"We will be lighting our beautiful Menlo Park oak tree as we give our beloved pine tree a well deserved break."
That line comes from the City of Menlo Park's listing for Light Up the Season, set for Friday, Dec. 4, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Fremont Park, Santa Cruz Avenue at University Drive. The same listing says the evening will "kick off Menlo Park's Centennial Celebration." It promises a winter wonderland theme, youth performances, centennial photo opportunities and hot cocoa while it lasts.
The tree lighting that opens the city's 100th year was on a cut list five months ago. Downtown's string lights are now on their own. And some of the counters that set the rhythm of a Menlo Park December for decades announced last days this fall, with no council to step in.
The tree lighting was on the June cut list
In early June, The Almanac reported that city staff faced a projected $2.8 million deficit in a $90.5 million budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. To close part of the gap, staff recommended ending the holiday tree lighting at Fremont Park and the holiday tree at the Belle Haven Community Campus, for combined savings of $70,000.
The council took up those cuts on June 9. According to The Almanac's account of that meeting, the holiday trees were the only item where the council broke from staff's recommendation. Members said they would rather keep the trees lit and end the annual celebration, because staff time was the event's biggest cost. Library and Community Services Director Nick Szegda told the council that staff spend about 250 hours planning the Fremont Park event and 87 hours on the day itself. Belle Haven's celebration takes 40 to 50 hours of planning and 60 hours on the day.
Staff were sent back to work out what the event really cost. The council adopted the 2026-27 budget at its June 23 meeting, and the city said it was balanced without drawing on General Fund reserves. The December calendar now carries both a Fremont Park tree lighting and a full evening around it. The city has made that evening the opening of its centennial.
What the June budget kept and what it let go
The tree lighting was one line in a list of trims, and the rest of the list touches the same downtown blocks.
| Item | Annual cost or savings | Outcome reported in June |
|---|---|---|
| Fremont Park and Belle Haven holiday trees | $70,000 combined | Council preferred keeping the trees lit |
| Downtown decorative string-light maintenance | $43,000 contract | Eliminated. Burned-out lights will not be repaired |
| Median weeding and landscaping contracts | About $211,000 | Cut by 20% |
| Library and recreation contracts, temporary hours | About $270,000 | Reduced, meaning fewer programs such as the "Library Adventure" scavenger hunt |
The string lights are the line residents will see this season. The lights stay up in the downtown trees, but no contractor will repair or replace them when they fail. So the Fremont Park oak will be lit on Dec. 4, and the strands along the surrounding blocks will stay lit only as long as they hold up.
Counters that had no budget hearing
The city got to debate its traditions line by line. Some of the private places that anchored a Menlo Park holiday got no such review.
Cook's Seafood at 751 El Camino Real closed on Wednesday, Oct. 28, as the San Francisco Chronicle and InMenlo both reported. According to The Almanac, staff learned of it by text overnight. The message said that "after 98 years, we have closed all Cook's Seafood locations." Bill Cook founded the business in Menlo Park in 1928. Roy Crumrine, who started there as an employee in 1955, took it over in 1963. It was both a fish market and a restaurant, known for Dungeness crab, live and cooked lobster, sand dabs with steak-cut fries, crab Louie and cioppino. The timing matters for the season. A longtime counter clerk told The Almanac that summer is usually the slowest stretch for fish, and that Cook's was about to enter its most profitable season.
Lutticken's Deli & After 5, at Alameda de las Pulgas and Gordon Avenue in West Menlo Park, announced in late August that it would serve its last sandwich at the end of September, after 45 years on that corner. Manager Judy Congdon, who had worked there since it opened in 1981, told The Almanac that business had not come back since the pandemic and "it's just not sustainable anymore." The deli was known for sandwiches on Dutch crunch. In 2011 it added evening hours as Lutticken's After 5, with dinner, live music, karaoke and open mic nights. State Sen. Josh Becker named it Senate District 13's Small Business of the Year in 2024.
On Santa Cruz Avenue, one storefront changed hands without going dark. Mrs Khan, the Uyghur restaurant at 712 Santa Cruz Ave., reopened Oct. 14 as Dragon General under chef-owner Minjun Li, with a broad Chinese menu, beer and wine. It sits a short walk from Fremont Park, so it is one option for dinner on Dec. 4, when the city's listing asks people to shop and dine at local small businesses while they are downtown.
The first two weekends of December, in order
With fewer places that make the season on their own, the calendar carries more weight. These four dates are set:
- Friday, Dec. 4, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Shop local! Light Up the Season at Fremont Park. Free, all ages, rain or shine. The oak gets lit and the centennial begins.
- Saturday, Dec. 5. Springline's 5th Annual Holiday Celebration, open to the public, at the development at 1300 and 1302 El Camino Real. Check Springline's calendar for times before you go.
- Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5 and 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Allied Arts Guild Auxiliary Christmas Market at 75 Arbor Road, with free admission, free parking and holiday lunch at Café Wisteria.
- Saturday, Dec. 12, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Photos with Santa at the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center, 700 Alma St. Admission is $5 per person, and reservations opened Nov. 2.
The first weekend stacks up neatly. Friday evening downtown leads into a Saturday that can take in both the Allied Arts Guild market and Springline's celebration, and the market runs again Sunday for anyone who wants a slower visit.
One hundred years, counted from Nov. 23, 1927
Menlo Park incorporated on Nov. 23, 1927, according to San Mateo County LAFCO and the Menlo Park Historical Association's timeline. That puts the anniversary itself a year from this month, and the Dec. 4 lighting is the city's first centennial event. The Historical Association's fall 2026 newsletter says it welcomes ideas for marking the anniversary, so residents with family photos, business histories or memories of Cook's counter have an obvious place to send them.
Cook's opened in 1928, a year after the city incorporated, and it closed five weeks before the centennial kickoff. Lutticken's had been on its corner since 1981. In June the council said it preferred to keep the Fremont Park tree lit, and the city has since made the Dec. 4 lighting of the oak the start of its 100th year.
Our team has watched Menlo Park's holiday calendar for a long time, and it doesn't have to be a real estate question for us to want to hear about it. If you're a longtime resident with stories about what downtown used to look like in December, or you're planning a move and want to think through timing around the holidays, Lyn Jason Cobb would be glad to sit down with you. Schedule a Consultation, and we'll start with what you love about this town.
