Who Puts On Campbell's Holiday Season? Mostly the Neighbors

On the afternoon of Saturday, December 5, the corner of East Campbell Avenue and North First Street will have a petting zoo, donkey rides, bounce houses, carolers and a line for Santa. Three of Campbell's holiday traditions fall on that same day. A foundation pours tea in a carriage house at noon. A volunteer-run street festival starts at 4. A holiday rock show goes on at the Heritage Theatre at 7:30.

Most of what fills Campbell's calendar between now and mid-December is produced by a business association's volunteers, a museum foundation, a nonprofit friends group, a school district and local dance schools. Each year's season depends on whether those groups raise enough money and find enough people to put it on.

Carol of Lights gets no city money

Carol of Lights is the free kickoff most people link with downtown in December. This year it runs Saturday, December 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. at East Campbell Avenue and North First Street. The program lists Santa visits, a petting zoo, donkey rides, craft tables, face painting, bounce houses, carolers and music, free festival snacks and community performances.

The Downtown Campbell Business Association produces the festival on its own with volunteers, and it pays for it entirely with donations. The event page says the festival is not funded by the City of Campbell or any other public source. It also says the volunteers who organize much of what happens downtown have to raise the money themselves, and it asks attendees who can afford it to give $5, $10 or whatever they're comfortable with. Sponsorship questions for this year go to a Gmail address, which gives a sense of how small the operation is.

The page also says the date or time may change. Check it again the week of the event.

At the Ainsley House, the city runs the building and a foundation pays for extras

A similar arrangement shows up at 300 Grant Street. The Ainsley House is an English Tudor Cotswold-style cottage built in 1925 as the third home of canning pioneer John Colpitts Ainsley and his wife, Alcinda. It first stood at the corner of Hamilton and Johnson Avenue, which is now Bascom Avenue. After the remaining Ainsley family members donated it to the city, it was moved to Grant Street in 1990. The house and its Carriage House were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Campbell Museums says its staff are City of Campbell employees who oversee museum operations, and it lists the Museum Foundation as a separate organization. Holiday visitors see both groups at work. The city's museum runs the Hollywood Holiday tours. The Campbell Museum Foundation runs the 32nd annual Holiday Tea & Tour as a fundraiser. Its proceeds pay for exhibits, education programs, collections preservation and the upkeep of the Campbell Historical Museum and the Ainsley House.

This year both share one theme. As The Mercury News reported, the rooms are being decorated with scenes from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Elf," "The Polar Express" and "It's a Wonderful Life," and a Holiday Boutique will sell ornaments, jewelry, scarves, home décor and seasonal gifts.

The tea uses local businesses too. Guests start in the historic Carriage House with finger sandwiches, desserts, a glass of sparkling wine or cider, and an Ainsley blend tea that Steepers made for the event. After tea comes the self-guided tour and the boutique.

Hollywood Holiday ends December 20. The museum closes every January and February for its yearly renovation and reopens in March. Relatives visiting in the new year won't be able to see the house until spring.

Local schools and dance studios fill most of the Heritage Theatre's dates

The Heritage Theatre follows the same pattern. The city's theatre page thanks Friends of the Heritage Theatre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, for its support in preserving the venue and promoting the arts in Campbell.

From publish day through mid-December, the theatre's calendar lists twelve public performances. Seven of them belong to a local school district and two dance schools:

• Campbell Union School District, Shrek the Musical Jr.: Thursday, Nov. 5 and Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. Opening night is the day this post goes up.
• South Bay Dance Center, Coppélia: Saturday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 15 at 12:30 p.m.
• Academy of Classical Ballet - CA, A Winter Wonderland: Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m.

Touring productions and outside promoters fill the other dates. Those include "Toast - The Best Of Bread" on Nov. 17, World Ballet Company's Swan Lake from Gorskaya-Hartwick Productions on Nov. 19, "Harriet: Trying To Get The Feeling Again" on Nov. 20, San Jose Rocks Holiday Rockfest featuring December People on Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m., and World Ballet Company's The Nutcracker on Dec. 16.

The touring companies get one night each. The local groups take the weekend runs, with two or three shows per production. The Academy of Classical Ballet also shows up at the Ainsley House, where its dancers are part of the Nov. 21 Photos with Santa morning.

December 5 fits all three into one day

These groups work separately, and their schedules line up on one Saturday:

1. Noon to 2 p.m.: Holiday Tea & Tour in the Ainsley House Carriage House at 300 Grant Street. Reservations are required.
2. 4 to 7 p.m.: Carol of Lights at East Campbell Avenue and North First Street. It's free, and donations keep it going.
3. 7:30 to 9 p.m.: San Jose Rocks Holiday Rockfest featuring December People at the Heritage Theatre.

On that schedule, a $5 or $10 donation at the festival goes to the business association, the tea ticket goes to the museum foundation, and the Ainsley House you walk through is a city building that a local family gave to Campbell.

The weekends between, and a road project to plan around

Downtown's regular schedule continues through the season. The Campbell Farmers' Market runs year-round on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at East Campbell Avenue and North First Street, the same corner where Carol of Lights sets up. Small Business Saturday is November 28, from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. The Downtown Campbell page says its list of deals will be posted later in November. That's two days after Thanksgiving. The Ainsley House tours are closed on Thanksgiving Day and open again for their regular Thursday-through-Sunday hours that weekend.

If you drive in for evening shows, check Hamilton Avenue first. A project update at the city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting on September 24 said resurfacing had reached Salmar Avenue. Nighttime paving between Salmar and Bascom was scheduled next, and construction was expected to finish in December 2026. That forecast puts the work on the stretch of Hamilton near the Bascom corner where the Ainsley House stood until 1990.

I like working in a town where so much of the holiday calendar is put on by neighbors, and I'm always glad to talk about Campbell's streets, blocks and traditions with people who live here or are thinking about it. If you'd like to talk, Yuri Lavrentiev is happy to connect. Let's Connect.