There are two popular Montgomery Streets in the city we call home—one in the Financial District across town, and the other here, in the Presidio. With the Golden Gate Bridge to the west, Crissy Field to the north, and the City to the east, The Walt Disney Family Museum is housed in a restored 1890s army barrack on the Main Post in the historic Presidio, which was once the U.S. Army's premier West Coast base (and was later decommissioned in 1989 and transfered to the National Park Service). With the holidays quickly approaching, we are happy to have the Presidio Trust pen for us a little historical background on the ceremonial tree lighting, which has been a decades-old tradition here in our beautiful Presidio of San Francisco.
Every December, visitors, families, and park employees encircle a large tree on the Presidio’s Main Post to mark the beginning of the holiday season. As revelers clasp hands, they pass along a symbolic “surge of electricity” in the form of a wave that flows from person to person. The final reveler flips a switch, bringing the tree to life with thousands of colorful bulbs.
Although Holiday Lights as it is now known has been around for just 13 years, the longstanding Presidio tradition of lighting a holiday tree dates back to the 1900s, when the Presidio was an active Army post.
In the early days, officers celebrated around a tree at Fort Scott near the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza. By the 1950s, Presidio firefighters were decorating the Fire Station and illuminating a festive palm tree nearby. Later that decade, a 30-foot-tall Monterey Cypress was removed from Fort Scott and planted at the south end of the Main Post Parade Ground as a living holiday tree.
As the Presidio transitioned from a post to a park in the late 1990s, the ceremony moved across the street to its current location, adjacent to both the Presidio Fire Station and the Presidio Y. Along the way, a fir tree was chosen over the more exotic palm. It was then that Holiday Lights as we know it today was born.
Caroling has always been central to the gathering. A festive song such as Jingle Bells kicks off the evening, encouraging everyone to join in and line up around the tree. After the tree is lit, the group moves to the Presidio Y for fun activities and hot cocoa.
If you’re thinking about coming to Holiday Lights this year, remember that it isn’t just another tree-lighting ceremony. Instead, it’s a decades-old tradition that provides a continuing legacy of community celebration at the Presidio.
More details:
http://www.presidio.gov/Calendar/Pages/holiday-lights.aspx
What: Holiday Lights
When: Friday, December 7, 5:30 pm
Where: Presidio Fire Station/The Presidio Y
Music by the Golden Gate Carolers
Sponsored by the Presidio Trust and the Presidio Y