How many people at the tree lighting have stood close enough to touch the tree? The Old Oak Tree sits in the Diablo Road median between West El Pintado and the I-680 freeway. On Friday, November 27, from 5 to 8 p.m., Danville holds the 50th annual Lighting of the Old Oak Tree, co-sponsored by the Town of Danville and the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Town's calendar lists the event's address as Hartz and Prospect Avenues in Historic Downtown Danville. The program starts at the oak and ends with a procession into downtown. In this 50th year, two storefronts along that route have turned over since last year's lighting, and a third has a café proposal under Town review.
A 350-Year-Old Oak, Held Up by a Metal Brace
The Chamber's history of the Old Oak Tree estimates its age at 350 years. It calls the oak the most notable landmark in the Town of Danville. The same history says the tree "has started to show its age." At one point it was found to be at risk of weakening and possibly falling, and with community support a special metal support structure was installed to keep it standing.
So the oak getting a golden-anniversary lighting this year is propped up. The tradition around it is also older than many downtown businesses. The Danville Weekly's November 16, 2007 issue called that year's lighting the 31st annual. Even then, the Town and the Chamber were hosting it together. The Chamber says the event is traditionally held the Friday after Thanksgiving and that it opens Danville's holiday shopping season, and the evening's layout follows from that role.
The Evening Runs in One Direction
The Chamber's 2026 program runs in a clear order.
- Holiday music from the Danville Girls Chorus, the Monte Vista High School Chamber Singers, and the San Ramon High School Chamber Singers.
- Father Christmas and the Snow Angel greet the crowd.
- The oak is lit.
- A procession heads down Diablo Road and through downtown.
- The night continues downtown with festivities, entertainment, and holiday treats.
The last step is the one that happens downtown, inside the Hartz and Prospect event area. If you arrive after the singing, the downtown part of the evening is still ahead of you.
The crowd moving between the two can be large. Last year, Patch reported that the 49th lighting drew up to 10,000 people, along with live music and deals at downtown shops. For the 2025 event, the Town closed parts of Hartz Avenue, Diablo Road, Prospect Avenue, El Pintado, Front Street, and Linda Mesa Avenue from 4 p.m. to about 9 p.m. One section of Diablo Road was closed from 1 p.m. The Town also pointed visitors to free parking on nearby public streets and in downtown municipal lots. That was last year's plan. The 2026 closures and parking details will come from the Town closer to the date. Until then, last year's afternoon closure on Diablo Road is a fair hint for anyone who usually drives through that area on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
The Map Businesses Sign Up For
The 2026 event has defined boundaries. The Town's business registration form for the lighting sets the event area as Hartz Avenue from Linda Mesa Avenue to School Street, plus Prospect Avenue from Front Street to the entrance of the Clocktower parking lot.
Inside that area, the Town will publish an event map of participating downtown businesses. To get on the map, a business has to do three things:
- Have a brick-and-mortar storefront in the event area, or partner with one.
- Offer an activity or special promotion during event hours.
- Hold an active Town of Danville business license, and register by November 16 to be guaranteed a spot on the map.
The Chamber's page tells business owners to email [email protected] if they are unsure what to offer. If you own a shop downtown and haven't signed up yet, you have a little over two weeks from this post's publication date.
For everyone else, the map will be the best guide to the downtown part of the evening, and this year it covers a slightly different set of storefronts.
The Hartz Avenue This Year's Procession Walks Into
Two Hartz Avenue storefronts turned over in 2026, on the 200 and 500 blocks. A third, at Prospect Park Plaza, has a café proposal working through Town review.
| Address | What changed in 2026 | Status in late October |
|---|---|---|
| 501 Hartz Ave. | Cocina Hermanas announced its closing in March | Rancho Cantina is open |
| 267 Hartz Ave. | Virtue + Vice held its final service in September | No new tenant announced |
| 398 Hartz Ave., Prospect Park Plaza | Former Starbucks space proposed for Sana'a Café | In Town review; aiming for the holiday season |
501 Hartz Avenue. The Bay Area Telegraph reported in March that Cocina Hermanas was closing at this address. By September, What Now San Francisco reported that Rancho Cantina had opened its second location in the space. The family-owned Californio restaurant started in Lafayette and is known for wood-fired, ranch-to-table vaquero platters. The Tzikas family runs it: Nico, Alice, and their daughter Ali. In What Now's story, Nico Tzikas said the family hopes to "build the kind of gathering place we hope becomes part of people's everyday lives." Because of that, the corner the procession reaches on November 27 will have a restaurant that wasn't on Hartz Avenue for last year's lighting. Details are on the Rancho Cantina Danville page.
267 Hartz Avenue. DanvilleSanRamon reported in September that Virtue + Vice would close after more than four years downtown. No replacement has been announced, so this storefront may still be dark on the night of the lighting.
398 Hartz Avenue. The newest proposal downtown is Sana'a Café, a coffeehouse inspired by Yemen's coffee traditions. It is planned for the former Starbucks space at Prospect Park Plaza. An October 14 report on Open Governance described a menu with Yemeni-inspired coffee drinks, Adeni chai made with warming spices, honeycomb pastries, and baklava. According to that report, Town staff were working with the design team on a Land Use Permit for outdoor seating, and a tenant improvement application was expected in October. The goal is to open during the 2026 holiday season, but that timeline depends on renovations, approvals, and inspections, and no opening date has been announced. Depending on how review goes, Prospect Park Plaza could have a new café by the lighting or some time after it.
One more change from this year is outside the event area. Nordstrom Local opened at 600 Sycamore Valley Road in the Danville Livery in late June or early July. It offers order pickup, returns, alterations, and donation drop-off. It won't be on the Hartz Avenue map, but it is a nearby stop for holiday-season returns and alterations.
Saturday Morning on Railroad Avenue
The lighting is a Friday-night event, and downtown has a regular Saturday right after it. The Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association lists the Danville Farmers' Market at 205 Railroad Avenue, open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. year-round. That puts November 28 on the regular schedule, 13 hours after the lighting's 8 p.m. finish. No special holiday-week hours are listed, so the standard schedule is the one to plan around.
Heidi Kugl has watched downtown Danville change over many holiday seasons. If seeing the new storefronts on November 27 gets you thinking about how your own home fits into a changing town, she's glad to talk it through. Visit Heidi Kugl to schedule a consultation.
