Three lesser-known Sebastopol holiday celebrations to brighten your December
Discover the Sebastopol Lights Parade, the Analy Holiday Light Show, and Sebastopol Hardware's Holiday Tent
CORRECTION: This is a corrected version of a previously sent article called “More Holiday Fun to Come.”
Sebastopol’s big tree lighting happened this week, with hordes of young families, carols led by Mr. Music, sugar plum fairies courtesy of the Sebastopol Ballet, a menorah lighting by Steve Einstein, and music from the Analy Jazz Band, directed by Casey Jones. The tree lighting is sponsored by the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce and was organized this year by Chamber Director Myriah Volk. Shout out to the Kiwanis for providing volunteers for the event. It’s such a great small town celebration.
But Christmas is still two weeks away and for those who celebrate the winter holidays, there’s more, if lesser known, holiday fun to come.
The Sebastopol Lights Parade
This is one of my favorite new holiday traditions, started during the depths of COVID by Lori Jay and friends. What’s charming about this event is how completely unofficial it is: Jay and friends and now other folks around town decorate their cars, trucks, motorcycles and tractors with lights and other decorations and drive slowly around Sebastopol’s residential streets. The fire department decorates a fire engine and joins in the fun.
The parade starts at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 13 on Belle View Avenue, and it takes about an hour to wind its way through town. Here’s a map of the route:
Jay started the event in 2020.
“I did it because it was COVID and we didn't get to have Apple Blossom, and I just felt like we needed some cheer in our community,” she said.
It’s grown every year. She doesn’t know how many vehicles will be joining the parade this year.
“It's just kind of different every year,” she said. “It rained in 2021. Then last year, we had more people. We had motorcycles decorated and the motorcyclists were dressed up as elves and so more people have joined in the fun. I'm hoping for the same this year.”
She said anyone who wants to decorate their vehicle for the holidays and join in the parade is welcome.
“They can just show up and line up on Belle View Avenue.” The convoy leaves Belle View a 6:30 pm so plan accordingly.
The Analy Holiday Light Show
Another great Sebastopol holiday tradition birthed by the COVID year, the Analy Holiday Lights show was dreamt up by Walt Hays and Andrew Del Monte in 2020, but first put into effect in 2021.
Walt said he and Andy spent the 2020 holiday season building a scale model of Analy’s main building in gingerbread.
“We took a break from gluing panels together and melting Jolly Ranchers, and Andy said ‘You got to see these lights in Santa Rosa. So we drove over and he showed me the show and then he said ‘You know, we ought to do this on the front of the main building.’ And so then it was a year later that we did it,” Hays said. “We got donations from a lot of the choir families and then a big donation from Sebastopol Rotary and from Screamin’ Mimi's to help us buy the equipment that we needed.”
This year Hays, Del Monte, Math teacher Brian Miller and two students came to campus on the weekend after Thanksgiving and spent most of the day setting up the light show.
“We have over 2,000 lights on the front of the building and a little computer controller that sits on the roof and runs it all,” Hays said.
And it’s not just lights—the lights are coordinated with music.
“Avid holiday lights people, they're maniacs,” Hays joked. “So you buy this hardware and then the software is free…and you can use this software to program lightshows to any sound file. So we’re doing music from the current and former Analy choir and band programs, including some music from El Molino, before it closed.”
The lights go on and off and run up and down the building in time to the music. The show will run until New Years. The light show starts at 5:30 pm, and it’s about a half hour long, repeating until 8:30 p.m.
“There’s outdoor speakers so you can hear the music, or if it's too cold or if it's raining, you can sit in your car and listen to it on the radio on 94.3 FM.”
“It's a treat, and it's fun,” Hays said. “Like I've been there when it was raining and everybody was in their cars watching it and listening to it on the radio. I've been there when it was a little warmer and there were families with hot chocolate and little camping chairs sitting on the front step in the front of the school. There's been little kids dancing to the songs next to their car with their parents and yeah, it's really a sweet thing.”
See three short video clips of the light show here.
The Sebastopol Hardware Holiday Tent
OK, so this isn’t an event, but it is an amazing local celebration of the season. The staff of Sebastopol Hardware goes all out creating elaborate Christmas displays. Who does the decorating?
“We all do!” said Sebastopol Hardware’s Wendy Powers. “So there's four or five of us that go to market and choose it all. And the fun thing is we choose every single ornament that we carry, and every decoration we handpick. And throughout the rest of the months until we set up, we are gathering ideas and plans. We borrow some ideas from the showrooms and then we make up our own ideas, and we create a planning board of how we think it's gonna get set up.”
“The first thing that happens is the tent gets erected. And then it gets lit with all the lights and then all the shelving goes in. That process usually takes about a week. Then we line all the walls with wallpaper. Then we start out with all the hanging things up high. And then we start in a corner and we work from the back of the tent forward towards the entrance, and that takes about four to five weeks.”
Which is why the tent opens around Halloween—long before most people are thinking about Christmas. But by December the tent is busy with shoppers. There are wreaths, nutcrackers, tiny Christmas villages, nativity scenes, Christmas signs, and ornaments a plenty (thousands of them)—one for every person on your Christmas list (including Buddhists).
Thank you for giving us the fascinating background details to these important activities that are quickly becoming traditions. What an awesome example of why we need local news!
What day is the Sebastopol Lights Parade ?