This weekend, Christmas in the Park will install the 50-foot community tree — the centerpiece of San Jose’s beloved holiday tradition. But brace yourselves, folks, because for the first time in Christmas in the Park’s 40-year history, the tree going into Plaza de Cesar Chavez will be artificial.
Before you start invoking the Grinch’s name or declaring a war on Christmas, Executive Director Jason Minsky says there are a couple of big reasons the nonprofit decided to make the change this year, starting with the cost of having a tree shipped from the Shasta area.
“Each year, we were spending about $20,000 on that tree,” Minsky said, adding that the artificial tree had a one-time price tag of $18,000 and should last for several years. “We had our lighting donated last year, so it basically becomes something we don’t have to spend money on anymore.”
Surprisingly, another reason is environmental. Minsky said because the real tree lost branches when it was transported, it needed to be “plugged” — fluffed up with branches added from other trees. But those branches were impaled onto the tree with metal spikes, meaning the tree couldn’t just be cut up and mulched after Christmas in the Park ended.
Minsky said another benefit to the artificial tree is that it’ll improve the look of the computer-controlled, music enhanced light show that made its debut last year. “The new tree is as tall but not as wide as before,” he said. “It gives us the opportunity to have a great canvas for the light show.”
As Christmas in the Park builds toward its opening night parade and tree-lighting ceremony Nov. 29, Minsky said the event’s sponsorship roster has shaken up a bit this year. Southwest Airlines remains the title sponsor, and Excite Credit Union is in the second of its three years as the entertainment stage sponsor. But PG&E, everybody’s favorite villain these days, dialed down its sponsorship from about $20,000 to $5,000 and Lowe’s — which came on last year in the wake of Orchard Supply Hardware’s closing — has pulled out. That represents a loss of about $50,000 between those two companies alone.
But rest assured, all is still well in park land.
“We added Google as a new sponsor… they’d previously just sponsored the Santa Run, and eBay is back after a few years away, and Amazon increased its sponsorship,” Minsky said. And, Home Depot replaced Lowe’s as a sponsor, not only providing a source for the hundreds of community trees — all real — that will fill out the park but also giving Christmas in the Park store credit for building supplies.
LANDMARK PROJECT COURTS LOCAL ARTISTS: With a lot of heated talk this year about local artists being shut out of big projects, the group behind a plan to create a new landmark structure in San Jose is making sure the city’s creatives have an opportunity to be involved.
Urban Confluence Silicon Valley is holding to an open house, “Artists Love Parties,” Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at Local Color in downtown San Jose to brief artists and art enthusiasts about the ongoing international ideas competition. The deadline for the ideas competition has been extended to Jan. 15, and if you can’t make it to Thursday’s free event at 27 S. First St., go to www.urbanconfluencesiliconvalley.org for more information.
LOS ALTOS CELEBRATES SAFETY: With another spate of wildfires throughout the state and the recent 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, being prepared for an emergency is on the forefront of many minds. At the Los Altos History Museum on Nov. 14, the volunteers who help keep communities safe will be the subject of an appreciation reception at 5:30 p.m. Visitors also will get to take a look at displays showcasing different projects funded by Los Altos’ emergency preparedness grants program.
The Emergency Volunteer Appreciation Night is coordinated with the museum’s very topic current exhibition, “Our Community Prepares: Acts of Nature, Then and Now,” which runs through Jan. 19 at the museum at 51 S. San Antonio Road.