It’s a great week for San Jose birthday celebrations

The city of San Jose is celebrating its 240th birthday on Saturday, and it’s a fair compliment to say the city really doesn’t look that old. Of course, knocking down most of your historic buildings will keep a city looking young and fresh, the municipal equivalent of grandma’s face-lift.

And like anyone of a certain age, San Jose’s getting all ornery and deciding to blow out the candles whenever it damn well wants to. The city’s big 2-4-0 doesn’t arrive until Nov. 29, but that’s a Wednesday after the Thanksgiving holiday and it could rain, so y’know, it’s in October this year.

The celebration will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Peralta Adobe, which was built in 1797 and is the only original structure remaining from El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, as it was known in the old, old days. (Wouldn’t you love to see them fit that on a Sharks T-shirt?)

“The Peralta Adobe is such a unique and important place in San Jose and California history and we are so excited to celebrate and share it with the community,” History San Jose CEO Alida Bray said. It also doesn’t hurt that the adobe is surrounded by the much newer San Pedro Square Market, which has been downtown’s party central for the past six years.

During the party, you can explore the Peralta Adobe or take a tour of the historic Fallon House across the street. There’ll also be history-inspired hands-on activities for families, folklorico dancing by Los Lupeños de San Jose and, of course, birthday cake. It’s free to attend, but Fallon House tours and activity wristbands for kids are $5.

SINGING CELEBRATION >> Another big anniversary this week belongs to San Jose State, whose Choraliers have been entertaining campus audiences since 1947. With the help of about 120 alumni from over the decades — along with SJSU’s Concert Choir — the group will celebrate its 70th anniversary with a gala performance Saturday.

While the choirs are currently under the direction of Jeffrey Benson, Charlene Archibeque — who’s served as the choral director for 35 years — is returning as guest conductor at the 7:30 p.m. concert at St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica in downtown San Jose. Tickets are $15 to $30, and a $50 ticket includes admission to a wine and cheese reception following the performance. Get tickets and more information at sjsu.edu/music.

THREE DECADES OF SERVICE >> The 30th anniversary of the opening of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose was actually last week, but we’ll let that detail slide. To mark the occasion, General Manager Michael Musarra says the hotel is pledging to accomplish 30 charitable acts of service over the next year. The Fairmont has selected various nonprofits to benefit from this effort, which will include fundraising events at the hotel, clothing and food drives and employee volunteerism.

“We are proud to have reached this milestone anniversary, and we want to thank the San Jose community for its continuous support,” Musarra said. “We recognize that there are many areas of need and many different ways to serve the community, so we wanted this initiative to provide a variety of ways for our colleagues to get involved with the causes they are passionate about.”

IT’S BRA DAY >> The sixth annual BRA Day — the Cancer CAREpoint event in honor of breast reconstruction awareness — is happening at 6 p.m. today at the courtyard of the Hotel Valencia in Santana Row. The fun aspect of the inspiring event is the plethora of bras decorated by community members — and judged by a panel that includes U.S. soccer star Brandi Chastain. The important part, though, is the information that will be imparted by Dr. Kamakshi Zeidler and Dr. Pamela Munter, who provide updates on breast cancer research.

The cost to register for the event is $30. Go to www.cancercarepoint_braday2017.eventbrite.com for details.