Solana Beach's Holiday Season Runs Through La Colonia Park

At the 2021 centennial fiesta for La Colonia de Eden Gardens, Lisa Montes shared a story about how the holidays used to arrive in the neighborhood. She is the Solana Beach Civic & Historical Society's historian and the curator of its Heritage Museum. "In La Colonia," she said, "Santa didn't come down the chimney, he jumped out of an airplane." According to the Society's account of the evening, he parachuted into the park.

This year Santa and his elves are scheduled to arrive at 5:20 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 13, at the same park, 715 Valley Avenue. Most people in town know the Fletcher Cove tree lighting, with the ocean behind it. Look at the full fall calendar, though, and La Colonia Park hosts most of the season.

Four of the season's five civic dates are on Valley Avenue

Solana Beach's public fall calendar runs from mid-October to mid-December. One event is at the beach. The rest are at La Colonia Park and its community center.

The first event has already happened. The Del Mar Times, via the San Diego Union-Tribune, reported that this year's Día de los Muertos took place Oct. 18 at La Colonia Park. The city and the La Colonia Community Foundation hosted it, and this year's theme honored the city's 40th anniversary. The highlight was more than 40 altars for family and friends who have passed away. There was also cultural entertainment, a Catrín and Catrina costume contest, and a dog costume contest.

The theme fits the history. The city is marking 40 years since it incorporated, and the Historical Society calls La Colonia "Solana Beach's first neighborhood," founded in 1920. The park where most of the season happens is older than the city around it.

A park that was once marked for condos

The park could easily have gone the other way. At the centennial fiesta, Christine Hernandez Aleman recalled the community's effort to save the community center and park where everyone had gathered. The Historical Society recorded her words:

"We took many, many, many hours fighting for this with the supervisors in San Diego. It was earmarked for condos, both sides. As kids, we all came here . . . To play baseball. The guys would play football. It was a great place to live and be raised and raise our own. It's a sacred place for me . . ."

One name comes up again and again in the park's history. The Coast News reported that Cipriana Martínez Gonzalez, who lived from 1906 to 1999, was instrumental in building La Colonia Park in the 1970s. She also led the effort to keep St. Leo's as a mission church, writing all the way to the Vatican. In July 2025, a commemorative plaque was dedicated to her beside the park playground. Her son Tito called her "la madrina," the godmother of La Colonia. The playground itself opened in spring 2024 after six months of construction. The Coast News put the cost at about $1.1 million and noted that the equipment was designed for children of varied abilities.

Three other landmarks stand on the grounds.

• The Tree of Life tile display at the community center lists the names of the families who first lived in the neighborhood more than 100 years ago, according to the Union-Tribune. The city has said it will work with the community on a long-term plan for the display.
• The Veterans' Memorial Wall and courtyard at the community center. The Historical Society credits first-generation resident Robert "Chuckles" Hernandez with helping develop them.
• The Heritage Museum, which The Coast News describes as a fragile, historic 1890s-era house in the park.

November at the park starts with the wall and ends with quilts

The Veterans Day Ceremony is on Wednesday, Nov. 11, from 11 a.m. to noon at La Colonia Park. The city hosts it with Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5431. The program includes the Camp Pendleton Young Marines as color guard, the "Feathers from Heaven" doves, the Santa Fe Christian School Band, and a guest speaker. Light refreshments will be served. The ceremony takes place a short walk from the memorial wall. At the 2021 fiesta, third-generation resident David Huizar pointed to the community center's wall of veterans' photos and said he looked forward to adding his grandnephew's picture.

Three days later, on Saturday, Nov. 14, the Civic & Historical Society holds its Holiday Boutique at the La Colonia Community Center from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The city's listing calls it the Society's largest fundraiser of the year. Proceeds support its educational scholarships and civic projects. Expect hundreds of handmade items, quilts for all ages, paper art, jewelry, and succulent planters, plus a Sweet & Savory Bake Sale and an Antique Quilt Station. The Opportunity Drawing features a group quilt with a bookshelf theme. On the patio, the SeaWeeders will sell Christmas cactus and take preorders for holiday poinsettias. The Society also organized the 2021 centennial with the La Colonia Community Foundation, so the money raised under this roof often goes back into telling the neighborhood's story.

Two Sundays in December, and why the second one feels different

The two tree lightings are a week apart, and both are free. They follow a similar script, and the details show who hosts each one.

Fletcher Cove, Sunday, Dec. 6. The city and its Parks and Recreation Commission host the 21st annual lighting starting at 4:30 p.m. Mayor Lesa Heebner and the City Council flip the switch, and Santa arrives by fire-truck escort at 5:20 p.m. There will be sweets, hot cocoa, and cider. This year the city has also added a snow hill for sledding and a snow play area. Questions go to Parks & Recreation at (858) 720-2454.

La Colonia Park, Sunday, Dec. 13. The city co-hosts this one with the La Colonia Community Foundation, from 5 to 7 p.m. The mayor and council light the tree here too, and Santa and his elves are scheduled for 5:20 p.m. The refreshments include Mexican hot cocoa. Questions go to Parks and Recreation at 858-720-4430. In past years the evening has included more. The city's 2023 listing promised traditional aguinaldos treat bags for children and pan dulce. The Union-Tribune's 2024 preview described the aguinaldos bags again.

The co-host gives the second evening its character. The foundation describes its mission as creating opportunities in community, leadership, education, and advocacy for residents and descendants of La Colonia de Eden Gardens. The Coast News reported that it launched in early 2019. In July, the City Council gave it $5,000 in the 2026-27 community grant round for ongoing educational workshops and information about community resources for La Colonia residents. The tree lighting is the foundation's most public December appearance, and it puts the same host from October's altars in charge of December's cocoa.

The park may look different next December

La Colonia Park has more changes ahead. At its July 16, 2025 meeting, the City Council approved a master-plan update and interim improvements for the vacant three-quarter-acre parcel north of the skate park and basketball courts. The interim design includes a walking trail, shaded seating and picnic tables, drought-tolerant landscaping, an event lawn, and the parcel's existing lemon trees, which will be kept. The city's adopted capital plan budgets $50,000 for design and $200,000 for construction in fiscal year 2026, plus another $50,000 for construction in fiscal year 2027.

The longer-range plan includes renovating the existing community center and, eventually, building a three-level youth and senior community center on the same parcel. Council feedback reported by the Union-Tribune asked for more park space and more fruit trees. The permanent plan is also to include a community garden, with a backup plan in case volunteers stop tending it. An event lawn on a parcel next to a park that already hosts most of the city's fall gatherings would give those gatherings more room to grow. The city's La Colonia Park Master Plan page has the planning materials.

For now, the Dec. 13 evening follows the familiar pattern: the switch is flipped, Santa arrives at 5:20, and cocoa is served on the grounds that residents once fought to keep.

If your family's holiday traditions are tied to a particular corner of Solana Beach, we would be glad to hear about them. Danielle Short & Associates has followed North County's community calendar for three decades, and we are always happy to share what we know about the places that make each neighborhood feel like home. Let's Connect.