It\u2019s as quintessentially OB as the Street Fair, farmers market or the mermaid.
\nWe\u2019re talking about the annual year\u2019s-end Christmas tree transplanted from elsewhere in the community to the beach near the pier.
\nAs usual, Claudia Jack of Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA) was chair this year of the OB Tree Project. And she has a story to share about this season\u2019s Christmas pine, which was put in place with a crane Nov. 27.
\n“The tree is local, and it was donated by someone who was having problems with the roots undermining their sidewalk, so it had to go,” said Jack, noting the donor\u2019s wish to remain anonymous.
\nOn the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 27, San Diego police escorted the truck carrying the tree through the OB?community to the foot of Newport Avenue, where a\u00a0sleeve, or manhole in the sand, had been uncovered and cleaned out specially for it.\u00a0
\nOnce the tree was settled\u00a0and placed into the sleeve, it was time to put the electrical wiring in place and add the lights, topping it with a star. Soon to follow\u00a0were blown-up\u00a0beach ball decorations hung on the tree.
\nOn the Saturday after the tree is planted, this year on Dec. 1, children from local schools will make their annual pilgrimage there to see Santa from 9 a.m. to noon. They will add their own hand-made ornaments to hang on the tree. The tree\u2019s shining moment follows at 5:05 p.m. that same day, when the OB Christmas parade starts.\u00a0
\nJack noted this is the 39th year of the “gifting” of OB\u2019s Christmas tree. It is a tradition born nearly four decades ago started by The James Gang printers, an iconic OB beach business.
\n“Way back when, [OB] had a tree in a planter by the beach growing for two or three years, then it died and somebody set it on fire,” said Jack. “We then moved the tree to Dusty Rhodes Park. But the tree was taken out during storms there 10 or 12 years ago. Ever since, we\u2019ve moved it down to the beach.”
\nThe tree remains embedded in the beach until Jan. 2, when it is taken down.
\n“The City chops it up, takes it to Fiesta Island, and turns it into mulch,” said Jack, who added OB\u2019s Christmas tree is a joyful thing at a joyful time of year.
\n“It\u2019s a tree for many, many people, some who don\u2019t have their own tree,” Jack noted.
\nJack has been double busy this year, working as well on a committee to bring back the mermaid, Marina, to be renamed Vera, who graced Ross Rock at Sunset Cliffs for a time before being absconded.
\n“Marina went for a swim, and never came back,” said Jack, adding her reincarnation is her sister, Vera. “The mermaid will come alive and be in the parade on the lifeguard boat, where she will be paired with 10 little mermaid girls,” she said.
\nInstead of topping a rock, Vera is to be a “guest” rotating between several OB businesses throughout the year in her new role as a community ambassadors and beacon, Jack said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s as quintessentially OB as the Street Fair, farmers market or the mermaid. We\u2019re talking about the annual year\u2019s-end Christmas tree transplanted from elsewhere in the community to the beach near the pier. As usual, Claudia Jack of Ocean Beach MainStreet Association (OBMA) was chair this year of the OB Tree Project. And she has […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":275583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Locally-sourced Christmas tree adds to holiday spirit in Ocean Beach","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275582","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\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}