One more!

Somehow the Mission San Jose mural got left off the Fly Away post!

Here it is ladies and gentleman!

SRO! - Standing Room Only!

Fremont's Terrific Trio of Former Mayors (Left to right) Don Dillion, Gus Morrison, and Jack Parry

The Impossible Dream was SRO!!

A jammed packed room of eager Fremontonians were treated to a wonderful account of how Fremont came to be. The Fremont Main Library was packed wall to wall!

Former mayors Don Dillon and Jack Parry entertained, educated, and charmed. They shared fascinating stories and compelling tidbits of how our 5 historic towns came together in 1956 to form Fremont.

We heard it all. They told us of the challenges they faced when developing the City's General Plan and founding the first City Council. Two of Fremont's founding fathers, Dillon and Parry, illustrated how Planning Commission envisoned Fremont would be 50 years in the future.

This last installment of the Library Speaker Series was true to Celebrate Fremont's mission statement: "Creating a legacy for the future, by cherishing our past and connecting with our future." The Impossible Dream was a perfect way to wrap up this popular lecture series!

Hats off to our past Mayors Don Dillon and Jack Parry! Your contributions and vision made Fremont the incredible city that it is.

Magical really! The presentation was inspriational!



(Left to Right) Don Dillon, Janet Cronbach (Fremont Library: Local History and Reference Services), Jack Parry, Gus Morrison, Angela Yang (Fremont Library Manager)


The Past and Present: First Planning Commissioner Jack Parry and current Planning Commissioner Sue Chan stand in front of the City's First General Plan.

Flying off the canvas.

Wow! Did you see the murals at Celebrate Fremont at the Park? They were awesome! Everyone is talking about them.

The murals have great detail and colors. They embody the wonderful diversity of Fremont. And they've got real personality!


The Fremont stories. The Fremont people. The Fremont emotions. They just fly off the canvas.

The murals were painted by our local high school students and are now on display at the Fremont Main Library. Students from Fremont Christian School, Fremont Chinese School and American, Kennedy, Washington, Mission San Jose and Irvington high schools painted the murals all summer long.

Take a look at the fruits of their hard work!

"Every stroke and every color on the art piece is carefully calculated and contemplated. We hope that when people see these murals at the [Library], they will not just see the beautiful artworks, but the beautiful minds and souls of our teachers and students who demonstrated the true spirit of Celebrate Fremont --Unity is Strength."

Ivy Wu

1,000 Words

The Fremont Cultural Arts Council's well-regarded Annual Juried Photo Exhibition will be held for the 13th year at the end of October, 2006, and will include a special section of photos of Fremont's people and places in honor of Fremont's 50th, with prizes and judge's fees sponsored by Celebrate Fremont!

For more information visit the FCAC website at http://www.fremontculturalartscouncil.org/and click on 'Events'. If you have a photo you think is especially good, don't be shy, submit it! You will find entry blanks on-line at http://www.femontculturalartscouncil.org/ and in printed form at most photography departments and at the Fremont Main library.

Check out last years winner's!

First Place, 2005 Fremont Juried Photography Exhibit
The End of Fall by Pralay Dakua

Second Place, 2005 Fremont Juried Photography Exhibit
Passage Way - Empty But of Light © -- by Douglas Stinson

Third Place, 2005 Fremont Juried Photography Exhibit
Snowy Egret at Nest © -- by Julianne Howe

The Impossible [and Inspiring] Dream

We've got news about the hottest show in town!

The Fremont Library has booked two inspirational local celebrities for their last installment of the Celebrate Fremont Library Speaker Series.

Two of the founding fathers, Don Dillon and Jack Parry, will be presenting "The Impossible Dream" at the Fremont Main Library on Wednesday, September 20 at 7pm. Come to hear about the city's birth. Their stories and their pictures are inspirational and outstanding. Fremontonians have been awaiting this presentation all year!

Learn how five little townships came together to govern themselves, launching the new City of Fremont one minute after midnight on January 23, 1956. Not only instrumental in the formation of Fremont, both speakers served on the City Council including serving as Mayor. Niles native, Jack Parry, was Chairman of the first Planning Commission. Don Dillon moved to the area in 1954, founding Four Winds Growers Nursery and quickly becoming involved in the movement for a new city. Their deep community roots and abiding commitment to Fremont enrich their personal stories of the city’s birth.

Fremont Libraries Manager, Angela Yang, is thrilled to share this event with the community. “We are so fortunate to have these two wonderful gentlemen to share their stories with us. Their vision, courage, and guts made Fremont a beautiful place for generations to live and enjoy. We are honored that they will wrap up a fantastic series of local history lectures”.

Copies of Don Dillon’s DVD “The Impossible Dream: The First 25 Years” will be available for sale at the program.

Don't worry you don't need tickets...but come early because word on the street is that there will be lots of folks there!

Well, Gee Golly

We woke up today and found this article up in The Argus featuring the blog. Thanks so much to Chris DeBenedetti and everyone at the Argus for getting the word out about the blog, Celebrate Fremont and all our events.

For those return visitor's surprise we have a new look! For those of you who are new, the first page of the blog only holds our most current 10 posts, so please be sure to check out the archives in the column to your right. In the July Archives you'll find gem's like 4th of July Parade pictures, others turning 50th this year, the Fremontia, Fremont's across the country, the Warm Springs Wineries and more!

The August archives feature posts on the Fremont Redas program, National Night Out, the Festival of the Arts, Ardenwood's Art in the Park, the FIA's Festival of India pictures, Fremont Day @ the A's, the Heritage Tours, The Hayward Fault exhibit and tons more!

September has posts on the high schools painting murals for Celebrate Fremont @ the Park, Flavors of Fremont, Dennis Eckerseley & Shawon Dunston, Fremont Artists, and pictures and videos from Celebrate Fremont @ the Park (come back soon we're working on getting a high quality version of the laser light show)!

Whew! That's a lot and we didn't even list it all! Feel free to check out a few posts now, come back and see the rest! As you can see we update pretty regularly, so if you have things you want to see up on the blog, please leave a comment and let us know! The future is in your hands!

The City Behind the Celebration

Check out the video Celebrate Fremont produced on the historic fouding of Fremont on January 23, 1956. The townships of Washington, Irvington, Mission San Jose, Niles & Centerville came together to incorporate into Fremont, now the Bay Area's 4th largest city - the video shows the story on how it happened!

Enjoy!

Now that's Class

If you missed it today, our friends at Dale Hardware (who's also turning 50 this year) took out a full page ad in The Argus Newspaper saying thanks to all the volunteers of Celebrate Fremont. It's with great community partners like Dale Hardware that we were able to Celebrate Fremont in style.

And the survey says...

Celebrate Fremont's Future team has been conducting surveys around Fremont for the past year.

If you haven't taken the survey yet, there's still time to give us your opinion on what you would like to see in the future of Fremont! It's just a click away!

You may have seen the team and the surveys around town! At the library, local events, annual shows and fairs, outside of Safeway, and even in your neighborhood.

You may have seen the survey on the Celebrate Fremont website... or even on a post on our blog!

Below are the top results from each category so far:


ENVIRONMENT
1 Maintain "small town" feeling 692
2 Affordable Housing 637
3 Develop walking and bike paths 622
4 Landmark downtown/Civic Center & Performing Arts Center 586
5 Open Spaces 555

EDUCATION
1 Strengthen facilities and programs of all schools in district 1115
2 After school programs 867
3 Equal distribution of school services 773
4 More youth programs 700
5 Increase awareness of educational opportunities 565

ENTERTAINMENT
1 Recreational activities for teenagers, seniors and residents 1065
2 Build Performing/Cultural Arts Center 914
3 Quality shopping 812
4 Many quality restaurants 804
5 Free wireless Internet access downtown 569

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION
1 Smooth traffic/better roads 1033
2 Extend BART to San Jose 1014
3 Free bus system 694
4 Cross-Bay mass transportation 533
5 Consideration for elderly in transportation 526

MULTI-CULTURAL DIVERSITY
1 Help unite community despite differences in background 846
2 Offer multi-cultural activities 820
3 Build multi-cultural center 780
4 Eliminate prejudice through building unity 662
5 Build understanding through language appreciation 450

Who needs fireworks anyways?

Check out the SUPERB laser light show accompanied by the Fremont Symphony Orchestra on September 9th during Celebrate Fremont @ the Park's evening concert!



Click here for more pictures!

Beauty in Motion

Did you miss the Evening Concert on Saturday night of Celebrate Fremont @ the Park?

If you did, or even if you didn't here's your chance to see Yoko's Dancers dancing to the Fremont Symphony Orchestra's performance of the Nutcracker Suite.

Enjoy the video and click on the pictures to get to the Photo Gallery of the whole performance!

Day 2 pictures

Whew - we don't know about you but we had a GREAT time at the phenomenal Celebrate Fremont @ the Park. With so much going on we took a ton of pictures (1,200 yesterday, and another 1,100 today!) - day two pictures are in a separate gallery - Day 2 of Celebrate Fremont at the Park Photos. Just in case you missed Celebrate Fremont @ the Park Day 1 pictures they're here the gallery also includes Hands Around the Lake Pictures! Though Celebrate Fremont @ the Park has closed stay tuned to the blog for wrap-up's of the event of the year and for more pictures as we get them!

Back to uploading pictures!

Celebrate Fremont at the Park Pictures

Celebrate Fremont @ the Park was an awesome fun filled day on Saturday. Come by tomorrow to join in the fun. Did you come to Lake Elizabeth for Hands Around the Lake or to Central Park for Celebrate Fremont at the Park?? If you did check out our Celebrate Fremont @ the Park Day 1 photo gallery, you may be featured in one of our photos! The gallery includes Hands Around the Lake photos and pictures throughout the Celebrate Fremont @ the Park festival through the different areas like Sports, Fremont Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, the stages and food areas!

Didn't make it out? See the pictures, see what you've been missing and see you tomorrow for Celebrate Fremont @ the Park!

An Exclusive Sneak Peak!

We here at the blog have your exclusive sneak peak of Celebrate Fremont @ the Park. Check out Setting Up @ the Park, your first look at the Street of Dreams, the High School murals the MASSIVE main stage and tons more! It's bright and early and we're headed over now. See you at the park!!


 

Now Hear This!

Still deciding on whether you're going to make it to the biggest party in Fremont's history??

Check out the Entertainment Schedule and sample some of the awesome acts right here!

David Benoit
Click here for David Benoit - Linus & Lucy

Barrelfish
Click here to download Barrelfish MP3's for Free!"

Jewels Hanson
Click here to hear all of Jewels' Tracks

Alien Cowboys
Click here for a direct link to hear Alien Cowboy's Music

10 Lots and 5 Shuttle Stops.

How are you getting to the park?

I might walk there... Most people I know will be driving there. That's a lot of people though!!!

So do yourself a favor and car pool over. Here's the map:

There will also be 5 shuttle locations to help transport Fremontonians to the celebration.



Oh yeah, there will be bike racks too! So whether you walk, drive, or bike - just get there - you don't want to miss out on all the fun, food, and entertainment - get ready to party!

See you at the park!!!

Fremont Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Three different color-coordinated areas will showcase Fremont's Yesterday, Fremont's Today, and Fremont's Tomorrow.

In Fremont Yesterday, classic cars will be showcased, along with a timeline of events of Fremont's history through the years. The Essanay Silent Film Museum will set up a projector in Fremont Senior Center and show silent films, including Charlie Chaplin's "The Tramp" and "The Champion," along with "Broncho Billy's Redemption" and "The Making of Broncho Billy."

A recorded oral history of Fremont will be played, as well as overviews of Fremont's five original neighborhoods. In Fremont Today, attendees can play interactive games and visit arts and crafts pavilions. The event's main stage will be located in this area too, featuring musical entertainment. There are now nine stages filled with all types of entertainment. Check the schedule for detailed information.

Fremont Today will have a rock wall, art pavilions (with Art 4 Sale - 30 local Artists will show their work in a tent near the main stage, including watercolors, acrylics, oils, photography and pottery), Community Partners Pavilions (featuring citizen organizations of Fremont), the Alameda County Library Bookmobile, HAM radio operators, and Washington on Wheels.

Fremont Tomorrow will showcase the city's future through the schools and work of students. Utility companies such as AT&T and Alameda County Water District will showcase their "green" or energy efficient services. Guests can also glimpse the city's new Future Pavilion, which officials hope will serve as a permanent location for outdoor performing arts events. This Pavillion will be dedicated on Sunday evening.

A "Vision for the Future" survey will be available for people to submit what they'd like to see for the city in coming years. Based on over 2000 surveys, the Future team created a 120-foot long Main Street, showcasing 10 things people would like to see for Fremont's future. Come see the Performing Arts Center, school, restaurant and new City Hall.

We can't wait to see our city's history, it's current events, and prospects for the future come alive at the Park this weekend!

Celebrate Fremont Art @ The Park

Are you looking for high-speed internet? Perhaps a wireless phone? What about new shades for your windows? New roof? How about a FREE spinal exam? Hmm...well neither were we! Celebrate Fremont @ the Park is NOT that kind of festival.

Celebrate Fremont @ The Park is featuring an Arts area and we mean it! There will be over 130 pieces of original art displayed for sale, all by local artists, in the Arts area during Celebrate Fremont @ the Park...see some of the artwork featured below and go here to get a free preview!
Don't forget the Art Car will be making an appearnce - bring your spare coins from around the world to glue onto this one of a kind exhibit!

Sports

Baseball, cricket, indoor karting, outrigger canoe, R/C (Radio Controlled) vehicles, skateboarding and table tennis... this weekend is going to be awesome for sports fanatics! Check out the schedule!

Kids are getting excited about the youth baseball/softball clinics in honor of Dennis Eckersley and Shawon Dunston hosted by Fremont Baseball Inc., Fremont Girls Softball Association, Fremont National Youth Baseball, and Bay Area Vintage Baseball (BAVBB). Fremont native baseball stars, Dennis Eckersley and Shawon Dunston, will actually be at the park too! Come meet Eckersley on Saturday, Sept 9th from 10am - 1pm and Dunston at Sunday, Sept 10th 10am - 1pm.

The Tennisball Cricket Association is hosting the Cricket Revolution at the Fremont Softball Complex. Check out the schedule of teams playing. Everyone can also participate in the free cricket clinic the Association will provide. Lemas Karting will have a display of indoor carts! Have you ever experienced the heart-pumping thrill of indoor kart racing? It's exciting!

Have you ever canoed the serene waters of Lake Elizabeth? You'll get the chance on Saturday and Sunday between 10am - 3pm. The Kilohana Outrigger Canoe Club will host outrigger canoe rides in the tropical waters of Lake Elizabeth. There will be lots of clinics and demos for families to participate in.

The Station will provide skateboarding demos. FC Fremont will have soccer games, demos, and clinics.

REI will showcase a tent setup contest, bike repair 101, camp cooking demo, and PEAK games.

The Spin Magicians will provide table tennis demos.

And you can even learn how to fly a model airplane, operate a radio controlled model helicopter and car and build a Delta Dart glider with the Bay Side RC Club.

The Fremont Sailing Club, National Junior Basketball, International Basketball League and Sharks Ice will also be at the Sports area of the Celebrate Fremont at the Park event!

Boy oh boy!

The countdown begins!

The most amazing, exciting, and brilliant party is coming to Fremont this weekend!

Celebrate Fremont at the Park is just a few days away... and we couldn't be more excited!

You remember the timings right? Saturday, Sept 9 - 9am - 10pm and Sunday, Sept 10 - 10am - 7pm.

Hands around the Lake will start things off. (Check out the latest info here). Make sure you bring the whole family as we come together for a unique and historic moment of communal unity.

The two-day festival will showcase Fremont's past and present, with Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow sections connected by variety of food and sports venues. The entire festival will formally start at 10 a.m. at the Contemporary Stage with greetings by Mayor Bob Wasserman, a band performance by all 5 High Schools, and airplanes flying over to announce the opening of the Festivities.


The entire park will glisten with exciting activity. Come visit the various areas:
- Fremont Yesterday
- Fremont Today
- Fremont Tomorrow
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Kid’s Zone
- Food

The entire event is free, save for food and beverages.

After nearly 2 years of planning, Celebrate Fremont @ the Park is just a few days away now... we can hardly wait!

It'll be finger lickin' good!

Come join us at the Celebrate Fremont at the Park for the Flavors of Fremont at the Food pavilion.

The food tasting area will feature the following restaurants:

- Asian Pearl
- Blue Agave
- Cafe Buena Sera
- Fremont Marriott Hotel
- Kinnaree Cuisine
- Los Olivos
- Massimo's
- Mirchi Cafe
- Nouvelle Bistro
- Papillon
- Spin-a-Yarn
- Vienna Bakery

There will even be cooking demos!! Check out the schedule.

The concessions will feature food from all around Fremont...and all around the world! There will be barbeque, ice cream, yogurt, burritos, samosas, tandoori, biryani, chili, malasadas, lemonade, watermelon, hot dogs, hamburgers, hawaian bbq, and much more!

Mmmmm... we can't wait!

Where's Charlie?

He’s at the Park!

As part of the CF festivities at the park, children can search for figures of Charlie Chaplin in the five major display areas at the park. When they reach the Fremont Tomorrow area, they'll be given game cards. They may spy a live Charlie peaking at them from behind a tree or strolling down a path, cane in hand. Teens and adults can learn about Charlie and explore the displays about Fremont’s past, present and future.

Here comes the cool part! Both activities will culminate in prize drawings for children, youth and adults. Prizes like bikes, electronic games, one year passes to all East Bay Regional Parks, full body massages, movie passes and more will be given out.

The Future Team is sponsorsing “Where’s Charlie?” as well as performances of “Frog and Toad”, poetry classes for children and much more.

Remember! Admission to Celebrate Fremont is free. Hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, September 9 and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 10.

What a Beautiful Sight

To support the vision of Celebrate Fremont – “Bring our community closer together”, the Education Team embarked on the portable mural project. The idea is to have all of our high schools work on 6 murals representing the people and the 6 districts of our City. We have American and Washington High Schools working on Niles District; Kennedy on Coyote Hills; Irvington High on Warm Springs and Irvington; Mission San Jose High on Mission District; Fremont Christian School on Centerville; and Fremont Chinese School on the multiple cultures of our City.

In putting together these paintings, our teachers and students dedicated many hours of research and hard work during summer. Every stroke and every color on the art piece is carefully calculated and contemplated. We hope that when people see these murals at the Park, they will not just see beautiful artwork, but the beautiful minds and souls of our teachers and students who have demonstrated the true spirit of Celebrate Fremont – Unity is Strength.