"Due to a shortage in key leadership and coordination roles required to effectively plan and oversee the Olive Festival, we are unable to move forward as intended."
That notice from the Mission San Jose Chamber of Commerce cancelled the 2025 Olive Festival. The festival had been set for October 4 and 5 at the Dominican olive grove. As of October 4, 2026, the notice is still at the top of the Chamber's homepage. The Chamber has not announced a 2026 festival, and it has not said one is cancelled either. Its Christmas tree lighting page still gives a December 7, 2024 date. Its event list still includes entries from 2018. The Chamber says it hopes "to regroup and return stronger for future community events."
Meanwhile, the district's fall season has kept going. Each event with a confirmed 2026 date comes from a group that holds it in its own building. That means an art guild on Washington Boulevard, a history museum on Anza Street, a parish on Mission Boulevard, and the Fremont Cultural Arts Council working through that parish. Those groups have set the 2026 season.
The Confirmed Dates, in Order
- Sunday, October 11, 11:30 a.m. Grand opening of Sucré d'Amour Café & Sushi at 43571 Mission Blvd.
- Friday, October 16, 5:30 to 9 p.m. The ticketed gala that opens Holiday for the Arts at Olive Hyde Art Gallery.
- Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The free public weekend of the Holiday for the Arts show and sale.
- Thursday, October 29. The virtual exhibit of Fremont Youth Emerging Voices opens.
- Thursday, November 5 through Saturday, December 12. Fremont Youth Emerging Voices is on view in person at the gallery.
- Friday, November 13, 7 to 9 p.m. Opening reception for the youth exhibit.
- Saturday, November 14, 1 to 3 p.m. Tim Swenson signs his book at the Washington Township Museum of Local History.
- Wednesday, November 18, 5 to 7 p.m. Poetry reading for the youth exhibit.
- December 19 through January 5. The museum is closed.
Las Posadas isn't on the list. It is the district's longest-running December tradition, but the 2026 schedule has not been posted. More on that below.
October Opens on Washington Boulevard
Holiday for the Arts reached its 42nd year in 2026, and the Olive Hyde Art Guild runs it. The Guild sets its own dates for the show at Olive Hyde Art Gallery, 123 Washington Blvd. The weekend has two parts. Friday, October 16 is a ticketed gala from 5:30 to 9 p.m., with hors d'oeuvres, sweets, wine, and the first viewing and sale of the art. Saturday and Sunday, the show is open to the public at no charge from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Money from the sale goes back into the district. The Guild says the show benefits the Olive Hyde Art Gallery and other visual art projects in Fremont's community and schools. Buying a piece at the October show helps fund the same gallery that hosts the youth exhibit a few weeks later.
The weekend before, Mission Boulevard gets a new business. The City of Fremont's September 2026 economy bulletin announced a grand opening for Sucré d'Amour Café & Sushi at 43571 Mission Blvd on Sunday, October 11 at 11:30 a.m. The café's own site lists handcrafted drinks, desserts, afternoon tea and sushi. That opening is the clearest new business on the strip this fall. The research found no confirmed restaurant or shop closures on the Old Mission commercial strip in 2025 or 2026.
The Mission itself already held its October event. Old Mission San José's autumn solar illumination happens once a year, and it fell on Sunday, October 4. Near sunset, light comes through the western window of the historic church, travels down the center of the nave and lights up the main altar. The parish scheduled peak illumination for about 6:15 p.m., followed by an Ad Orientem Mass at 7 p.m. If you missed it this year, it will come around again next October.
November Moves to Anza Street and Back to the Gallery
For November, look to the Washington Township Museum of Local History at 190 Anza St. On Saturday, November 14, the museum hosts a book signing by Tim Swenson for Tom Kitayama: A Life of Flowers and Politics from 1 to 3 p.m. Copies sell for $10, and the museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day. The museum's walking tours have ended for 2026. That makes the signing the main museum event left on this year's calendar. The museum and its California native garden are open every Wednesday and Friday. They are also open on the second Saturday and Sunday of each month and on the fourth Sunday, all from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum will be closed from December 19 through January 5 and reopens Wednesday, January 6.
A day earlier, the gallery on Washington Boulevard turns its space over to young artists. Fremont Youth Emerging Voices is presented by the City Gallery with the Fremont PTA Council. It is on view in person from November 5 through December 12, with a virtual version opening October 29. The opening reception is Friday, November 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. The poetry reading is Wednesday, November 18 from 5 to 7 p.m.
The art sale in October and the youth exhibit in November happen in the same building on Washington Boulevard. The book signing is a short walk away on Anza Street. None of them depends on the Chamber for planning, a venue or a date.
Las Posadas Is the One Without a 2026 Page Yet
December belongs to Las Posadas, and in 2025 it marked its 43rd year at Mission San Jose. St. Joseph Church describes nine evenings starting December 15. Each night, people gather at 6 p.m. on the porch of the Old Mission San Jose Museum at 43300 Mission Blvd. From there they walk, singing carols, to a business or site within two blocks. A family is chosen to carry the hand-carved statue of Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus. At each stop the group asks for room at the inn, is turned away, and is then welcomed in.
The Fremont Cultural Arts Council arranges 30 to 45 minutes of entertainment each night, and the host business provides refreshments. On the final night, everyone goes into the Old Mission Church for Christmas carols played live on the Rosales organ, followed by a piñata for children on the Museum porch. The Council calls Las Posadas its annual production and credits Old Mission San Jose as sponsor. The parish asks people to dress warmly and bring a headlamp or flashlight for reading the music. The event is free and goes ahead rain or shine.
The church and the Council have not posted a 2026 route. Both pages still show the 2025 program, which ran December 15 to 23. Last year's stops show what the procession looks like, but they are not this year's schedule:
- Old Mission San Jose Church, 43266 Mission Blvd: soprano Kristen Del Rio
- Dominican Center, 43326 Mission Circle: Dominican Sisters School of Music students and faculty
- St. Joseph School, 43222 Mission Blvd: the St. Joseph School Children's Choir
- Washington Township Museum of Local History: Santa's Tallest Elves
- Mission Barber, 151 Washington Blvd: Dixie by the Bay playing old-time Christmas jazz at the barbershop's new location
- Olive Hyde Gallery, 123 Washington Blvd: Jim Burris and Ahhhz! with a cappella Christmas music
- Holy Family Sisters, 211 Avenida Palmdale: the Peak Performers choir of Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation, directed by Von Bringhurst
Several of these hosts appear elsewhere in this guide. The gallery holds the October sale and the November youth exhibit. The museum hosts the book signing. The church hosts the solar illumination and the procession's final night. The 2025 Las Posadas route connects the same buildings that carry the rest of the season. Whether 2026 uses those same stops depends on the schedule the parish and the Council publish.
What's Still Unannounced
Three pieces of the district's usual season had no 2026 date as of October 4. The Olive Festival's last full listing is from 2024, when the Chamber held it October 5 and 6. The tree lighting page still shows December 7, 2024. The 2026 Las Posadas schedule is still to come from St. Joseph Church and the Fremont Cultural Arts Council. The Chamber has asked the community to check msjchamber.org for future event updates and announcements. For Las Posadas, the parish's Las Posadas page is where the 2025 program appeared. The Fremont Cultural Arts Council links to the same schedule.
Until those dates appear, the confirmed part of the season runs from the Sucré d'Amour opening on October 11 to the museum's winter closure on December 19. Everything on it is planned by groups that hold events in their own buildings.
The Old Mission district has been home base for the Joe Schembri Real Estate Team for decades. We follow its calendar the way our neighbors do. If you're getting ready to host family over the holidays, or thinking about what comes after this season, let's connect. We're glad to talk about Mission San Jose any time of year.
