Founder’s Day was celebrated in the square at Old Town Historic State Park on Monday July 16, with colorful costumed characters, a history lesson and lots of birthday cake.

Why birthday cake?

According to park volunteer Robert Wohl, who appeared in a top hat and tails, typical of the settlement in the mid 1800’s, it is one of the most significant dates in the history of Old Town San Diego – San Diego’s birthday!

On July 16, 1769, Father Junipero Serra, a Spanish missionary, planted a cross on today’s Presidio Park and founded Mission San Diego de Alcala.

A crowd of on-lookers, including first-graders from Zamorano Elementary, watched as Wohl told the story of how Old Town came to be – the first European settlement in what was then called Alta California. Then, Wohl led everyone in singing “Happy Birthday” to San Diego.

Afterwards Thomas Jefferson School of Law Assistant Dean Lori Wulfemeyer served cake to the Founder’s Day crowd. It wasn’t exactly the kind of dessert the original settlers would have had in 1769, but no one seemed to mind!