Oak Knoll 4th & 5th Grade · The Otters
Career Fair 2026
The Otters’
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Oak Knoll 4th and 5th graders designed this guide to downtown Menlo Park. Follow their picks and you’re guaranteed to have a good time.
The Otters spent a Career Fair session with the Downtown Menlo Fund founders learning what a nonprofit does. Then they did it themselves, producing an actual guide to downtown. Where to eat, what to find, who to talk to, and what they’d change if they were in charge. Everything below is their work.
Eat & Drink
Where the Otters Eat
The Otters grew up eating downtown. Here’s where they suggest you go.
Amici's
The margarita pizza was the top recommendation, with the lasagna and olive pizza close behind. Multiple Otters flagged this place independently, so it's clearly doing something right.
Mr. Green Bubble
The boba is what you come for. The Otters were unanimous.
Baskin Robbins
Mint chocolate chip and rainbow sherbet both got strong votes. The Otters are divided on which one wins, so you may need to try both.
Peet's Coffee
On the list from multiple kids independently.
Susie Cakes
Cake pops were specifically called out, though really the whole place made the list.
Mademoiselle Colette
When this one came up, multiple Otters piled on: "Oh yeah, the chocolate things!"
Worth Finding
Five Places Worth Slowing Down For
Some of the best things on Santa Cruz are easy to walk past. The Otters point them out.
Cheeky Monkey
The toy store that tends to pull people in even when they weren't planning to stop. Give yourself a few extra minutes.
Kepler's Books
A bookstore that's been here since 1955. It's one of the first places they'd take a visitor.
Draeger's
One of only two locations in the world (a fact the Otters feel strongly should be better known).
Rabbit's Foot
You can make arts and crafts right there in the store.
Fremont Park
Worth stopping, especially in summer when there are concerts.
Talk To Someone
Questions Worth Asking
The Otters designed a challenge: find someone who works at a shop downtown and try one of these.
If We Ran the Fund
What the Otters Would Change
Groups of Otters were assigned one of the Downtown Menlo Fund’s focus areas: Design, Vibrant Retail, and Community. Each group came up with concrete ideas for what they’d add or change to make downtown better.
The Design group wants to bring more nature to Santa Cruz Avenue: aquascapes along the street, benches shaped like rocks and trees, a nature cave you can walk through, and metal trees to climb in the park areas. They also want more flowers, better signage, and a water play area in the park.
The Vibrant Retail group had thoughts on the store mix, specifically that downtown could use more sushi, a Shake Shack, and, in their view, less of a few other things they were gracious enough not to name. They also called for more green space (and a ski resort…?).
The Community group says downtown needs more places for kids to hang out. Their ideas for getting there included a trampoline park, a fun house, a slime studio, and laser tag. They also made a case for public restrooms, which came up multiple times.
Bonus Otters
A Note From the Youngest Otters
Two future otters joined in and invented brand new businesses they would open on Santa Cruz Avenue:
—Age 3
—Age 5
Downtown Menlo Fund is looking into it.
This page was created with Oak Knoll Elementary School 4th and 5th graders as part of the 2026 Career Fair to learn about what it means to work at a nonprofit.