The annual Persian New Year celebration will return to Vasona Lake County Park on April 2 and 3, and organizer Matt Kamkar says the event is open to all interested celebrants.

The weekend festival, part of the Persian New Year celebration of NoRouz, will bring people from Iran together with those from other Middle Eastern and Asian countries, but Kamkar hopes it will attract an even wider range of participants. It is Kamkar's hope that the event will not only serve as a Persian celebration, but also as an opportunity to bridge cultural gaps. The festival will provide an opportunity for area residents to learn about and gain an understanding of the customs of Middle Easterners while celebrating side-by-side with people raised in a different culture.

With all of the divisiveness in the world today, especially between the Middle East and the Western World, these types of events provide vital opportunities for cultures to blend, for people to gain a better understanding of one another and for all of us to see each other as individuals.

Coming together for such an occasion as the Persian New Year celebration will help to unmask the mysteries of the Middle East and provide a forum for the sharing of ideas in a comfortable, social atmosphere.

Hall of Fame tickets left

It was a sellout a year ago, and it promises to be another sellout this year when the second class of athletes is inducted into the Los Gatos High School Athletic Hall of Fame on April 30 at Villa Ragusa in Campbell. There were 15 athletes inducted in the inaugural year in 2004 when every seat was filled for the historic ceremony held at the LaRinconada Country Club.

Twelve months later, 11 more inductees will join the coveted Hall and, with LaRinconada under construction and no other venue in town large enough to accommodate the crowd, the ceremonies will move to a much larger facility in Campbell.

Due for induction on April 30 are Pete Denevi (Class of 1944), Camden Wall (1959), Mike Couchee (1976), Bill Steiner (1979), Kent Cooper (1980), Lezlie Jensen Huston (1987), Mike Fisher (1990) and Shelby Edwards (1994), along with John Baggerly (Class of 1935), Hal Sonntag (1940) and Ed Howell (1963), who will be inducted posthumously.

Despite the expanded seating capacity, though, the threat of a sellout is still a reality. So with just four weeks remaining before the second Hall of Fame induction, anyone interested in being part of the crowd needs to act quickly. For ticket information, call the Los Gatos Athletic Association at 408.395.2002.