The City of Menlo Park kicked off the holiday season by hosting its sixth annual Light Up the Season in Fremont Park on Friday evening. Community members gathered to watch festive performances, bond with one another, and witness the lighting of the park’s largest oak tree.
Throughout the park, a variety of different attractions were displayed, including holiday-themed inflatables to take pictures with, booths offering arts and crafts activities, and stands distributing steamed apple cider and hot chocolate. “We just love that it’s a community event celebrating the holidays with the city, and other organizations like Menlo Church coming together to provide entertainment and hot chocolate, and a time for families together,” community member Julie Hooper said.
Community members huddled near the stage set up towards the back of the park to watch multiple performances ranging from poetry to singing, raising holiday spirit throughout the crowd.
The first performance was an original poetry reading titled “Season of Holidays,” executed by children from the Menlo Children’s Center. The young performers recited verses about the shift from fall to winter and classic holiday traditions. The piece ended with the line, “Grab a hot chocolate if you have change in your pocket and let the kindness show,” leaving the crowd feeling festive and connected.
Following the poem, children from the Belle Haven Youth Center presented another poetry piece focused on the joys of wintertime. The line, “It’s the time of year again with that winter land gleam,” added to the event’s winter wonderland atmosphere.
The next performance was a reading of the classic book, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Members of the Menlo Park Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) came on stage to read the book aloud to the audience. “My favorite part [of the event] has been reading the snowy day book, it’s been really fun to see the little kids, the audience, the park, and providing entertainment,” YAC member Ayda Diril said. Whether it was a child’s first time hearing the book or an adult revisiting a nostalgic favorite, the read-aloud was enjoyable for everybody in the crowd.
One of the highlights of the evening was a set of five holiday songs performed by students from Beechwood School in Belle Haven. “The best part [of the event] is bringing our community together, and all having a shared love of beautiful things that light up. The kids have a great time, I have a great time, and it’s so great to meet new people in the community and also we get to show off a little bit,” Angela Harrington, the music teacher at Beechwood School, said.
The first song performed was “Hot Chocolate” from the classic holiday movie, The Polar Express directed by Robert Zemeckis. Community members cheered and danced along to the next song, which had an upbeat pace, and described the season of winter and the falling of snow. Another song performed focused on holiday lights, which was fitting to the event. Lyrics of “Sparkling lights” and “Merry and bright aren’t they twinkly?” built excitement amongst the audience for the tree lighting happening later in the evening.
Some attendees were returning eventgoers while others attended for the first time. “I know a lot of people here, so it’s really fun to meet people that I don’t see often,” first-time attendee Ellie Singer said. “I love seeing all of our neighbors and friends from school and the community all together celebrating the season and the lights,” three-year attendee Alissa Osipoff said.
After watching the spirited performances, everybody made their way over to the big oak tree for the annual lighting—the main activity of the night. Drew Combs, the mayor of Menlo Park, prefaced the tree lighting by expressing gratitude for everybody who contributed to making this event possible. He also thanked everybody in the crowd for showing up and being a part of the community. Combs, alongside his family, started a count down from five to anticipate the tree lighting. When the countdown hit one, Combs’ children had the honor of clicking the big switch that was displayed.
When the switch was pulled, the big oak tree lit up the sky with thousands of sparkling holiday lights. Fake snow rained down on the park, creating the effect of a real winter wonderland. Audience members looked around in awe and appreciated the beauty and festivity of the tree and snow.
“I’ve lived in Menlo Park for 20 years, and my kids grew up here. They went to all of these events, and to get to plan them and see the next generation enjoying it is very rewarding,” Jennifer Mosso, Senior Program Assistant for the City of Menlo Park, said. “[Menlo Park] feels like a small town when we come together for these events, it feels like a Hallmark movie. It’s nice to get together and celebrate the holidays and it’s a great way to bring people together.”
In previous years, the big redwood tree in Fremont Park was always the tree being lit up, but since it was struck with lighting about twenty years ago which left the tree in decaying condition, in 2024 it had to be retired. As a result, this year the big oak tree was chosen.
After the tree lighting ceremony concluded, community members were left to mingle and enjoy the other attractions set up around the park and the holiday atmosphere. Some children played in the fake snow while others made their way over to stands handing out glow in the dark necklaces and offering festive games.
One portion of the night that everybody seemed to enjoy was hot chocolate on the go. “Our church set up tables where they are serving beverages, and they have two of these [containers filled with hot chocolate worn as a backpack] packs going around to serve people, and it’s kind of fun. Everybody gets a kick out of getting hot chocolate on the move,” Bill Hooper, a volunteer serving hot chocolate, said.
Mary Ferguson, a police sergeant who was in charge of monitoring the event, believes that community events like these spread positivity and provide a place for meaningful interactions. “Any event where the community is coming together for a positive cause is amazing. I love the opportunity to be out and about, it gives a safe platform for people to come up and say hello or to ask a question that they might have,” Ferguson said. “It’s fun to see people in a different light, because normally when people call 911 it’s the worst days of their lives, so when I come to events like this it’s positive and happy, just an overall different perspective.”
Overall, Light Up the Season continues to be an annual tradition for the Menlo Park community, bringing the community together and raising holiday spirit.
