BANDSTAND DEDICATION: Let the trumpets blare and the band play out: The long-awaited bandstand dedication celebration has been set for Sept. 6 at Oak Meadow Park, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Called Saturday in the Park, it's the baby of the Los Gatos Community Foundation.
Featuring music, food and children's games, the day-long gala also includes the first annual cat-calling contest. Contestants will demonstrate how they get their cats to move—on command—from one place to another.
A cat art auction, MC'd by Leigh Weimers, is another piece of the action. The cats up for auction are statues decorated by local artists, as San Jose did with sharks and Chicago with cows. The Los Gatos High School band and cheerleaders, a barbershop quartet and Dixieland jazz will all be heard from as well.
Starting at 6:30 p.m., it's dinner and dancing under the stars. Reservations are being taken at 408.354.8787; the cost is $45 per head. The music is by Mack the Knife, the dinner catered by C.B. Hannegan's.
The co-chairs of the dinner are Jane Goldbach and Jan Morris, who expect the event to be sold out at 300 places. The foundation board has decided to concentrate all its efforts on the bandstand dedication this fall, in lieu of the annual garden party fundraiser.
Paul Dubois, president of the Los Gatos Community Foundation, calls the dedication the biggest event to ever hit town. Certainly it's stirred up the biggest rumble since the Loma Prieta earthquake—and a lot more fun.
MAKEOVER: Kim and Jimmy Ratcliff's Farley Road home makeover will be featured in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Magazine in '04. Two years ago Kim Ratcliff sent pictures of her bedroom makeover to the magazine, so thrilled was she with the results. But the magazine wanted more than just a bedroom.
They wanted a family room makeover, too. So the Ratcliffs dug deep for more refurbishment moneys and contacted their decorators, Linda McFalone and Laura Ziffer, who comprise the firm LuLu Pom. The project was recently concluded, and the Ratcliffs threw a party to celebrate.
During the makeover, the family had to vacate their home for a week. Then they "stepped back into the pumpkin," as Kim puts it, after all the bright lights and hoopla. And the Ratcliff sons, Tanner, 6, and Saxon, 4, assumed residence once more.
Their dad is a podiatrist, their mother a freelance writer. Both parents grew up in Los Gatos and were LGHS grads in '82. Kim's mother, Louise Leprohon, still lives in town. Jim Ratcliff Sr. was a general practitioner in Los Gatos.
The senior Ratcliffs live at the Villages. Kim is so impressed with the LuLu team, whose studio is in the Rose Garden area of San Jose, that she predicts they will soon knock the decorating tiara off Martha's head and claim it for themselves.
JAZZ IN THE PLAZZ: The newest musical event in town is called Jazz in the Plazz, and it will claim jazz lovers for six consecutive Wednesday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. in the town plaza, starting July 30. Kenny Rankin is headline performer, and Teri Hope is chairwoman of the series.
The joint sponsors are the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce and the new Los Gatos Rotary Morning Club. The Los Gatos Weekly-Times is the presenting sponsor. Jazz in the Plazz is designed to be the morning club's signature event for the community, and it does indeed sound like a winner.
THARP DID IT—AGAIN: Graphic artist Rick Tharp has done it again—won another distinction, that is. This time it's the poster he designed for his show now hanging in the Art Museum of Los Gatos: it's been selected to be included in the permanent design archives of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Elena Millie, curator of the poster collection at the Library of Congress, chose Tharp's poster from among those submitted in the annual American Institute of Graphic Arts competition. The selected poster has the words, "All the Way from the USA, Tharp Did It" (Tharp's business in Old Town is called Tharp Did It). Underneath those words is a row of three likenesses of the Tharp face. Under that, the words: "Live and in person, Mr. Tharp with no special guest and no free popcorn," plus place and dates. The poster was produced by Hatch Show Print of Nashville, Tenn.
The display that inspired the poster will hang in the Los Gatos museum until July 27, along with the work of Los Gatos Weekly-Times photographer George Sakkestad.
GRAND JURISTS: Selected as finalists for the superior court grand jury for 200304 were James E. Moreton Jr. of Los Gatos and Kathleen Dirickson of Saratoga.
WRITERS WORKSHOP: Martha Alderson, Teresa LeYung Ryan and Luisa Adams will give a free writing workshop at the Santana Row Borders on July 24 at 7 p.m. For more information, call Borders at 408.241.9100.
SLIDE SHOW ON JAPAN: Avid travelers Audrey and Chris Christianson of Los Gatos will present a slide show on Japan July 31 at the Sanborn Park Hostel after a potluck dinner at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 408.741.9555.
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By Mary Ann Cook