San Jose artist Danny Feliz Hanson has been creating art since she was a kid, but her work will soon be seen on a scale that kids — even creative ones — can only imagine.

Her new colorful street mural, “Romance,” will be unveiled Friday night on Post Street in the heart of the San Jose’s LGBTQ-centered Qmunity District in fantastic fashion. Bay Area aerialist Drago Nesa, who describe themselves as a nonbinary dragon living life as a fulltime artist entrepreneur, will perform during the reveal of the 416 foot-long mural, which was painted on the asphalt between Lightston Alley and South First Street.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan paints a part of a mural on Post Street in downtown San Jose alongside its designer, artist Danny Feliz Hanson on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. 

“Already this is a dream come true,” said Hanson, 25, who is also on the board of community gallery Works/San Jose. “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Romance” features a dancing pair of unicorns — mythical beasts that Hanson says she loves to draw — surrounded by swirling colors. As a queer artist, Hanson said she wanted to incorporate a lot of rainbow colors into the design, which nonetheless went through a few iterations before she got the green light to proceed.

The mural was made possible when Post Street was permanently closed in February. Lots of hands contributed to this particular job — nonprofit Curatus, the San Jose Downtown Association, the Qmunity District, the Children’s Discovery Museum, the downtown Property-Based Improvement District and the City of San Jose. Groups of volunteers — including Hanson and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan — spent a few days in early August painting the mural.

The 6 p.m. mural reveal is the unofficial start of Silicon Valley Pride weekend and proceeds the actual kickoff party in the Qmunity District at 8 p.m. with drag performers, a tie-dye station, dancers, games and DJ music. Get more information at qmunitydistrict.org.

SV PRIDE TURNS 50: Speaking of the Silicon Valley Pride festivities, the annual celebration is hitting a major milestone this year with its 50th anniversary.

Latin Grammy-nominated rapper Snow Tha Product — a San Jose native — will headline the festival Saturday at Plaza de Cesar Chavez, which runs from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and continues Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. You can also expect a huge crowd to come out for Sunday’s parade, which will start at Market and Julian streets at 10:30 a.m. and proceed in spectacular fashion along Market Street to Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

In addition to all the community organizations, corporations and elected officials taking part, the parade also will include a VTA bus decorated with a special Silicon Valley Pride wrap designed by artist Haley Tang. It features images of key figures in the LGBTQ movement over the years, including assassinated San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk; Billy DeFrank, a Black LGBTQ trailblazer in San Jose; and Ken Yeager, who was the first openly gay person to serve on both the San Jose City Council and Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.

The theme of this year’s celebration if “Unstoppable: 50 Years of Love, Legacy & Liberation.” Silicon Valley Pride traces its roots to a 1975 gay rights rally at San Jose State, which was followed in 1976 by the first Pride festival at St. James Park. More details on the weekend events, as well as tickets, are available at www.svpride.com.

LOWRIDERS CRUISE INTO DOWNTOWN: Get ready to get low, when Lowrider Day returns to the San Jose City Hall plaza on Saturday.

The smooth celebration of San Jose’s lowrider culture — organized by the United Lowrider Council of San Jose and Councilmember Peter Ortiz’s office — runs from noon to 6 p.m. The custom cars — as well as lowrider bikes — will roll onto the plaza and on Santa Clara Street, which will be closed between Third and Seventh streets. You can check out the vehicles, watch a hop exhibition or enjoy live music courtesy of the Santa Cruz Latin Collective.

The annual festivities commemorate the day when the city lifted its decades-long ban on cruising. The restrictions were put in place back in 1986 because of legitimate concerns about public safety and traffic congestion, but as then-Councilmember Raul Peralez pointed out, the law was sometimes misused as a pretext to pull over Latino drivers or anyone in a tricked-out lowrider.