Holiday event will be bigger this year
The calendar shows that it’s June, but Christmas in the Park Executive Director Jason Minsky has the holidays on his mind. That’s because the beloved San Jose tradition will be coming back even bigger this year — withareturnof the walk-through event at downtown’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez and a separate drive-through event at Lake Cunningham Park.
“People are going to see a big difference at both events,” he said. “We’re bringing some of the light show element downtown, and for people who went to the drive-thru last year, this year will be definitely different.”
Plans for the free downtown event include a 65-foot-high walk-through Christmas tree, two new rides, a beer-and-wine garden called Blinky’s Lodge, and the return of Santa Claus visits. While it was forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, last year’s drive-through event was wildly popular — maybe too popular at times. It’s moving this year
from History Park to Lake Cunningham partly because of the huge traffic mess the event created on Senter Road last year. About a third fewer tickets will be sold, too, to help keep numbers down.
“We should be able to keep all the traffic in the park,” Minsky said. “It’s called ‘Blinky’s Illuminated Holiday,’ and there will be much more music and lighting than last year. And after Christmas, we’ll change the soundtrack through Jan. 9 for people who want to visit again and have a new experience.”
To accommodate the challenge of doing both events simultaneously starting the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas in the Park doubled the size of its small staff and Minsky says he hopes the potential of bringing in a record 1 million visitors between the two is a big draw for sponsors, too.
And, of course, some of that fundraising support will take place next month at the Christmas in July gala at History Park, an inperson event dubbed “Picnic in the Park.” The annual event, which was virtual last year, will feature a catered dinner, bathtub races and three stages of entertainment with a DJ, dueling pianos and the Country Cougars band. Tickets, starting at $150 each, are available at www.christmasinthepark.com.
“We’ve been hearing from everyone who signs up how excited they are to be getting together again outdoors,” Minsky said.
WALK THIS WAY >> One group of people we should all be thankful to see back on the job are tour guides at the Winchester Mystery House. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the attraction switched to self-guided tours with “mansion hosts” stationed around the sprawling, 160-room house to make sure people didn’t get lost or need help.
But anyone who visited the San Jose landmark pre-pandemic knows the guides are one of the best parts of the tour, with plenty of stories — some real, some less so — about the house and its history. The guided tours, which restart June 19, will also allow visitors to return to the mansion’s third and fourth floors for the first time since March 2020.
NEW CHAPTERS >> On Monday, the San Jose Public Library opened eight additional branches where the public can browse books, access computers or check out materials. The reopened branches are Bascom, East San Jose Carnegie, Educational Park, Edenvale, Hillview, Pearl Avenue, Seven Trees and Vineland, making 15 of the system’s 25 branches again open to the public. Go to www.sjpl.org for more information.