Hernandez was inspired by Oprah Winfrey's programs last Christmastime from South Africa, where she distributed toys and clothing to orphans. South Africa has been particularly hard hit by the AIDS epidemic, and hundreds of children are orphaned daily—indeed, hourly.

The Angel's Race will benefit the House of Hope and Recovery in Sundubili, Mandini, South Africa. Hernandez, a hairdresser at Salon Rache in the Pruneyard, has a special place in her heart for Africa, having been there five times, though not on mercy missions.

She owned Deja Vu Salon in Los Gatos for 12 years, and volunteers for the race have stepped forward from her wide network of clients. She also credits boyfriend Pat Brady, whose focus on his music career fueled her own dedication. Brady is an electrician by trade.

Music at the race will be by the Innocents, the Pat Brady Band and the Green Brothers.

The Sept. 18 race begins at 9 a.m. along the Los Gatos Creek Trail from Vasona Park to the percolation ponds in Campbell. It's a 5K walk and a 10K run and the fee is $25 to register. Pledges of $250 are suggested but not mandatory. The contact is 408.371.2651.

PLEIN AIR APLENTY: On Oct. 1 the town will be awash in painters painting outdoors in various locations. It'll be something of a paintathon or, perhaps, pleinairathon, as dozens of artists wield their brushes. The paintathon is just part of an inaugural community event called Los Gatos Art Fest.

From some 87 artists who submitted work to be juried, 50 were chosen for the competition. In addition to the adults, 10 area high school students will paint away outside. Awards of more than $5,000 will be presented to the winners by juror Bob Gerbracht.

The kick-off event is a juried artists reception, 6­9 p.m., Sept. 30, at the Art Museum of Los Gatos. Next is the all-day plein air painting in and around Los Gatos. On Oct. 2 the venue changes to the Testarossa Vineyards, where the Plein Air Competition Exhibition will open to the public at 11 a.m.

An awards ceremony will be held at the vineyards 4­6 p.m. A silent auction will be held at 6 p.m., followed by a live auction. The Art Fest is a fallout from the Art Cat project where Styrofoam cats were decorated and auctioned off at the Bandstand Celebration last year.

The Art Cat committee wanted to keep up the art momentum so assigned $5,000 seed money to the Los Gatos Art Association to launch a plein air event. Then the LG Morning Rotary Club contributed $5,000 for prize money.

Arts commissioners Valerie Hopkins, Teri Hope and Elke Groves are co-chairwomen of the Art Fest. Other planners in the scheme are Tonya Carpenter, Sue Lucas, Sandy Decker and Marilyn Dorsa.

FISHY RETURN: A manila folder full of 31 illustrations of whimsical fish was left at the LG library in '97 and has languished there ever since. However, Friends of the Library book evaluator Pamela Laurence didn't want to put them for sale on eBay without doing some sleuthing.

So she started in on the Internet and found that the illustrator was Amy Connors, former Los Gatan. The drawings were destined for a children's book called Little Fish and the Big Question by Mary Wade of Texas. The book had been put on hold because of the absence of drawings.

Now Wade can go ahead with publication through Colophon House, her publication company. She promises several copies of the book to the LG library in appreciation of Laurence's perseverance—and Internet savvy.

MORNING ROTARY: John Curtis, director of Los Gatos Parks and Public Works, has been elected the new president of Los Gatos Morning Rotary, now beginning its second year. Past assignments for the civil engineer were the San Diego Coronado Bridge, oil platforms in the North Sea, and Los Gatos Town Plaza.

In addition, he was a consultant to the Chinese on the second Yangtze Bridge at Nanjing. Curtis has a master's degree in engineering from Cornell U. and a master's in public administration from Cal State San Bernardino. He and his wife, Janie, live in Redwood Shores.

Other officers for Morning Rotary are John Askine, secretary, of Apple Computer; Rich Farkas, treasurer, A.G. Edwards and Sons; Darrell Monda, president-elect, Recon Group; Joan Perry, immediate past president, of Take Charge Financial.

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