{"id":244014,"date":"2010-11-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-26T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/uptowns-most-treasured-festival-returns-for-the-holidays\/"},"modified":"2010-11-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-26T08:00:00","slug":"uptowns-most-treasured-festival-returns-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/uptowns-most-treasured-festival-returns-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Uptown\u2019s most treasured festival returns for the holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Margie Palmer | SDUN Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Uptown\u2019s<\/a>
December Nights will return to Balboa Park Dec. 3 and organizers expect it to attract hundreds of thousands of attendees. (Photo by Richard Benton)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Dec. 3, residents throughout the county will once again return to Balboa Park to kick-off the holiday season.<\/p>\n

This much-beloved tradition, entitled December Nights, is expected to attract more than 300,000 visitors over the course of the two-day celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few things I\u2019m really excited about for this year,\u201d said December Nights event manager Allison Ryne.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re adding another stage, which is exciting because more people will get to perform within the park. The Cohn Restaurant Group will be bringing its new food truck that\u2019s done by executive chef Deborah Scott of Indigo Grill, Kemo Sabe and Island Prime, and we\u2019ll once again be lighting the Moreton Bay Fig Tree,\u201d Ryne explained.<\/p>\n

Ryne said that the tree, now 100 years old, is a staple within the childhood memories of countless San Diego natives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were a little kid in San Diego you climbed on that fig tree,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cWhen you went on a field trip you either ate on the grass underneath it or you climbed on it.\u00a0But now that it\u2019s older, it\u2019s fenced off, so we\u2019ve started a tradition of lighting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event, now in its 33rd year, has grown remarkably since its inception, said Ryne. And many residents say they look forward to sharing the tradition they remember from their childhood with the children they now have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember my parents bringing me there when I was a kid,\u201d said Brock Watson, 30, who will be attending this year\u2019s event with his two year-old son.\u00a0 \u201cI remember seeing Santa Claus, and I remember seeing the reindeer, and I remember enjoying that sense of family closeness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson hopes that as his son grows up, he too will have fond memories of attending the holiday festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to build family memories with him,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI want this to be something he can look back on one day and think hey, I remember doing this with my pops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local community activist Benny Cartwright also recalls attending the event as a child, and believes December Nights is among Uptown\u2019s most beloved traditions<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always remembered going to Christmas on the Prado, as it used to be called when I was a kid,\u201d Cartwright said, further indicating the change in name from Christmas on the Prado to December Nights. The city changed the name in 2001 to allow for greater inclusivity within the community.\u00a0 \u201cThe thing I think I remember most is that they gave away cider out in front of the Museum of Man, and the reindeer \u2014 I loved the reindeer.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to helping families make memories, Ryne hopes that this year\u2019s event will once again inspire that warm, fuzzy holiday feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe holidays really can\u2019t start until after Thanksgiving, and I\u2019m always sad seeing Christmas commercials on TV after Halloween,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cSo I feel that December nights is that true kick-off to the holiday season, and when I walk away, at least, I think yep, OK, the holidays are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

December Nights will take place on Dec. 3 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Dec. 4 from noon-10 p.m. \u00a0A free shuttle service is available from Petco Park, the County Administration Building North Lot, and the City College Lots.\u00a0The December Nights Shuttle runs from 4:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. on Dec. 3 and from noon until 11 p.m. on Dec. 4.\u00a0 The last shuttle leaves all sites at 8:45 p.m. and the last shuttle from the park is at 10:45 p.m. \u00a0Participating Balboa Park Museums will have their doors open free to the public from 5 p.m. to 9<\/p>\n

p.m. both nights.\u00a0 For more information visit Balboapark.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Margie Palmer | SDUN Reporter On Dec. 3, residents throughout the county will once again return to Balboa Park to kick-off the holiday season. This much-beloved tradition, entitled December Nights, is expected to attract more than 300,000 visitors over the course of the two-day celebration. \u201cThere are a few things I\u2019m really excited about […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":746,"featured_media":244015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Uptown\u2019s most treasured festival returns for the holidays","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/746"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}