilmember Michael Mulcahy provides ending touches to his pumpkin on the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” lunch on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
A spooky studying scene that includes a graveyard of banned guide titles was submitted by Meri Maben on behalf of the San Jose Public Library Basis for the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
El Camino Well being Government Director Jon Cowan, left, poses with Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein, dressed as Willy Wonka, and Sunnyvale Neighborhood Providers Government Director Marie Bernard on the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
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A Unhealthy Bunny pumpkin takes the sector at Levi’s Stadium for Tremendous Bowl LX on this scene created by Daniela Ruvalcaba of the Silicon Valley Neighborhood Basis for the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits’ “Be Our Guest” luncheon on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
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There have been pumpkins referencing the “No Kings” protests and urging voters to cross Santa Clara County’s Measure A. Three pumpkins referenced popular culture hit “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” and one, created by Silicon Valley Neighborhood Basis staffer Daniela Ruvalcaba, was an over-the-top celebration of Unhealthy Bunny’s upcoming look at Levi’s Stadium for Tremendous Bowl LX. There have been two pumpkins embellished because the Golden State Valkyries mascot and one Labubu pumpkin (as a result of it’s 2025 and it’s a must to have a Labubu pumpkin).
“We have to have joy in these trying times or else we won’t be able to sustain ourselves,” Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits CEO Kyra Kazantzis, who was dressed as a witch making an attempt to conjure “nonprofit magic,” which she stated was making one thing out of nothing.
However again right down to enterprise, specifically the Nonprofit Influence Award recipients.
Asian Regulation Alliance Government Director Richard Konda acquired the Patricia A. Gardner Changemaker Award; former Youngsters in Frequent Government Director Dana Bunnett and Neighborhood Options CEO Erin O’Brien had been honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards; Amigos de Guadalupe Heart for Justice & Empowerment was introduced with the Nonprofit of the 12 months award; the Collaborative Influence Award went to the Speedy Response Community in Santa Clara County; Rising Nonprofit Chief awards got to Cassandra Magaña of West Valley Neighborhood Providers, Silicon Valley Youth Local weather Motion Government Director Ze-Kun Li, and Jeremiah Lineberger of the African American Neighborhood Providers Company; and the Nonprofit Ally Award was introduced to Heritage Financial institution of Commerce’s Janikke Klem.
“These are our people, these are our passions,” Sunnyvale Neighborhood Providers Government Director Marie Bernard stated. “We all embrace the county by coming together on big issues, and then we can be hyperlocal as well. This community is doing it.”
ART AND TIME: The San Jose Museum of Artwork was teeming with folks final Saturday night time, a lot of them getting one of many first seems to be on the newly opened “ektor garcia: loose ends,” the primary solo exhibition of the sculptor’s work in his residence state of California. However most had been doubtless there to get their first have a look at the museum’s new govt director, Jeremiah Davis. He’s solely been on the job for lower than a month, however he already appears to have an excellent really feel for the native crowd.
“Here at the San Jose Museum of Art, we believe in the power of radical imagination and the role that art can play in bringing communities and people together for the benefit of all,” Davis stated. He then spoke about part of the museum that’s not really in its assortment — the Nels Johnson Century Clock put in within the constructing in 1908 — for instance a degree about innovation.
“Nels, being an early pioneer of tech in Silicon Valley, envisioned that his clock, and this existing technology that he innovated, would last for a century, keeping time to within a few seconds of accuracy per month,” he stated, asking the viewers to think about how their funding can “ensure that the innovation, the creativity, the programming that happens at the San Jose Museum of Art is ensured for the next 100 years of this Silicon Valley community.”
SPEEDING ALONG: “F1” Director Joseph Kosinski was at Apple Park in Cupertino on Tuesday night time for a dialog with supervising sound editor Al Nelson earlier than a particular screening of his film on the Steve Jobs Theater. A lot to the invitation-only crowd’s disappointment, star Brad Pitt was not in attendance.
Through the dialogue earlier than the Apple Movies film Kosinski stated he used Apple expertise to make the film. Apple supplied him with variations of the iPhone 15 Professional cameras that he positioned contained in the cockpits of race automobiles to seize 4K photographs on the tracks. If you happen to haven’t seen “F1,” which has made $629 million worldwide in theaters, it’s set to zoom onto Apple TV on Dec. 12.
NOCHE DE CULTURA: Grammy-winning band Ozomatli is headlining the ninth annual Avenida de Altares, the Dia de los Muertos celebration on the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose on Nov. 1. The family-friendly occasion, which begins at 5 p.m., additionally will characteristic lucha libre wrestling matches, folklorico performances by Los Lupeños de San Jose and an artwork gallery curated by Works/San Jose.
In fact, a spotlight of the free occasion is the show of colourful altars on the Mexican Heritage Plaza and at surrounding companies on Alum Rock Avenue stretching west towards Freeway 101. You’ll be able to RSVP at no cost tickets at www.schoolofartsandculture.org, and you’ll view the altar show at La Plaza’s foyer from Oct. 27-Oct. 31 between 4 and 9 p.m. or Nov. 1 from 9 a.m. to five p.m.
Initially Printed: October 25, 2025 at 6:30 AM PDT
