The return of the Fantasy of Lights at Vasona Lake County park
Fantasy of Lights, one of the South Bay’s beloved holiday treats, is returning to Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos for its 20th year, starting with what has become a new tradition: Two days of evening walking tours the weekend before drivers get their chance to see the whimsical, illuminated displays up close.
Provided the weather is clear — and this weekend’s evenings are looking good at the moment — the walking tours provide an entirely different experience. Instead of driving the 1.5-mile route, visitors park at Netflix and take shuttles to the event’s entrance. Kids can visit with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, families can visit a holiday photo booth and Moveable Feast food trucks provide food and warm beverages. It’s a more laid-back, go-at-yourown-pace atmosphere. And does anything scream “health conscious Silicon Valley” more than ditching the car for a walk?
Last year, I caught a lot of grief for saying parents shouldn’t let their kids poke their heads out of the sunroof as they make their way slowly through the park by car. But I’m not sure I’m ready to give up our warm car in favor of bundling up for the walking tour.
I’d miss listening to “Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey” two or three times during the tour, and hearing our kids grousing from the back that they missed Santa throwing the basketball through the hoop or that I passed by the exploding volcano too fast. It wouldn’t be the holidays without shouts from oncoming drivers for me to turn off my headlights, even though our Subaru has daytime running lights that can’t be dimmed when the car’s in motion.
On second thought, the walking tour’s
actually sounding better and better.
Whichever way you go, you need to purchase advance tickets. Tickets for the walking tours (4 to 9 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday) are $10 for adults, $5 for kids 4-12 and free for kids 3 and under. Drive-through tours are scheduled from 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 4-30 (except Christmas Day), and tickets are $20 for most cars, but $50 for large vehicles with 13 or more people. Get tickets at www. parkhere.org.
THANKSGIVING SURPRISE » Los Gatos restaurant Oak & Rye added their highend pizza to the menu as Martha’s Kitchen served a Thanksgiving meal to the hungry last weekend at the 37-year-old San Jose soup kitchen. Martha’s Kitchen Executive Director Edita Cruz says it’s just the latest example of the agency’s relationship with the eatery, which came to be when Restaurant James Randall owner Brenda Hammond passed on the business to her son, Ross Hanson, and daughter Dana Bunker.
In 2014, Hanson and his mom competed in Martha’s Kitchen’s “celebrity chef” competition, and the following year, Hammond and her partners at Table for Three organized Martha’s Kitchen’s annual gala at the Glass House in San Jose.
MUSICAL TRIBUTE » >> John Valente, a longtime leader in San Jose’s Italian-American community, died Nov. 20, just a couple of weeks before his 101st birthday. The ItalianAmerican Heritage Foundation was already planning to a tribute at its 31st annual World of Italian Opera event Dec. 7 for Richard Dominic Valente, John’s brother, who died on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and now John will be included in that, too.
Tickets to the 8:15 p.m. concert, which includes an Italian dinner buffet at 7 p.m., are $48 ($40 for IAHF members). Go to www.iahsj.org or call 408-293-7122 for tickets.