Happy Hollow’s Hoot & Howl party reaches new heights

Heather Lerner doesn’t tend to stop at the first “no.” Not even the first dozen. So it’s not a big surprise that the executive director of the Happy Hollow Foundation persevered until she finally got the OK to have a full-sized hot-air balloon floating at Kelley Park at this year’s Hoot & Howl on Saturday.

Having the colorful balloon as the centerpiece for the Happy Hollow Park & Zoo “French Pop”-themed fundraiser has been in Lerner’s mind for more than a year. It took months to make it happen, Lerner said, with a lot of help from various sources — Method 42 Productions, the Happy Hollow Foundation board and Pauline Tarpey with the City of San Jose, who made sure every safety document was taken care of. Final approval was given just 24 hours before the event was due to start, so many of the 700-plus party guests had no idea what was coming when the balloon began to rise from the Happy Hollow meadow.

“It was so perfect,” Lerner said. “It exceeded my ridiculously high expectations. There were so many ‘no’s’ before we got to ‘yes,’ but this Hoot & Howl was about a lot of talented people who all wanted to get to yes.”

Around dusk on Saturday, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and lead sponsor Linda Lester climbed aboard the balloon’s basket and addressed the crowd of 700-plus people via megaphone from several stories up. Pilot Scott van der Horst from Wine Country Balloons had an up-and-down kind of night, ferrying donors who gave $500 or more into the sky where they could get a bird’s eye view of the dance party at the park’s Redwood Lookout playground.

“It’s really high up here,” said Liccardo, who had an adventurous Saturday, having earlier rappelled down the Adobe headquarters downtown for Downtown Streets Team. “They needed some hot air, so they invited a politician to come up.”

CHALK IT UP: The Luna Park Chalk Art Festival will celebrate its 10th year on Saturday, as artists of every skill level fill the sidewalks of San Jose’s Backesto Park with some truly stunning imagery. The variety of images is incredible, and there will surely be some 3D realistic pieces that you’ll have to see to believe. And anyone can register for a space to create chalk art at the festival, which will include music provided by KKUP-FM and food trucks.

The festival runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and you can get more information or register to take part at www.lunaparkarts.org/festival.

CAMPBELL GOES TEAL: Campbell’s water tower will be lit up in teal this Friday night, but it won’t be to herald the San Jose Sharks upcoming season. It’s in honor of ovarian cancer month and the third annual Teal Run to support ovarian cancer research taking place Saturday morning at Campbell Park. Dr. Allison Kurian, director of Stanford’s women’s clinical cancer genetics program, will provide a keynote speech and survivors will be recognized from the stage.

Of course, if it’s a teal event, you can bet Sharks mascot SJ Sharkie will be there again this year. And there’s still time for others to register for the 5K run/walk at www.thetealrun.org.

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