On the north side of Lions Wayside Park, a bandstand and dance floor face a lawn that slopes toward the Firehouse Arts Center plaza. The city designed that layout so a crowd could watch a stage on a warm July evening. On Friday, Dec. 4, from 4 to 7 p.m., the same lawn hosts Santa and Mrs. Claus. The Pleasanton Downtown Association lists Magical Holiday Evening at a "new location at Lions Wayside Park" this year.
That one change gives downtown's first December weekend two centers. Friday happens in the park. Saturday stays on Main Street, where the Hometown Holiday Parade and tree lighting have always been. The park renovation finished in the summer of 2025, and this is the first year its stage is part of the holiday season.
Three Fridays, three addresses
Magical Holiday Evening has moved before. Over the last three years, the Friday before the parade has been held in a different spot each time.
| Year | Where | Hours | What anchored it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Museum on Main, 603 Main St. | 5 to 8 p.m. | Main Street closed to vehicles at 5 p.m. for a downtown open house |
| 2025 | Division Street, with Santa photos at Museum on Main | Santa photos 4 to 7 p.m. | A Christmas market with up to 30 vendors |
| 2026 | Lions Wayside Park | 4 to 7 p.m. | Santa and Mrs. Claus photos, holiday vendors, live music |
The 2024 PDA listing called the evening "Downtown's Holiday Open House." It asked people to stroll Main Street for shopping specials, dining and live music while the street was closed to cars. A year later, Patch's preview of the 2025 event described a market on Division Street with ornament decorating, a hot cocoa bar, a snow machine, a scavenger hunt and a toy drive. Santa sat for free photos at the Museum on Main.
This year the PDA lists free photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, along with the Grinch, Cindy Lou Who and Max, whom it calls "returning favorites." There will also be holiday shopping vendors, live music and hot cocoa. The hours match the 4-to-7 window Santa kept at the museum last year. That puts the evening between school pickup and dinner, an hour earlier than the 2024 open house.
A stage built for July
The park hosting this event is newly rebuilt. On Oct. 17, 2023, the Pleasanton City Council approved conceptual plans for Lions Wayside and Delucchi parks within a budget of about $1.9 million. The chosen design moved the bandstand to the north side of Lions Wayside to leave as much lawn as possible for concert seating, and it made the Firehouse Arts Center plaza part of the viewing area. It kept most of the existing trees, added more, and put a dance area in front of the stage.
The plan also stayed clear of Kottinger Creek, which falls under regional, state and federal agencies. The city's announcement said this avoided costly regulatory approvals. The city's concept drawing labels First Street and Neal Street at the edges of the site. For next-door Delucchi Park, the approved plan called for updating the landscaping around the restroom and the path leading to the Neal Street crosswalk.
Mayor Karla Brown framed the project around year-round use when the council approved it. In the city's announcement, she said:
"Our downtown parks are a staple for community gatherings in Pleasanton. We love concerts in the park, eating ice cream with our families, playing games, and going on a picnic under a shady tree."
The park reopened in June 2025. The city's reopening notice listed the new bandstand and dance floor, more seating and lighting, new grass and improved ADA access. The first events on the new stage were all summer events. A ribbon cutting was held June 27. The Pleasanton Lions Club's Fourth of July celebration followed, with the Pleasanton Community Concert Band on the new bandstand. The season's first Concert in the Park came on July 11. The added lighting is the upgrade that matters most in December. Sunset comes early in December, so most of a 4-to-7 p.m. event runs after dark.
Saturday still belongs to Main Street
None of this changes Saturday. The City of Pleasanton holds its Hometown Holiday Celebration on the first Saturday of December, which is Dec. 5 this year. The parade starts at 5 p.m. on Main Street with floats, marching bands and community groups. Afterward, the tree lighting takes place in front of the Museum on Main. It includes live music, a lighting by the mayor and City Council, and an appearance by Santa.
Over the two nights, the weekend works like this:
- Friday, Dec. 4, 4 to 7 p.m.: Magical Holiday Evening at Lions Wayside Park, near First and Neal streets.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 5 p.m.: The parade travels about a mile down Main Street. The city's parade rules estimate it takes about an hour.
- Saturday, after the parade: The tree lighting in front of the Museum on Main at 603 Main St.
Some details from behind the scenes are useful for parking. In 2025, parade entries assembled in the Amador Valley High School parking lot, and the announcers' stages along the route were at US Bank and Lokanta. The city's 2026 volunteer instructions assign staff to keep the Amador Valley High lot closed and send drivers to other parking. Anyone who has parked there for past downtown events will need a different spot on Saturday.
The parade is still a local production. Entry fees are $60 for PUSD and co-sponsored groups, $70 for nonprofits, $80 for Pleasanton residents entering for private use, and $100 for nonresidents and businesses. The city has one $10,000 presenting sponsorship, which covers the main stage and tree lighting. Supporting stage sponsorships cost $2,000 and community sponsorships cost $500. The city's sponsor page says the event draws thousands of residents and visitors downtown.
The Main Street in between has new tenants
The blocks connecting Friday's park and Saturday's tree are seeing changes this fall, and they are where people will eat before and after both events.
According to the Pleasanton Weekly, Oasis Restaurant & Wine Lounge is relocating from 780 Main St. to 855 Main St., inside the historic Pleasanton Hotel. Owner Omar Etemadi told the paper the menu and food would stay the same at the new address while the look changed. Patch reported that the new space is about 4,000 square feet, next to Rubys & Roses. Co-owner Sadaf Shaghasi told Patch that the old 780 Main St. space is set to become INDY Restaurant & Lounge, an Indian restaurant registered to Lunch Box US.
Farther down the street, the Danville patisserie Maison Benoit has leased 337 Main St., the former Bank of America building. Owner Benoit Vialle told the Pleasanton Weekly in September that he hoped to open as early as the first quarter of 2027. That would come after this holiday season.
The rest of the season downtown
The first weekend of December falls in the middle of a longer downtown calendar. The PDA's 2026 schedule and the city's own listings fill in the rest.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday, which the city's business promotion page highlights.
- Friday, Dec. 4, 4 to 7 p.m.: Magical Holiday Evening, Lions Wayside Park.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 5 p.m.: Hometown Holiday Parade on Main Street, then the tree lighting at the Museum on Main.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 2 p.m.: The Golden Follies in "A Very Follies Holiday 2026" at the Firehouse Arts Center, whose plaza borders the new bandstand lawn.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 5 to 8 p.m.: The Spirit & Sweater Stroll, billed this year as the "Onesie edition."
Dec. 12 brings the Firehouse matinee and the evening stroll on the same Saturday, with the park in between them. In summer, the city's design treated the Firehouse Arts Center plaza and the bandstand lawn as one viewing area. This December, the park, the theater and Main Street are all part of the same weekends.
Nivi Das trained in architecture and urban design, and how a city spends on its public spaces is the kind of thing she follows closely, including a bandstand that now hosts events in July and December. If you live near downtown Pleasanton and want to know how the blocks around Lions Wayside Park and Main Street affect what your home is worth, the Nivi Das Team can prepare a design-informed home valuation for you, before the holidays or after them.
