When you think of San Jose, California, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Some people think of the world renown computer industry, who calls this area its home. People from the older generations remember the thriving agricultural industry of this area. Others still think of San Jose State University. The average person would never think of Christmas when thinking of San Jose. However, we love the holiday of Christmas here in San Jose. Citizens set up decorations all over town. Valley Fair shopping mall looks as if it were magically transformed to a winter wonderland. Its windows, balconies, and shops are all beautifully trimmed with giant ornaments, elaborate garland, and stuffed animals all coordinated in the festive colors of metallic blue, green and purple. The corridors ring with the sounds of "Ho-Ho-Ho" coming from Santa Claus's holiday thrown. This is where San Jose's children come in droves to visit Santa and tell him their holiday wishes. The outside ice rink downtown is set up in all of its glory of glowing holiday lights and perforated with the scent of hot apple cider. The rink is filled with cold puffs of laughter coming from delighted children. It is crowded with happy bundled up visitors skating blissfully to holiday music. Everywhere your gaze falls your eyes find a douglas fir strapped on top of a car.
The holiday season in San Jose is not just about the celebration of the birth of Christ, but also a time to get together and celebrate the cultural diversity of San Jose. Even though, San Jose is one of the most bustling metropolitan areas in the country, it is refreshing to see its citizens are able to put their busy schedule aside to enjoy a bit of the seasonal holidays.
San Jose is indeed one of the most ethnically diverse cities you will ever come across. There are numerous ethnicities and cultures who call San Jose their home. Some of the different ethnic groups that reside in San Jose are: Hispanic, Southeast Asian/Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Portuguese, African American, Chinese, Indo-American and Pacific Islander. San Jose is rated number one among the
top cities for the Hispanic community and boasts having the second largest Vietnamese community in the United States. Along with these different types of people comes different ways to celebrate the winter holidays. Some specific examples of these different ways celebrating are the Jewish holidays of Hanukkah and the African American holiday of Kwanzaa.
When I think of the holiday seasons around San Jose I think of Christmas in the Park. This is place, where no matter how old you are, you are a child again. You are surrounded by dancing animated characters, a forest of decorated trees, a myriad of twinkling lights, and Santa and his helpers. In this magical forest you not only find the charm behind Christmas but you are also filled with the enchantment of the holiday celebrations of many other cultures. You can't visit there and be an adult, the excitement surrounding the event just fills you up and before you know it you are running from display to display.
The downtown San Jose based Christmas in the Park is a place for all of San Jose's ethnically diverse inhabitance to come together and celebrate the joy that is Christmas. According to Phil Ringerburg, who is the Project Coordinator for Christmas in the Park, Christmas in the Park is a multi-cultural event in which many ethnic groups come together to share their different ways of celebrating the holiday season within their culture.
The following paper will give you an insight about Christmas in the Park. It will
first explore the history behind Christmas in the Park. Second, this paper will describe this event presently, and what its plans are for 1998. Last, it will describe some of the future plans for Christmas in the Park.
San Jose is one of the largest cities in the United States, the eleventh largest to be exact. We have a population of over 800,000 people, the largest populated city in Northern California, and is third largest city in all of California. San Jose is a large city with many smaller communities that make it up. One of those small
communities is the area of Willow Glen. Willow Glen is where Christmas in the Park receives its roots.
During the holiday season Willow Glen's neighborhoods look as if they were lost in time. Its tree lined streets, Victorian homes, charming shops and restaurants are all waiting for the holidays to arrive. As a child my family would go for our annual Christmas Eve drive through Willow Glen to enjoy this small community's decorations. I remember gazing out the cold car window at amazement at all of the beautiful illuminated houses. Each home in this area meticulously decorates for the winter holidays. It is a tradition for homes to place a special Christmas tree on their front lawns. Blocks and blocks of homes glitter and shine with thousands and thousands of lights. Some homes depict holiday scenes with glowing displays of Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, Reindeer, Christmas Trees, and many more holiday characters and icons.
The book, San Jose Silicon Valley: Primed For The 21st Century, written by Chris Di Salvo, gives a brief history of how Christmas in the Park came to be. In the 1950's Willow Glen business man, Don Lima and his wife Mary Lima, decorated the front of their business with lights and animated holiday characters. Every holiday season there would be hordes of people, who would come from miles around, to view this beautifully decorated wonderland. My mother, Judy Enfantino, was one of those spectators. She said every year she and my grandparents and uncles would all take a special trip down to Willow Glen to go and look at the shop decorations. She recalled that there would be incredible traffic jams all around Willow Glen as patrons came to wander through. In the 1970's, the Limas donated their shop front exhibit to the City of San Jose. For a few years the holiday exhibit became the decorations for the front of San Jose's City Hall. In 1982 a non-profit committee was formed by the Lima's, former San Jose Mayor Tom McHenry, Bruce Polley and Joe Cardinalli in a joint venture that would be come known as Christmas in the Park.
The Lima's store front exhibit would become one of Christmas in the Park's first attractions. When Christmas in the Park was started it was not very much of an attraction at all. "When Christmas in the Park was first introduced it was not much more than a few holiday displays," stated Phil Ringerburg, project coordinator. "It was very small with a few small displays. The number one goal of Christmas in the Park was to eventually fill up the whole park," which has obviously taken place with Christmas in the Park being one of the Bay Area's largest free holiday events. Every inch of Cesar Chavez Park is ornated with holiday decorations and many other events have sprouted out surrounding Christmas in the Park.
"Today Christmas in the Park is a San Jose tradition located at Cesar Chavez Park," as stated in the San Jose Mercury News by Betty Barnacle. To summarize Barnacle's article, Christmas in the Park celebrates the holiday season by displaying festive Christmas decorations and historical holiday scenes that annually attract tens of thousands of people. The two acres of Cesar Chavez Park are annually transformed into a fantasy land of holiday scenes. It is a true magical village filled with dancing animated animals, a Christmas train, Santa's elves working in their workshop, and historical holiday scenes. The park is ornamented with thousands of twinkling lights and decorations. Christmas trees, which have been decorated by local community groups and schools, line the decorated path through the park. One of the newest displays is The Candy Cane Shipping Department, which came into the celebration in 1997. It boasts intricate animation controlled with a miniature computer and infrared lights. Santa's train is loaded up with colorful candy canes before it makes a trip around the tracks through the park, as stated in the San Jose Mercury News.
The Christmas trees of Christmas in the Park are some of the most beautiful, creative, and interesting attractions of the event. The many trees of the park are individually sponsored and decorated by local community groups and schools. "My high school, Gunderson High school, was always involved in Christmas in the Park when I
went school there. It was a lot of fun setting up and decorating my school's tree," states Anda Sulic. "It's great, being older now, being able to go to Christmas in the Park now and see that my high school still sponsors a Christmas tree there." Having these many groups share in the decorating of the Christmas trees in the park is a fantastic way to incorporate a multitude of creative perspectives. The visitors to the park are not only subject to this wide array of decorative creativity, but also able to partake in the multitudinous of different cultures that make up San Jose. Many different cultural groups sponsor trees in the park. Both Christmas in the Park and the group sponsoring a tree in the park benefit from the contribution of the decorated Christmas tree. The park is benefiting by receiving the contribution of the group's beautifully decorated Christmas tree for all to view. In return, the park helps to instate a sense of pride in the group by displaying their beautiful and creative masterpiece.
Christmas in the Park is basically a celebration where community members come together to create this winter wonderland. "It takes 3,000 volunteers and about 22,000 hours a year to pull off Christmas in the Park," said Ed Bautista, in the San Jose Mercury article by Becky Bartindale. High school kids are among the main volunteers, they remember how wondrous Christmas in the Park was to them growing up and want to give their memories to future generations. Mr. Ringerburg states that there are many fun events in the planning and preparation for Christmas in the Park. They try to make it a fun event in which everyone can get together and create this event. He states, "We have various work and clean-up parties where the volunteers can get together in a fun event to decorate and create Christmas in the Park." The creation of the park is not only about the end product but about bringing people together to work towards a common goal. It brings people from many different cultures and from many different back grounds together. These different groups of people may not ever get together under different circumstances. The creation of the park is a way to expose people from different cultures and backgrounds to each other in an atmosphere which incorporates teamwork and encourages friendships.
The ethnic diversity of San Jose is a major component to Christmas in the Park. Mr. Ringerburg states, "Everyone who wants to get involved with Christmas in the Park can. Any cultural or ethnic group who wants to sponsor a tree or display in the park can, they just have to submit an application stating their idea for a display." There are also many events surrounding Christmas in the Park that celebrate the diversity of San Jose's cultures. Mr. Ringerburg told me about their entertainment stage where various cultural
groups perform different holiday acts, dances, performances, traditions, etc. He also told me that there are also different culturally decorated Christmas trees in the park. He said that there are holiday trees that represent Asian, Swiss, Hispanic, and many of the other cultures that make up San Jose. Mr. Ringerburg said that Christmas in the Park is not just some exclusive "Christmas only" event. It is a place where all ethnicities and cultures are welcome and come together to celebrate.
Christmas in the Park is also reaching out to our disabled cultures in San Jose as well. Mr. Ringerburg told me a touching story about how Christmas in the Park helped some visually impaired children SEE the holiday wonder of Christmas in the Park. The Chandler Tripp School, which is a school for visually impaired children between the ages of three and seven is invited to a special viewing of Christmas in the Park. Because these children cannot see they are allowed to go over to the displays and
feel the animation, so they are able to see them. Mr. Ringerburg says, "That is what Christmas in the Park is all about. The looks on those children's faces is what makes all of the hard work involved in putting Christmas in the Park together worth while." The children also get to have a special visit with Santa Claus.
There are many other downtown events that lead up to or are centered around the Christmas in the Park celebration. One of these events is the annual San Jose Holiday Parade, which has been a holiday tradition for the past 17 years. The Holiday Parade, which announces the arrival of the holiday season and Christmas in the Park, is not affiliated with Christmas in the Park. The parade is actually a project of the City of San Jose, but it does receive input from Christmas in the Park. This parade begins at Santa Clara Street and Highway 87, at one end of downtown San Jose. It travels down Santa Clara Street, turns onto Market to Cesar Chavez Park on West San Carlos Street, located in the middle of downtown where Christmas in the Park is located. Annually various community groups and businesses participate in the holiday parade. There are floats, giant balloons, marching bands, celebrities, demonstrations and various other attractions. Each year up to 100,000 spectators line the parade route to help to ring in the Christmas holiday. After the parade is when the Christmas in the Park trees are decorated and the lighting of the San Jose city Christmas tree takes place.
Another annual event that is centered around Christmas in the Park is the outside ice rink. The outside ice rink is located adjacent to Cesar Chavez Park, within walking
distance. It adds to the whole winter holiday experience, to be able to partake in the fun of ice skating, and then being able to stroll through the park. Each winter season the ice rink is set up. The circular arena is illuminated under the soft glow of multicolored spot lights. Visitors skate, spin and dance on the ice to the melodic enchantment of the holiday music. After their skate, the bundled visitors may enjoy some steamy hot chocolate or treats from the near by concession stand. Rene Day is one of the annual visitors to the outside ice rink. "It is a great place to go with your friends or a date during the holidays," states Rene. "I try to go at least a few time during winter. I really enjoy ice skating and it is even more fun when you get to do it outside. It is usually so warm here we don't really have a 'white Christmas' so it is nice to be able to skate outside to get into the holiday spirit."
In the future the Christmas in the Park tradition will continue. The tradition will not only include the old decorations of the past, but is also moving toward the future with such additions as Friends of Christmas in the Park, their new warehouse at Senter Road, the new attractions; The Nutcracker Sweet and The Candy Cane Shipping Department, and the renovation of old attractions such as in The Rotary Village. "Keeping Christmas in the Park free in one of the main goals of the future of our organization," states Mr. Ringerburg. Christmas in the Park is a non-profit organization which means it needs donations and help from volunteers in order to exist. An organization recently developed in order to help raise funds for Christmas in the Park is Friends of Christmas in the Park. Friends of Christmas in the Park was developed last year in 1997. Members can donate anywhere from five dollars to what ever amount they wish to. In 1997 the organization consisted of one-hundred members and raised twelve thousand dollars for Christmas in the Park. The contributions of local community members and high school students in decorating and volunteering at Christmas in the Park provide the help without which Christmas in the Park would not exist.
What happens to Christmas in the Park after the holiday seasons are done? We all know that Santa Clause goes back home to the North Pole, but there has to be some place where the association can store the displays. Therefore, one of the new things Christmas in the Park has been working on this year is getting situated in their new
warehouse located at Senter Road. This warehouse is used for housing all of the holiday displays once the holidays are over.
One of the new displays for the 1998 holiday season is "The Nutcracker Sweet." The Nutcracker Sweet is a exquisite holiday display arranged around the Growing Christmas Tree from the past Christmas in the Parks. This magical Christmas tree twinkles with countless numbers of colorful lights. It grows reaching towards the sky, while its multitudes of rainbow lights decorates it with beautiful ornate designs. Once it touches the sky the tree returns back to its normal size only to start it growing spurt all over again.
Christmas in the Park is also working on renovating old displays and making them more beautiful for the next generations. The Rotary Club of San Jose is one group who has been very helpful to Christmas in the Park. They have been major beneficiaries for many years and have given a great deal to the renovation projects. The Rotary
Village is an area in the park where many of the renovated displays are going to be displayed together in honor of the Rotary Club.
Christmas in the Park is a San Jose tradition. Over the years it has grown from being just a few little displays in Cesar Chavez Park to one of the major holiday events in the Bay Area. It is not only a place where people come together to look at a bunch of lights and decorations. It is a place where the all of the diversity that makes up the San
Jose communities can come together and work towards a common goal. The future brings many more exciting displays and events to Christmas in the Park as it grows in popularity and diversity. No matter how large Christmas in the Park gets Mr. Ringerburg's and the Christmas in the Park association's goal is to keep it free for all to enjoy. Mr. Ringerburg's personal goal for Christmas in the Park and what he enjoys most
about it is: "The joy and happiness it brings to both the young and the old. The excitement and joy in the faces of the people who come to see the park is what makes it all worth while."
I personally, grew up adoring Christmas in the Park. When my family brought us there I knew that Christmas was not far ahead. In the future, when I have my children, I definitely am looking forward to bringing them to Christmas in the Park. I look forward to telling them the stories as to how the park came to be. There is a huge history behind Christmas in the Park, and if my children grow up in San Jose, it is a history which also belongs to them.
I also think that it is very important that the people of San Jose know about the history of Christmas in the Park. I think they should know that it is not something that just magically appeared downtown. They should know that it is something that many people put thousands of hours creating for all to enjoy. People should also know that Christmas in the Park is also not something just for those who celebrate Christmas, but for people from all cultural backgrounds. We as citizens of San Jose should embrace and support "our" Christmas in the Park. It is part of our history and part of ourselves.
Bibliography
Barnacle, Betty; San Jose Mercury News - Thrus. Dec. 5, 1996 (p. 1B)
"Tree Lighting, Parade To Usher In Holiday Season Glittering Holiday Finishing
Are Being Made As Downtown San Jose Prepares To Unveil Christmas In The Park"
Barnacle, Betty; San Jose Mercury News - Sun. Nov. 30, 1997 (p. 1B)
"Sprucing Up For Celebration Christmas In The Park Volunteer Put Final Touches
On Displays"
Day, Rene; (outside ice rink visitor)
Interview conducted by Jessica Enfantino on 10-22-98
Di Salvo, Chris & Semas, Judith Harkham. San Jose Silicon Valley; Primed For The
21st Century Published by Community Communications, Inc. Montgomery, AL 1997
Enfantino, Judy; (old Willow Glen visitor)
Interview conducted by Jessica Enfantino on 9-23-98
Ringerburg, Chris; Christmas in the Park Event Coordinator
Interview conducted by Jessica Enfantino on 10-17-98
Skipitares, Connie; San Jose Mercury News - Wed. Nov. 29, 1995 (p. 1)
"Let The Local Christmas Holiday Festivities Begin"
Sulic, Anda; (Christmas in the Park visitor)
Interview conducted by Jessica Enfantino on 10-22-98
San Jose Mercury News - Thur. Dec. 11, 1997 (p. 1B)
"Christmas Tradition In San Jose"
San Jose Mercury News - Fri. Dec. 1, 1995 (p. 1B)
"Christmas In The Park Opens Today; Parade Sunday S.J. Holiday Display Always
A Big Draw"
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