No Dia de los Muertos celebration would be complete without skulls! On the last day of our wonderful community exhibit, come decorate a skull mask to wear for the day!

As Day of the Dead approaches, we all need a skeleton buddy. Come decorate your very own skeleton friend.

Looking to add a little more joy to your October Celebrations or a gift for someone special? Then drop by the Pop-Up Shop offering unique and one-of-a-kind Dia de los Muertos themed folk art and jewelry. Come support local artisans!

Learn about the symbolism of monarch butterflies in Dia de los Muertos imagery and make your own monarch before they all migrate south.

Day of the Dead Festivities are filled with bright and happy colors! Add vibrant colors to your festivities with your very own tin foil art. Also learn about the role the marigold plays in Dis de los Muertos celebrations and make your own tissue paper marigold.

Lead Paranormal Docent Gail Reilly will speak about investigating McConaghy House and Meek Mansion over the last decade and share her experiences from not only our sites, but other historical venues from around the state.

Free | Registration Full

Hayward/South County Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA) Chapter invites you to a Voter Information and Registration Event. BWOPA partners with The Links Incorporated Eden Rose Chapter, the Hayward-South County NAACP, and the League of Women Voters of the Eden Area. Light refreshments will be provided.

The presentation will include information regarding:

• Why your vote is important

• An overview of elections: National, State, and Local

• The pros and cons of Assembly and Senate bills

• How you can get out the vote

• Voter information question and answer session

• On-site voter registration

Free | Registration Required

As we all know, the Hayward area is known for being a great place to grow fruits and vegetables, so much so that we often have more on our trees and in our gardens than we know what to do with! Lucky for us, there is ForestR. ForestR is a nonprofit organization that offers many programs, but fruit tree gleaning is their specialty. Join us on June 1st to hear more about ForestR’s programs and how their fruit-gleaning service can help redistribute the overabundance your fruit tree produces.

Free | Registration Required

Stop by the Museum for a morning story time and a Mother’s Day craft!

Moo! Baa! Oink! Cluck-cluck! A barnyard can be a noisy place. Come celebrate with us as we sing about Old McDonald, count 5 little piggies, and look for the green sheep. For more information about our family programs, click here.

$5 program fee per adult, Free for HAHS Members

This June will be Eric Carle’s 89th Birthday! Celebrate this beloved children’s author, the creator of hungry caterpillars, lonely fireflies, and grouchy ladybugs. We will share many of his stories, and make art inspired by his playful illustrations. For more information about our family programs, click here.

$5 program fee per adult, Free for HAHS Members

Between 1883 and 1929, Andrew Carnegie funded the building of over 2,000 public libraries. Some of those historic structures stood in San Leandro and Hayward. Join Annalee Allen, noted local historian, Oakland Tribune columnist, and former board member of the Oakland Heritage Alliance, as she shares the lasting legacy of the local Carnegie libraries.

$5 program fee, Free for HAHS Members

Firefighters, construction workers, mail carriers - we see so many community helpers every day. Help sort the mail, try on a firefighter’s hat, or build a tall building with blocks, as we share songs and stories that celebrate all the people in our neighborhood!

Toddler Time is a family program geared towards children ages 1-5 and their caregivers. Together, we share songs, games, crafts and stories, for a morning full of learning and smiles. Older siblings are always welcome. Toddler Time takes place on the second Thursday of each month from 10:30 AM -11:30 AM. $5 program fee per adult.

Join acclaimed author and speaker Regina Mason as she shares the story of her search for her great-great-great-grandfather, William Grimes, and her startling discovery that he had written the first American autobiography of a runaway slave. His story ignited an essential American literary genre, but is largely forgotten today. His story, and her search to uncover it, are retold in a new film, Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes. In this reenactment documentary that bridges two centuries, both Mason and her forebear Grimes defy the odds of their times to tell their stories.

Program Schedule

1:00 - 1:30: Introductions & Film Background

1:30 - 3:00: Film Screening: Gina’s Journey: The Search for William Grimes

3:00 - 3:30: Q&A, Book Signing

Admission to the museum is free, but there is a $5 suggested donation for the program.

This program is presented in partnership with the Women’s Ministry of Palma Ceia Baptist Church. Program sponsored by KMS Unique Angels & Gifts.

Explore butterflies, caterpillars, all kinds of creepy-crawly friends – make a coffee-filter butterfly, or a googly-bug-eyed headband for dramatic play! Toddler Time is a family program geared toward children ages 1-5 and their caregivers. Older siblings are always welcome.

Come celebrate the Días de los Muertos (Days of the Dead) with a full day of crafts and activities to remember the lives of loved ones who have passed. Get your face painted, create a silly skeleton, decorate traditional sugar skulls to take home, and enjoy a special concert by Hayward's own young musicians, the Mariachi Juvenil.

Craft a spooky spider web, and join us for stories, songs, crafts, and fun! Don’t forget to wear your costume! Toddler Time is a family program geared toward children ages 1-5 and their caregivers. Older siblings are always welcome.

Around the neighborhood or around the world, join us for crafts and stories that reflect our many cultures, and how we are connected. Toddler Time is a family program geared toward children ages 1-5 and their caregivers. Older siblings are always welcome. More information about our family programs is available here.

Japanese Americans experienced tremendous violations of civil liberties during World War II and their experiences continue to resonate today.

Join us for a screening of the pivotal documentary And Then They Came for Us (2017), followed by a round-table discussion. Sponsored by the Eden Township JACL.

Speaker Biographies

Don Tamaki is a celebrated local lawyer who helped clear Fred Korematsu’s conviction for resisting detention during WWII, and recently filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in the Travel Ban case (Trump v. Hawaii).

Satsuki Ina, born in the Tule Lake maximum security prison during WWII, is a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of trauma, and the producer of two award-winning documentary films about Japanese American incarceration (Children of the Camps and From A Silk Cocoon).

Benita Jain, from the Immigrant Family Defense Fund, has worked with multiple national organizations focused on defending the civil rights of immigrant communities. She monitors and analyzes legislative proposals, and helps to provide legal resources to fight the targeting of immigrants with criminal arrests and convictions. The Immigrant Family Defense Fund is doing local, concrete work on a daily basis to provide legal representation and support to California families facing separation, detention and deportation. 

Doing our part to recycle reduces the amount of waste that gets sent to landfills, conserves natural resources, and saves energy. Come for this month’s Toddler Time to learn more about the benefits of recycling and what you can do to help through stories, crafts, and activities. For more information about family programs with HAHS, click here or call (510) 581-0223.

The atmosphere is constantly changing and because of that we feel rain or shine, wind or snow, hot or cold. Join us for this month’s Toddler Time where we’ll further explore the weather around us through games, crafts, and stories. For more information about family programs with HAHS, click here or call (510) 581-0223.

Children’s Day, a National Holiday in Japan since 1948, is a day to celebrate the children in our lives and express gratitude towards their mothers. On this day carp-shaped flags, or koinobori, are raised for each member of the family. Join HAHS in celebrating the children in your lives with stories, crafts, and fun. For more information about family programs with HAHS, click here or call (510) 581-0223.

The Hayward Area Film Festival is dedicated to exhibiting short films and videos produced by student filmmakers. This event will honor outstanding Animation, Narrative, Documentary, Public Service Announcement (P.S.A.), Experimental, and special Film Challenge projects created by students. It is the goal of the Hayward Area Film Festival to continue to encourage student creativity, give students the opportunity to tell their stories, and further introduce them to the world of filmmaking. A short awards ceremony will follow the film showcase to acknowledge the winners of each category. This program is a partnership with the Bay Area Digital Arts (BADA) program at San Lorenzo High School and the Community Multi Media Academy (CMMA) program at Tennyson High School.

More information about submitting student films for the festival is available here.

The Hayward Area Historical Society will be hosting a number of programs in conjunction with the Special Gallery Exhibition Loyal Americans: Japanese American Imprisonment During World War II. For the first of these programs we will invite the whole family down to the Museum to learn about traditional Japanese forms of arts and crafts. Looking at and experiencing art often provides important insights into past and existing cultures, helping us better understand how others have lived and what they value. Join us to further explore Japanese culture through Origami and Taiko drumming.

Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures. Ancient Japanese legend says that anyone who takes the time and completes 1,000 paper origami cranes will be granted a wish from the gods. In commemoration of this tradition, join us between the hours of 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM in making 1,000 cranes to be hung and displayed in the lobby for the remainder of the Loyal Americans exhibition. 

In Japanese, the word taiko translates to a barrel-shaped drum. In recent decades the art-form of ensemble taiko drumming has become extremely popular with many groups performing at concerts or during festivals. Starting at 11:00 AM, the Eden Aoba Taiko group will put on a demonstration of their drumming and show their art.  

We see buildings and the architecture that goes into making them every day, just take a look around you! This Toddler Time, kids will build things with their own hands, feeling the accomplishment of problem-solving and creating something interesting, beautiful, or even weird. For more information about family programs with HAHS, click here or call (510) 581-0223.

Dr. Seuss is one of the most cherished children’s books authors and illustrators with works including “Green Eggs and Ham”, “The Cat in the Hat”, and many more.  Come enjoy some of Seuss’ stories, join in on crafts, and have fun in your community. For more information about family programs with HAHS, click here or call (510) 581-0223.

This is the time of year people come together with their families and loved ones in celebration! Join us in learning about the different winter holidays observed around the world through stories, crafts, and activities. Admission is free. $5 suggested donation.