All are invited to this year’s Meet Me at the Mission Founder’s Gala on June 13. The event commemorates Juan Bautista de Anza and an exploration group of 240 people, including soldiers, their wives and children coming to the Mission San José area in 1876. Proceeds will help restore the exterior of the Mission Church.
The gala begins with a cocktail reception in the beautiful Mission Patio Garden and evolves into a “Surf & Turf” Gala provided by Saki’s Spin-A-Yarn in the Parish Hall, with complimentary Mission Peak Vineyards wine on the table.
“The Committee for Restoration of the Mission San José [CRMSJ] is an all-volunteer and non-sectarian nonprofit formed in 1975,” says Gary Dorighi, current president of CRMSJ. “It initially raised funds for the authentic reconstruction of the adobe church.” After 10 years of effort, the vision was accomplished, and Mission San José’s adobe church was dedicated in 1985.
For 51 years, the committee has continued to raise funds and be a historic resource for numerous preservation projects. These include the seismic retrofit of the 1809 missionaries’ living quarters which today houses a museum, the foundation and exterior repairs of the museum structure, and the preservation of historic textiles and fine art on display.
The mission is recognized as a California Historic Landmark and registered as a National Historic Place. It is the oldest still-standing adobe structure in Alameda County.
De Anza’s expeditionary force was tasked with building and sustaining a military fort to guard the entrance to the Bay (now the Presidio of San Francisco) and to establish California’s first city, El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (now San José). The Ohlone village of Oroysom in present day Fremont was noted in journals from Anza’s Trail Expedition as a potential mission site. Mission San José was established about 20 years later, on June 11, 1797, and Fremont ultimately grew up around it.
Each year, the mission hosts thousands of visitors from around the world and provides educational field trips for scores of schoolchildren from all over the Greater Bay Area.
Information, tickets and sponsorships for the gala can be found at crmsjca.org/2026-gala.
Meet Me at the Mission Gala
Saturday, June 13
5:30pm
Mission San José Patio Garden
43300 Mission Blvd., Fremont
Tickets: $150
