SAN JOSE – They ran out of hamburger buns. And Sharkie, the mascot of the San Jose Sharks, took an unintended dip in Alviso Slough. But officials said Sunday’s seventh annual Day on the Bay marked another successful celebration of an often-unsung treasure.

Related Articles Santa Cruz’s West Cliff Drive car ban a hit “You talk to a lot of people, and they’d never know this is here,” Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese said of Alviso Marina County Park, after arriving on bicycle via the Guadalupe River Trail. “I’ve been to a lot of classrooms talking about climate change, and you ask kids where the bay is, and they’ll say it’s in San Francisco, or Santa Cruz — I’ve even heard San Diego. Some live two miles away and have never been here.”

It’s true, said Gabriella Bolanos, a longtime San Jose resident who was there with her four children and a cadre of nieces and nephews. She said many people have no idea there’s an access point to San Francisco Bay so close to home.

“I didn’t know until I saw a flier last year for this event,” Bolanos said.

She said the event — which emphasizes healthy living and features rows of information booths with flu shots and various screenings offered — pleases the kid crowd with such activities as constructing cucumber cars (sort of a Mr. Potato Head on wheels) and free kayak rides, which if judged by line-size was matched in popularity only by the free hamburgers.

Bolanos’ 8-year-old niece, Chelsea, was particularly pleased to witness Sharkie take to the water in an apparently botched attempt to dismount from a kayak. Cries of concern turned to laughter as children watched the mascot take the dip in stride, keeping a toothy head above brownish marsh-water while paddling to the boat ramp in a decidedly unfishy fashion.

“He’s a shark,” Chelsea said. “He can swim.”

Organizers said the event attracted as many as 10,000 people, more than three times the number who showed up at the inaugural event in 2009. As the event has grown, Cortese said, he’s seen more people coming in from outside the immediate area of North San Jose, Milpitas and Santa Clara.

Cortese said the event is good for a part of the city of San Jose that has long felt underappreciated. Too many Silicon Valley residents know the friendly place for its occasional floods and its proximity to a garbage dump and the city’s sewage treatment plant..

“After what was an unwilling annexation to the city for many, Alviso has for years felt like a stepchild to San Jose,” Cortese said. “There was a time back in the day when this community was celebrated, and people are just now starting to rediscover it.”

Santa Clara County firefighter Adam Cosner, who was slinging burger patties on two gigantic grills with a group of colleagues, said they were done grilling 3,000 patties shortly after noon. An underestimate on the bread side saw the 2,500 buns run out a little before that.

But Cosner didn’t flinch. “We went low-carb there at the end,” he joked.

Those milling about with foil-wrapped patties weren’t complaining, either. “It’s better than no burger” was the general sentiment. And, hey, it was free.

While street parking was scarce, there was an early-afternoon mellow to be found down the road at Vahl’s, a long-popular restaurant and cocktail lounge where manager Frank Rebozzi said they might see some people come in after the event for a bite or a drink, but he didn’t expect an onslaught.

Rebozzi said Alviso’s most-attended event benefits the visibility of an area that’s “the last place with a small-town atmosphere right in the middle of Silicon Valley” — something he hopes doesn’t change with all the development planned for the area north of Highway 237.

Adrian Betancourt, a 41-year-old lifelong Alvisan who was at Vahl’s on Sunday, said he likes that the event is growing and that more outsiders are learning a little about what his hometown has to offer.

“It shows people that we’re still here.,” he said.