4 Stars Big fun in the Small town
Small sprinkle of personal info here - before I was a small fish in the big city of SJ, I was a small fish in the small city of Redding, CA. There were some local Christmas traditions in Redding, but nothing on the scale of how San Jose has Christmas in the Park.
That's why I was glad to see that Redding finally has a new Christmas tradition of it's very own. I read the story in the local paper (they still print the Record-Searchlight - some things never change). A local man had a ton of Christmas lights that were actually causing a traffic hazard with all the locals that would drive through his neighborhood to catch a peek, and there was probably an unspoken complaint about the lights in other houses on the block dimming when he threw-the-switch on this huge light spectacle. So when the city government was called-in to mediate, they found a very nice solution. The lights were moved to a recently renovated outdoor walkway section of Redding's downtown mall. PG&E has even been a sport and thrown in some free power to keep the lights burning into early Jan.
The displays are very cute. There are light archways leading from the parking lot, and some of the side streets. There is a 20' - 25' Christmas "tree" made solely of lights that brighten and darken in programed sequences. There's a huge light display of Santa dropping presents down the chimney, and another large light display of a toy soldier shooting a cannon that runs about half the length of the total show. There are wooden cut-outs of all the Peanuts characters, and most of the memorable Walt Disney characters - all dressing their part for the season. My favorite display though was of the two toy soldiers that must have stood 10' tall on either side of the Village Schoolhouse toy store. So fitting for a toy store, and how much fun to take pictures in front of for a never-wanting-to-grow-up kid like myself.
This was great fun for my family as we visited my hometown. I'm sure it will be back again next year. If you missed it in the inaugural year, be sure to make it part of your Christmas tradition for Dec 2008. It's a very cute piece of Christmas memorabilia set to light. And while you're there, look into some of those businesses taking their shot in downtown. The toy store I mentioned looked like they had lots of neat things you might not immediately find at Toys R Us, and next year the new go cart race track will be open for business! read more