Santa Rosa to launch in holiday season in Old Courthouse Square Friday

Old Courthouse Square may not be perfect. But on the Friday after Thanksgiving it comes close, even with Santa Rosa Avenue running smack through the middle of it.

That evening, anyone who’s interested can come launch the Christmas season and light a candle for all who are no longer here to enjoy the holidays.

A highlight of the city’s WinterLights celebration is the passing of a flame from candle to candle in a simple, solemn act of remembrance hosted by the co-sponsoring Sutter Care at Home and Hospice.

That will happen just before 7:30 p.m. Friday on the west side of the Square, close to Third Street.

The evening’s festivities will begin just after 5 p.m., when Santa Claus arrives on a fire truck. There will be photos with the jolly elf, music by The Zins and performances by Sebastopol Ballet and the 6th Street Playhouse.

Several food trucks will be on hand, and there will be plentiful hot cocoa, cider, beer and wine.

Right at the end, Ah! A switch will be flipped and the lights strung on a towering tree will flash on to the delight of the crowd at Old - and, really, pretty darned good - Courthouse Square.

FORESTVILLE will come together Sunday afternoon for a tree lighting and holiday cookies-and-cocoa party. What does organizer Robin Berardini like best about the gathering?

“It’s just like Mayberry, really.”

She notes rightly that there aren’t many towns in which volunteers and donors haul in and string lights on a 30-foot tree, enlist the fire department, coordinate with Santa, arrange for local high-school singers and musicians to perform, and hand-make great quantities of hot cider and cocoa.

And it’s all a gift to the community.

Forestville’s Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony starts at 4 p.m. Sunday. If you plan to go, you might bake up a batch of cookies to share.

“If you can’t,” says Berardini, “just come and we’ll take care of you.”

WHAT’S YOUR STORY? Bradford Rex tells his listeners something he never told his own mother.

??Leslie Scatchard recounts the day her brother saved her life.

Matt Maguire shares the story of when, after several crank calls, he turned the table on the caller and just listened.

They’re three of the story-tellers who’ll take the mic Wednesday, Dec. 2, at one of the county’s most inspired and lively competitive performances.

It’s the annual finale of Dave Pokorny’s West Side Stories story-telling showcase. Each month in Petaluma, real people tell great stories to an appreciative crowd, and at year’s end the monthly winners meet in the Grand Slam.

It starts at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma. The nitty gritty is at brownpapertickets.com/event/2464857.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.