This year's 76th Founders' Day will be pared down dramatically from last year's celebration, but the second annual Palm Haven Neighborhood and Homes Tour event will be more elaborate.

At the Sept. 6 Founders' Day event there will be no parade, face painting or fanfare. Instead, as Willow Glen Neighborhood Association president Helen Solinski says, the neighborhood's money and efforts will be focused on accomplishing more work within the community.

"We are neighborhood activists, not event planners," Solinski says. "We had to choose where we wanted to commit our time and not spread ourselves too thin."

Solinski says the association began organizing Founders' Day in 2001 and that the neighborhood group happily adopted last year's Founders' Day events because it was the 75th anniversary. But, she says, the neighborhood association focused too much of its time on this one-day event, and that lessened its ability to target the neighborhood's other pressing concerns.

"It is kind of a bummer," Solinski says. "It really is a family-oriented event; we had a silent auction, a parade. But with the bad economy, city fees going up and a grant half the amount we received last year, it just wasn't the year to do a big event."

Though the downsizing of Founders' Day is upsetting to some in the community, this turn of events may bring out more residents than last year to the annual Palm Haven Neighborhood and Homes Tour.

The event, in cooperation with Willow Glen Founders' Day, provides the opportunity for people to tour the homes of some of San Jose's important early figures. The unique architecture and lot-sized homes were built in the early 1900s, and Palm Haven easily stands out from other sections of Willow Glen because of its distinctive towering Royal Palms.

Six homes will be open and on display during the event. Volunteers from the neighborhood will also serve as docents in the homes, answering questions about the houses, the history of the neighborhood and Founders' Day.

According to Palm Haven residents, some of the early Palm Haven inhabitants were behind Willow Glen's incorporation as a city and fight to stop the Southern Pacific Railroad.

But not everyone living in this section of Willow Glen was aware of the event.

Palm Haven residents Greg and Caroline Biggs moved into the neighborhood about four months ago. They weren't familiar with the home tours, so when someone called asking if they would donate their house for the day, they were a little hesitant.

"It's not the Taj Mahal," Biggs says of his home. "We were both a little sheepish about the whole idea of people touring our place."

The couple moved into the neighborhood because they liked the home and mix of people. Now, they are busy getting the house ready for the Founders' Day event, discovering its history, all after living in their home for less than six months.

"We haven't heard too much about the event yet," Biggs says. "But we've found out that a pharmacist had our house built in 1922. The whole thing is pretty bizarre."

Tour chairman Mike Borbely has been working with homeowners and others in the community for months to prepare for the Sept. 6 home tour. He says that last year's event was so successful that he didn't want to tinker too much or change this year's festivities.

Along with the home tours, the Port City Jazz Band will play in Palm Haven Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and a bake sale and other food and beverages will also be available in the park. The neighborhood is also repeating last year's popular classic auto show in the Palm Haven Park, presenting classic autos from the pre-war era. According to Borbely, some residents had kept old pictures of vintage cars that were taken in front of Palm Haven homes. So Borbely thought it would be appropriate to locate some of these cars and incorporate them into the auto show.

"We wanted to stick to cars that reflected the early period of Palm Haven," he says. "We will show a 1927 Lincoln Touring Car, a 1915 Buick, a 1914 Packard and several more. They are all such beautiful cars and will help create a great atmosphere."

Also, the neighborhood is furthering its theme of the early days of Willow Glen by bringing in a group of men and women to the park that will emulate what it looked like to have a picnic in the 1920s. The group will be dressed in period-appropriate costumes and reenact that time period to entertain the modern-day crowd.

One hundred volunteers have been involved in the pre-planning process, and Borbely said the mission of the event is twofold.

"We want to raise funds for our column-restoration fund and raise community awareness about Palm Haven," he says.

The column-restoration fund was created to raise money to restore the seven columns in the "mission-revival style." Basically, this means restore each column to the way it looked when it was originally built. Currently, only one column has been restored.

And although the neighborhood association was forced to scale back Founders' Day, it will be participating in Palm Haven's event. The association also plans to set up a booth in the park, handing out brochures about the neighborhood association. The group is hoping to recruit new members and will also sell T-shirts and other merchandise.

North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association president Alison England says her group may also have a booth at the event, but it's possible that the volunteers may be spread too thin to participate.

Along with the two neighborhood associations, the Preservation Action Council of San Jose—a nonprofit organization that promotes historic preservation and compatible new architectural design — has also secured a booth at the event in the park.

Palm Haven isn't the only group commemorating Founders' Day. The Willow Glen Business and Professional Association will also be participating by holding a Founders' Day Sidewalk Sale on Lincoln Avenue.

Willow Glen Business and Professional Association executive director Norma Ruiz says she hopes a majority of businesses on the street participate.

Palm Haven Homes Tour tickets can be purchased at Casa Casa, 1355 Lincoln Ave., Comforts of Willow Glen, 1324 Lincoln Ave., and Eclectic Touch, 1171 Lincoln Ave. Ages for the tours are restricted to 12 years and older. Tickets purchased before Sept.6 are $20 and at Palm Haven Park on Sept. 6 are $25.The Homes Tour is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. All park festivities are free. The Founders' Day Sidewalk Sale will be on Lincoln Avenue, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.