Santa Clara County Parks is inviting families back to the water's edge next month, with Day on the Bay set for Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Alviso Marina County Park. The free community event is expected to mix recreation with wellness offerings, including kayak rides, pumpkins for kids, and health services.
What's Planned for the Waterfront Gathering
The event's planned offerings include free kayak rides and pumpkins for kids, alongside health services and flu vaccines.
The county's event listing also points to a Bike to the Bay component and a resource fair, plus multicultural entertainment, rounding out a day built around both fun and public health outreach. The event also features free kayak rides and flu vaccines.
A Long-Running Alviso Tradition
Day on the Bay has deep roots in the Alviso community. A 2015 report from the Times-Herald described it as an annual festival that had been growing for six years, when it ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and was sponsored by then-Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese's office along with the county parks department. That year's edition, held on a Sunday, featured a Farmers Market, a free Type-2 diabetes screening, and a Resource Fair with 180 booths offering information on health-related services and programs, per the Times-Herald.
That same 2015 gathering also included free kayak rides, zucchini car races, and a pumpkin patch, and organizers dedicated the festival that year to the memory of former U.S. Rep. Don Edwards, who had died on October 1 at age 100. The recurrence of kayak rides and pumpkin-themed activities in this year's promotional materials suggests the event continues to draw on those same crowd favorites more than a decade later, even as the exact 2026 lineup of vendors and entertainment has not been fully detailed publicly.
Health Resources Alongside the Fun
A county news release referenced in the parks department's media advisories archive frames the gathering as an event meant to celebrate diversity at what it calls the scenic Alviso park, again citing free kayak rides as a highlight alongside a health fair, according to the County News Center. Combined with the flu-shot and health-services mentions elsewhere in the county's promotion, the event appears positioned much like its predecessors: part outdoor recreation day, part community health outreach, set against the backdrop of the South Bay's wetlands.
Families weighing a visit can plan around the event's 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. window at Alviso Marina County Park.
