Santa Clara Senior Day 2008
By Mike Calahan
I’ll be honest; I have a hard time projecting 50 years into the future in order to imagine what my life will be like when I’m a senior citizen. I find it difficult to imagine what my life will be like in five years much less 50. I have a few hopes, though. For one, I hope that I will still be married. Second, I hope that I’ll still have my hair because, quite frankly, that’s really all I’ve got going for me. As for the third thing, well, it wasn’t until the afternoon of Wednesday the 27th of August that I had a third hope. The reason for this hope came about by my being able to attend Santa Clara’s Senior Day.
As set forth by former Santa Clara Mayor Judy Nadler in 1999, the last Wednesday of every August was to be designated and celebrated as Senior Day.
Located at 1303 Fremont St. in Santa Clara alongside Fremont Park, the Senior Center is a beautiful and well-designed building that a source told me the city is still paying off. The parking lot was filled to capacity and the air was filled with the sounds of banjos and enjoyment.
About 300 guests attended Senior Day, including retired firefighter David Gross, a man I can only describe as handlebar-moustache guy, Sara, who gave me a genuinely welcoming handshake and 98-year old Margaret Johnson, a woman who could only be described as adorable.
Empty chairs became a hot commodity as the garden area filled with attendees who were able to enjoy themselves at any number of tables. Canopies, umbrellas and the leafy green branches of two trees provided a comfortable alternative to the increasingly warm day. Inside the center, another room had been opened on which was hung the sign: Overflow Seating Area.
On two sides of the courtyard, guests were allowed to build their own ice cream sundaes. Free ice cream. All you can eat free ice cream. The lines at both stretched as long as the tables themselves.
While the ice cream was eaten, guests were treated to a wonderful concert performed by the Peninsula Banjo Band. With such songs as Waiting For The Robert E. Lee, Good Ol’ Summertime and East Side, West Side, the crowd couldn’t help but clap and sing along. The only banjo music I had ever heard was in the movie Deliverance and over the loudspeakers at Disneyland’s Main Street. Led by Charlie Tagawa, the twelve members of the PBB, made up of ten banjos and two washtub basses, never let a moment pass without entertaining the crowd. At one point during their rendition of You Are My Sunshine, Phil Orr, Interim Recreational Coordinator for the Senior Center, got up beside Charlie and sang along while playing an air banjo without missing a note.
Senior Center Coordinator, Jessica Carter, said that Senior Day was, by far, her favorite event of the year. She also mentioned that it is the hugs and thank-you’s that are given back to her and her staff from attendees that are her favorite part of this her favorite day.
So, in addition to some free punch and good music, I walked away from Senior Day with a new and third hope for my future self. That hope is this: I hope that I will get to be part of a community as genuine, as enjoyable and as closely knit as the community members I met and observed at Senior Day.
Information about the Peninsula Banjo Band can be found at http://www.peninsulabanjoband.org/
The Santa Clara Senior Center
Phone: (408) 615-3170
1303 Fremont St. (at Monroe), Santa Clara, CA 95050
Hours:
M-Th 7am to 7pm
Friday 7am to 5pm
Saturday 8am to 2pm
Dances are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30pm to 10:30pm
Closed on Sundays, so don’t even think about it.
