In parts of America, families gather during the holidays and bundle up by the fire, protected from the freezing temperatures outside and the gentle falling snow that threatens to become violent. But here in Southern California, residents often enjoy the holidays while strolling the beaches in flip-flop sandals, only seeking refuge in their homes when the warm and dry Santa Ana winds kick up, which is why Seaport Village is celebrating all that makes the holidays unique in San Diego with its first-ever Deck the Palms on Sunday, Dec. 3.
“Instead of decorating evergreens, we’re going to have palm trees all over that can be decorated,” said Seaport Village General Manager Terry Hall.
Hall explained that in previous years, Seaport Village has held a traditional tree lighting ceremony the day after Thanksgiving with Santa’s arrival, which was often overshadowed by the elaborate lighting ceremonies of the Hotel Del Coronado and the NBC building in New York City.
“We wanted to come up with an event that had our own name on it,” Hall said, “and that could become a tradition and it would be a San Diego tradition.”
In addition to the unique boutiques found at Seaport Village, the event will also feature holiday lights and decoration, an area for children’s ornament crafts and live rock and Calypso-styled holiday music throughout the day.
Instead of snowmen, Seaport Village will feature an exclusive scene of life-size “sandmen” created by Greg LeBon, award-winning sand sculptor and founder of Archisand.
Santa will also make an appearance in true Southern California style, wearing festive board shorts and a rash guard, Hall said. He’s sure to make a splash as he arrives on his watercraft and parades through the village with his surfboard, Hall continued.
Another fun event is the Fruitcake Chuck-n-Hurl, a local fund-raiser in which participants earn points for tossing fruitcakes into different-size trash cans.
“There’s the usual joke about fruitcake,” Hall explained. “The fruitcake that has been passed around the world for years and years and nobody actually eats it, they just keep re-gifting it. This is the opportunity to get any frustrations with your fruitcake out of your system but tie it into a charity fund-raising event.”
Each turn costs $1 and consists of attempting to throw three fruitcakes into trash cans assigned different values. Information is collected for each participant, and at the end of the day the participants with the most points collected are declared winners. Prizes are Seaport Village gift cards made out for $100, $50 and $25 for first, second and third place, respectively. All proceeds for this unique carnival-style game will go to a local charity.
“We wanted to do something fun and exciting for the holidays that was different,” Hall said, “something that people would notice, that would really be fun and something that they would like to enjoy and like to revisit Seaport Village.”
Deck the Palms runs Sunday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Santa is scheduled to arrive around 12:30 p.m. He will be available for photos until 7 p.m. and guests must provide their own camera and film. All shops, restaurants and eateries will be open for holiday shopping and dining from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Seaport Village is located at West Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, adjacent to Embarcadero Park North. For more information, visit www.seaportvillage.com or call (619) 235-4014.