AIA SWADES 2026 brings a free, eight-hour India Independence Day celebration to Plaza de Cesar Chavez on Saturday, Aug. 15 — a Bollywood grand marshal, 75-plus parade floats, and a food-and-flag mela that runs until 10 p.m.

The biggest India Independence Day party in the South Bay is free, runs eight hours, and takes over the middle of downtown San Jose this Saturday. Here's how to work it.

What, when, where. AIA SWADES 2026 — put on by the Association of Indo Americans with Bolly 92.3 FM — lands at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose on Saturday, Aug. 15. The Day & Night Mela runs 2 to 10 p.m.; the Multinational Parade steps off at 4 p.m. and runs to 6 p.m. Admission is free. Organizers ask attendees to reserve complimentary Mela tickets in advance at aiaevents.org — worth doing before you leave the house, not in line.

The parade itself is the draw this year. It's built around 75-plus cultural floats and marching groups, led by grand marshal Taapsee Pannu, the Bollywood actress (Pink, Thappad) making the ceremonial rounds through the day. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and India's consul general in San Francisco, Dr. Srikar Reddy, are on the bill as chief guests. The occasion is a double anniversary — the United States' 250th and India's 80th year of independence — which is also why you'll see the Tiranga Walk, a procession of the Indian tricolor, threaded through the afternoon.

Around the parade, the mela is the reason to stay: a food festival heavy on regional Indian cooking, a shopping marketplace of vendors and handicrafts, live cultural performances and a fashion show on the main stage, and a kids zone for anyone bringing the whole family. Eight hours is a lot of plaza; you don't need to camp there the whole time.

How to do it. Plaza de Cesar Chavez sits in the core of downtown, so skip the hunt for a street spot — aim for a garage (the Convention Center and City-run downtown garages are the closest) or take VTA light rail, which runs right down First and Second streets a block from the plaza; the Paseo de San Antonio stop drops you at the edge of it. Coming from up the Peninsula, Caltrain to Diridon plus a light-rail hop beats driving in.

If you've only got two hours: get there by 3:30, stake out a spot along the parade route on Market Street before the 4 p.m. step-off, watch the floats and the flag walk roll through, then cut into the mela for dinner and the early-evening stage sets while the light's still good. The crowd — and the food lines — only thicken after 6.