Piper Park in Larkspur is glowing for the holidays this year.
For the first time, trees throughout the park will shine with colorful lights for the yuletide season. The display will be on from 5 to 8 p.m. every day through Jan. 6.
“It’s really pretty,” said Margarita Glazunov, who walks her dog daily through the park. “I’ve lived here for about 55 years and the city didn’t ever do this before. I think it’s wonderful.”
Since November, the team at Twinkle Lighting, a contractor in San Rafael, has strung up some 14,000 lights on 25 trees in the park. The project cost about $20,000, which was split between the city and the nonprofit Commons Foundation.
Nick Stone, a city official who initiated the effort, said he came up with the idea during COVID-19 sheltering. He said he was thinking of creative ways to have a community event that allows for social distancing.
Stone said he figured that putting up lights would be a hit because the city’s flashlight egg hunt at Piper Park is always a draw for the young kids.
“People love being at the park at night,” he said.
“I have young kids and every year around the holidays we go around and check out lights,” Stone said. “This gives the community a place to go, get out of the car, get up close and personal with the trees, or sit in the parking lot and enjoy the lights. This really comes down to bringing people together.”
Jeanne Friedel, a member of the Commons Foundation board, said she was on board from the start.
“First and foremost, I love the whole idea of the project,” said Friedel, who worked to broker the partnership between the foundation and the city on the effort.
Community members have sent emails thanking the city and the foundation for making it happen, she said.
“This is the first go-around, and we hope it continues into the future, bigger, better and brighter, and with more lights,” she said.
The city and foundation are planning a ceremonial launch event from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday. The event is free and organizers will provide hot cocoa.
Piper Park is at 250 Doherty Drive near the Central Marin Police Authority headquarters.
Elsewhere in Marin, Sausalito plans to celebrate the opening of Candy Cane Lane, a display of oversized holiday characters and lights in the Caledonia Street area neighborhood, with an event from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. More information is at destinationsausalito.com/events-in-sausalito.
In Tamalpais Valley, the 30-foot holiday tree at 340 Jean St. is rigged with thousands of lights coordinated with a nightly music show at 96.1 FM. Jeff Brown displays the tree from 5 to 10 p.m. daily between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. More information is at facebook.com/tamvalleymegatree.