YWCA fundraiser a high-heeled walk in the park at Santana Row

Hundreds of men took part in the annual Walk a Mile in Their Shoes event, wearing high heels to raise awareness about sexual assault and domestic violence.

What do you call a crowd of more than 600 people — overwhelmingly men — walking around Santana Row in high heels and carrying signs? If you’re Adriana Caldera Boroffice, CEO of the YWCA of Golden Gate Silicon Valley, you’d call that a huge success.

That was the scene Thursday at the swanky shopping center in San Jose for Walk a Mile in Their Shoes, the YWCA’s annual event to raise funds and awareness about sexual assault and domestic violence.

“We’re well on our way to surpassing what we did last year,” Boroffice said. As of Friday afternoon, the event had brought in more than $113,000. “It’s an amazing turnaround.”

Like other in-person events, Walk a Mile went virtual during the pandemic for a couple of years before returning in 2022. This year, an emphasis was put on highlighting different partners like the Children’s Advocacy Center of Santa Clara County, Kaiser Permanente and San Jose State University. The Spartans brought members of the men’s basketball team, the marching band and the cheerleading squad to get everyone pumped.

“We have a very special relationship with the university,” Boroffice said. “The athletic department has been very dedicated every year.”

They aren’t the only ones. The well-heeled included the members of plumbers and steamfitters union Local 393 and IBEW, employees of law firm Cooley, Meriwest Credit Union,  Oracle and the Santa Clara County Probation Department. San Jose City Councilmembers Domingo Candelas and Sergio Jimenez were in heels (and cheered on by Councilmembers Pam Foley and Bien Doan and Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei), as was emcee Marcus Washington of NBC Bay Area and Assistant District Attorney James Gibbons-Shapiro, who again rallied the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office around the event.

I’m usually a regular walker at the event — there’s photographic evidence out there — but I’ll fess up I didn’t stroll this year, and it was for a lame reason: I couldn’t find the pumps I bought in my size a few years ago. But I promise I’ll get it together for next year.

FRUITFUL ACTIVITIES: The Los Altos History Museum’s Apricot STEM Fair is returning July 1, with hands-on activities for all ages that show how Science, Technology, Engineering and Math skills can help make our planet a little more climate resilient. The topics cover robots, how climate change is altering insect DNA and tracing the path of a droplet of water from the sky to your kitchen faucet. And yes, there’s an apricot component: visitors can go to the Apricot Heritage Orchard to see the native plants and insects there, and another activity shows how solar energy transforms apricots into sustainable treats.

“The Apricot STEM Fair celebrates the need for continued adaptability,” Los Altos History Museum Executive Director Elisabeth Ward said. “Just as this valley transformed from the Valley of Heart’s Delight to Silicon Valley, we need to think about what innovations are coming up next to keep things we cherish, like our Blenheim apricots, thriving in a changing climate.”

The event, which is free to attend thanks to a grant from Valley Water, runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Get more information at losaltoshistory.org/STEM2023.

Meanwhile at the Sunnyvale Heritage Orchard, Charlie Olson hasn’t lost a step at 85 years old. The apricot yield isn’t as robust this year, so the orchardist has been sorting cherries — which I’m told are awesome this summer.

HONOR ROLL: It’s well-known Silicon Valley lore that Buck’s of Woodside is where huge deals were made that resulted in the creation or funding of companies like Netscape, PayPal, Tesla, eBay and Hotmail. So with historic credentials like that, it’s not surprising at all that Buck’s founder Jamis McNiven will be honored this fall at the San Mateo County History Makers Dinner.

ART ON THE WALL: After my recent mention of a new mural in downtown San Jose that prominently features a heart, a reader pointing out that another “heart” mural has disappeared: The Hart’s department store mural on the wall of its old warehouse near Julian Street. The mural, which could be seen from the Coleman Avenue overpass going into downtown, has been slowly overtaken by graffiti tags for the past several years and has finally slipped into invisibility. The department store, originally opened in 1866, lasted for more than a decade downtown and was at the center of the infamous Brooke Hart kidnapping in 1933 (and subsequent lynching and hanging of the two white suspects in St. James Park).

While the original sign has gone, it was recreated by artist Tom Colla for a dog park on Santa Clara Street, not far from where the original store stood.