Jack London Square has a better – and greener – way to light up the holidays at the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony on November 23rd.
Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremonies
Published: November, 2007
A Green Holiday Season at Jack London Square
Jack London Square has a better – and greener – way to light up the holidays at the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony on November 23rd. PG&E has replaced the tree’s 4,500 incandescent lights with energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) C-9 lights that will increase the life of the tree lights from 1,000 hours to 50,000 hours! To assist in the greening of Oakland and Jack London Square visitors, PG&E will exchange visitors’ strands of indoor tree lights with energy-efficient ones free of charge. (LED lights are more durable, they are shatterproof and shock-resistant, and if one bulb burns out, the other bulbs will stay lit so the bad bulb is easily identified and replaced.) As in years past, Jack London Square will partner with the Alameda County Community Food Bank to collect food and cash donations to assist deserving families this holiday season. Attendees are asked to please bring non-perishable food to the Tree Lighting Ceremony to benefit the Food Bank. The festivities start at 1 p.m. with ten Bay Area high schools competing in an a capella choir competition for a $5,000 grand prize for their school’s music department. At 6:00 p.m., the official lighting of the 65-foot white fir takes place to kick off the holiday season. Admission is free. Photographs with Santa are available for purchase, with proceeds benefiting the United Cerebral Palsy of the Golden Gate. Free activities for children include jump houses and arts and crafts areas where they can make their own ornaments. For more information, please call (510) 645-9292, ext. 223 or visit
www.jacklondonsquare.com.
San Francisco Pier 39 Holiday Harmony and Tree Lighting Ceremony
Pier 39’s festive Tree Lighting Ceremony and Santa always draws a crowd. The festive multi-cultural celebration showcases Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa. Pier 39’s Holiday Harmony features Bay Area groups performing seasonal favorites from around the world. Pier 39’s Tree and its 400 ornaments, 500 multi-colored bows and 2,000 twinkling lights will be illuminated at 5:30 p.m. in the Entrance Plaza. Sunday, November 18, 1:00 p.m. - 6 p.m. tree lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. (415) 705-5500.
Napa Holiday Parade and COPIA’S Tree Lighting Party
A Christmas Carol — a Dicken’s of a Parade! winds its way from downtown Napa to COPIA (The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts) for a fun Tree Lighting Party. Enjoy holiday festivities, hot chocolate, discounts on holiday shopping, caroling, dance performances, Tree Lighting Ceremony with the Mayor, and a visit from Santa. Saturday, November 24, Holiday Parade from 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. Party 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Rain or shine. Free admission. (707) 259-1600 or (888) 512-6742.
San Jose Light up the Row Tree Lighting Ceremony
The annual Tree Lighting Ceremony will take place at Santana Row on Thursday, November 15th from 6:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. in Park Valencia, on Olin Avenue, near Maggiano’s Little Italy. Then enjoy fun Holiday festivities throughout Santana Row with live Holiday entertainment, horse-drawn carriage rides and a visit from Santa. 6:30 p.m. -9 p.m. (408) 551-4611.
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Free Meals for Veterans
McCormick & Kuleto’s Seafood Restaurant in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square and Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley at 1919 Fourth Street have announced that they will be offering all U.S. military veterans a free lunch or dinner entrée on Sunday, November 11, in appreciation for their service to our country. The restaurants will offer a free entree to those defined as a veteran by the Veterans Administration, which is a person who served in the active military, Army, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard, and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. Veterans will be asked to show proper identification. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as a number of state Veterans Departments, have lauded this Veterans Appreciation program. For more information contact McCormick & Kuleto’s, (415) 929-1730 or Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto, (510) 845-7771.
Eighth Annual Biletnikoff Foundation Celebrity Crab Fest and Sports Auction
Greg Papa, Bay Area sports broadcaster and radio voice of the Oakland Raiders, will be the master of ceremonies for the 8th Annual Biletnikoff Foundation Celebrity Crab Fest and Sports Auction from 6 p.m. to midnight, Friday, November 9, at the Marriott at Bishop Ranch in San Ramon. Tickets are $95 per person and attire is casual. Last year’s sold-out event raised $60,000 for the foundation.
This year’s highlights will include delicious food, entertainment, a special performance by the Raiderettes, an exciting live-art demonstration by nationally renowned painter and performer David Garibaldi, the awarding of $1,000 education grants to deserving high school seniors entering college, and live and silent auctions including Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame travel packages and dinner with Fred and Angela Biletnikoff. Founded in the memory of Tracey Biletnikoff, whose life was brutally taken in 1999, the Biletnikoff Foundation enables young people to realize their full potential through education addressing problems related to substance abuse and gender violence.
