San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
EVENT OFFERS JUST A TASTE OF TRADITION
December Nights transforms into drive-thru food experience for 2020
Any other year, this weekend would’ve seen Balboa Park filled with lights, an abundance of festive holiday trappings and hundreds of thousands of eager onlookers celebrating San Diego’s biggest free event of the year: December Nights.
This year, though, things were different as the 42-yearold event was reimagined as a COVID-SAFE, drive-thru food-centric celebration, which still proved a welcome sight to small businesses and residents alike.
Thousands of cars visited a parking lot at Inspiration Point Way on Friday and Saturday for “Taste of December Nights,” where they crawled past a line of about 20 food vendors, ordering treats from their car windows as they passed. With a “Social Distance” Santa greeting guests at the entry, holiday music in the air and cuisine ranging from Louisiana Cajun and bao to barbeque and macarons, hungry San Diegans and business owners made the best of a holiday celebration unlike any other.
Shawnta Fleming, general manager of Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, has frequented December Nights many times over the years as a visitor but this year participated for the first time as a vendor. She said she misses walking through the Christmas trees, but is still excited to have an event actually happen that safely brings people together and brightens their days during these hard times.
“I don’t know what screams community more than December Nights,” Fleming said. “It’s definitely not the same, but it is something that people are enjoying, and it is still happening.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, city of San Diego officials knew that the usual shoulder-to-shoulder crowds weren’t safe and began brainstorming alternative ideas over the summer. Some long lines and logistical issues aside on Saturday, the Taste of December Nights mostly proved a welcomed reprieve.
Oceanside residents Kainath Kamil and Salma Khalil, both 17, decided to stop by for lunch after attending an outside event at the Birch Aquarium. Selfdescribed foodies, Kamil and Khalil were excited to try the steak gumbo, macarons and pizza.
“Most of the time nowadays people just go to fast food or some huge corporate restaurant, and I think this is a great way to support some family-owned businesses, who our money means a lot more to,” Kamil said.
For small-business owners, Taste of December Nights was regarded as a rare boost in what has been a difficult year for the industry
— and just as the county was preparing to enter into another more restrictive lockdown.
Kevin Spenla, owner of Dang Brother Pizza which participated in the December Nights event last year, said nothing compares to walking around Balboa Park at Christmas time, but the lesson of 2020 has been about adapting and going with the flow. For Dang Brothers that meant getting creative in trying to put on a show for customers while they waited in their cars.
Serving wood-fired pizzas out of a renovated fire truck, Dang Brother cooks clad in Santa Hats and festive shirts made a show of throwing dough and jamming out to Christmas songs — with Mariah Carey covers particularly turning things up a notch. They also had a delivery driver on a yellow electric bike zooming up and down the line of cars; Spenla said a DJ and saxophone player were on tap for later that night.
Oliver Feldhausen, owner of Kettle Corn and a 15-year vendor at December Nights, similarly said 2020 has been a year about thinking outside of the box.
“I am grateful for every single customer that shows up to one of these events,” Feldhausen said. “When they come to an event like this they are literally supporting a small business and are literally helping us keep the doors open one event at a time.”