Light Up the Season, the annual downtown Hayward winter-time celebration and lighting ceremony, returns to the City Hall rotunda and plaza tomorrow afternoon starting at 3 p.m. with several new and returning attractions.
Light Up the Season is intended to create a time and place for Hayward residents to come together in a spirit of inclusion and share and celebrate winter-time traditions of our diverse communities. How do you celebrate Twin Luminaries, Mawlid al-Nabi, Chalica, Bodhi Day, Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Lohri, Pongal, or other occasions that have the common theme of remembering there is light even during the season of long nights?
This year, the event, taking place from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., will again feature performances and offerings by community organizations, school groups and local businesses. New additions to this free, family-oriented event include an artificial ice-skating rink coupled with a skating performance, opportunities for community members to skate, and skates to borrow. The Oakland Roots professional soccer club will run a soccer skill and fun zone in partnership with the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD). We will cap off the fun with a sing-along with the Holiday Sounds of Bay Area vocalist and musicians Allen del Rosario and Maria Bordon.
During the event, the City will also continue its tradition of holding a lighting of a seasonal tree and other decorations just after sundown at approximately 5 p.m. Coinciding with Light Up the Season will be SantaCon 2023, a fundraiser for those 21 years of age and older, benefiting the Hayward Animal Shelter.
For more information on this year’s Light Up the Season program, go online here on the City of Hayward website. If you are interested in participating in some way to add to the event in future years, please contact Zach Ebadi, of the Hayward City Manager’s Office, by email at zach.ebadi@hayward-ca.gov.
|
