By Khalida Sarwari
Saratogans looking to step away from technology-saturated Silicon Valley and into a world where simpler times prevailed are in luck: The Blossom Festival will return this weekend at the Saratoga Civic Center and Heritage Orchard.
This year’s event, taking place March 23, is sure to make many nostalgic when they see and hear pieces of the past, from vintage cars and bicycles to music from the 1930s and 1940s.
Produced by the Saratoga Historical Foundation, the day will feature a Maypole dance and a parade of blossom paintings. The foundation has planned a wide range of activities that will blend the old with the new and will appeal to all age groups, including performances by local entertainment groups, crafts, a scavenger hunt with prizes, historical film screenings, people dressed in costumes as historical figures from Saratoga, docent-led walks through the Orchard, en plein air painting demonstrations and readings by Los Gatos Poet Laureate Erica Goss.
For the little ones, the activities will include a petting zoo, story hour and old-fashioned games.
One of the city’s oldest and most popular festivals, the Blossom Festival was started in 1900 by retired Congregational minister Edwin Sidney “Sunshine” Williams to celebrate the end of a two-year drought and the resulting beauty of the blossoming orchards. This year’s event will likely remind folks of the original festival that was popular for more than 40 years.
Festivities are free and will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All attendees who would like to get in the spirit of the day are invited to come dressed in period clothes from the 1900s to the 1940s.
For more information, visit saratogahistory.com/blossomfestival or call 408.867.4311.
Blossom Festival will return to Saratoga in all its historic glory
