San Jose’s Veterans Day parade simply wants a downtown viewers Monday

How about we not let the climate rain on San Jose’s downtown Veterans Day parade Monday?

Sure, there’s a probability of rain forecast in the course of the parade, however the veterans participating within the 106th annual celebration in downtown San Jose would doubtless inform you they’ve endured rather a lot worse. And given the monumental effort from numerous corporations, civic organizations and people — elected or not — to ensure the parade occurred in any respect this yr, it will be unhappy to not have a great crowd lining downtown’s streets, even with umbrellas.

Retired U.S. Military Maj. Gen. Stephen Hager, a local of Mountain View and a graduate of Santa Clara College, will function grand marshal of the Veterans Day parade in downtown San Jose on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Photograph courtesy U.S. Military) 

This yr’s grand marshal is retired U.S. Military Maj. Gen. Stephen Hager, a local of Mountain View and a Santa Clara College alum who graduated with a level in arithmetic. So yeah, he’s a Silicon Valley man.

Hager completed his 35-year army profession as deputy commanding common for operations, Cyber Nationwide Mission Drive and mobilization assistant to the commander for USCYBERCOM. He served abroad in Operation Desert Storm in addition to assignments in Afghanistan and Kuwait, incomes a number of honors together with the Distinguished Service Medal and the Bronze Star.

I’ll be on the market, too, serving to announce models with Mike Hennessy — one of many many individuals who rushed to assist Ray Watts and the Army Officers Affiliation of America preserve the parade afloat this yr. Extra info is offered at www.sjveteransparade.org.

MORE SALUTES TO VETS: We’ve obtained veterans throughout the Santa Clara Valley, so there are different occasions occurring Monday, too.

• John Swensson, who has lengthy been stewarding Cupertino’s Veterans Day celebration, let me know that this yr’s 11 a.m. occasion on the Cupertino Veterans Memorial will honor ladies within the army. And he’s had no downside discovering feminine army members to take part, together with U.S. Military Maj. Gen. Tracy L. Smith, commanding common of the 63rd Readiness Division, who’ll present the keynote tackle.

The occasion additionally will honor ladies from the 129th Air Rescue Squadron at Moffett Discipline, in addition to Capt. Diane Carlson Evans, a U.S. Military nurse who served in Vietnam and based the Vietnam Girls’s Memorial Basis, and former Cupertino Mayor Sandy James, who was co-founder of the Cupertino Veterans Memorial.

The memorial pays tribute to the 19 particular ops troopers and Navy SEALS killed throughout Operation Purple Wings in Afghanistan in 2005, together with Cupertino residents Matt Axelson and James Suh. You’ll find out extra about it at www.cupertinoveteransmemorial.org.

• The communities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills are getting collectively for his or her annual Veterans Day Celebration, which is able to embody refreshments, music and audio system on the Los Altos Veterans Neighborhood Plaza, beginning at 2 p.m. In case you’re going to that one, think about bringing a donation of canned meals, underwear or socks, which will probably be collected by the Neighborhood Providers Company.

• The Campbell Veterans Memorial Basis can have an occasion Monday beginning at 9 a.m. at Orchard Metropolis Inexperienced and can observe that up with a gala fundraiser on Nov. 16 at West Valley Faculty.

CULTURAL CONNECTION: Seven lively obligation members of the Ukrainian army who had been musicians earlier than the conflict began in 2022 have been on a goodwill tour of the West Coast and can carry out in downtown San Jose on Nov. 17.

Cultural Forces Ukraine can have a free live performance that night at 5 p.m. on the SJZ Break Room, presenting all kinds of music together with Ukrainian and world classics to pop covers and even nation music, courtesy of singer Sasha Boole. The eclectic band features a poet, an opera singer, a violinist, a pianist and two individuals who play the bandura, Ukraine’s conventional 62-string instrument that appears a bit like an oversize lute.

It’s nice to see this tour, which incorporates stops at Stanford College and UC Berkeley on Nov. 14, together with San Jose Jazz in its itinerary because the group has highlighted Ukraine’s musical tradition at each Winter Fest and Summer time Fest in 2023. Get extra info on the present at 310 S. First St. at www.sanjosejazz.org.

DRINKING LIKE A FISH: The most well liked new memento on the Shark Tank isn’t a jersey or a hat — it’s a beer “cup” that’s almost 2-feet lengthy and formed like a miniature hockey stick. It holds about 24-ounces of beer or no matter beverage you place in it at residence, and it’s a must to maintain it at arm’s size to drink it correctly.

A number of people had been strolling out of SAP Middle with theirs after Thursday evening’s 5-2 loss to Minnesota, however that’s not the one novelty beverage vessel being offered this season: You may also get a plastic pouch full of a frozen drink that you just dangle round your neck and sip by means of an extended straw. At the least it retains your fingers free when it’s time to do “The Chomp.”

The Italian Cellar speakeasy bar in Little Italy, only a quick stroll away from the Tank, are serving up a particular “Sharks Cele-tini” for followers this season in honor of rookie Macklin Celebrini. It’s a gin drink that will get its cool hue from blue curacao, and it’s solely obtained one downside: Its namesake is just 18, so he can’t even order one. I’m certain Joshua DeVincenzi Melander, the president of Little Italy San Jose, can have one prepared for him in June 2027.