Alamitos Heights Keeps Its Tree Lighting Small While Marine Stadium Draws November's Crowds

In 2024 the Colorado Lagoon Tree Lighting took place at the lagoon playground. Wilson High School carolers led the singing, the trees were solar-lit, and Santa arrived with Long Beach Fire Station 14 at 6:30 p.m. The Wetlands and Marine Science Education Center held an open house the same evening. More than 500 people came from across Long Beach.

That crowd is the reason the 2026 tree lighting will happen at Alamitos Heights Park, at Orlena Avenue and Vermont Street, rather than at the water. The neighborhood chose to keep its own holiday event small. The large November crowds now gather at Marine Stadium instead, on the Saturday two weeks before the tree lighting and on the Saturday right after it. Here is how the month lays out on the neighborhood's edges.

Why the Lights Went Back to Orlena and Vermont

The Alamitos Heights Improvement Association says it has run the lighting of "Trees on the Bay" at Colorado Lagoon for 38 years. Since 1988, a large share of the nonprofit's budget has gone to this one event and to helping pay for the trees in the lagoon. A small team of volunteers books the vendors and carolers, arranges the cookies, hot cocoa and Santa, finds sponsors, and handles permits and safety on the night.

After the 2024 turnout, the association explained the move plainly on its events page:

"Our small, all-volunteer nonprofit organization cannot support the management and security for a crowd of that size."

The ceremony moved back into Alamitos Heights in 2025. The association described the move as a way to keep the tradition going "safely and sustainably for our neighborhood." The event still carries the lagoon's name, and the Trees on the Bay the association helps fund are still in Colorado Lagoon. The ceremony itself now happens a short walk away, in a park built for a neighborhood-sized gathering.

Friday, Nov. 27: The 38th Annual Colorado Lagoon Tree Lighting

This is the event's second year at the park, and it falls on the day after Thanksgiving.

• When: Friday, Nov. 27, 2026, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Alamitos Heights Park, Orlena Avenue and Vermont Street
• What it usually includes: carolers, cookies, hot cocoa and Santa, according to the association's description of the tradition
• 2026 sponsors: the Port of Long Beach, AES, the office of Third District Councilmember Kristina Duggan, Costanza Genoese Zerbi, Lazy Acres, Local Harvest Farmers Markets, AHIA committee volunteers, and AHIA household members and patrons

For the full 2026 program, check the association's events page during Thanksgiving week.

The date makes staffing harder. The association says it is hard to find event volunteers the day after Thanksgiving. It asks for neighbors who can give an hour or two serving hot chocolate, greeting arrivals, or working as Santa's helpers, and you can sign up at [email protected]. Donations are welcome at the event. If you can't attend, you can give through the association's Venmo or drop off a check with a board member at 505 Ultimo Avenue.

Saturday, Nov. 14: Marine Stadium Starts Early

Two weeks before the tree lighting, Marine Stadium hosts an event that draws crews from across California. Cal State Long Beach Crew hosts the 2026 Naples Island Collegiate and Masters Rowing Challenge, better known as the Pancake Regatta. The name comes from the free pancakes served after racing to the collegiate athletes, coaches and masters rowers who competed.

The college programs entered include Cal Poly, CSULB, Orange Coast College, San Diego State, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and USC. The posted race-day schedule:

The organizer notes that the schedule may change. Each collegiate and masters crew races the 4,000-meter head race once. This year's course starts inside Marine Stadium and finishes out in the bay. That is a change from 2024, when UCLA's regatta preview described a roughly 4,000-meter loop around Naples Island. For that year, UCLA pointed spectators to Boathouse Lane near the Pete Archer Rowing Center. From there, viewers could see the last 800 meters of the varsity race and all of the novice sprints. With this year's finish moved out into the bay, the best viewing spot may be different.

The City of Long Beach's Marine Stadium page lists the waterway as closed to the public that day. The boat launch ramp is not on the closure list. Anyone who usually paddles the Stadium on Saturday mornings should plan around it. The City's Marine Stadium information line is 562-570-3203.

The lagoon has its own event that morning. Friends of Colorado Lagoon lists Nov. 14 among its monthly Second Saturdays. These run 10 a.m. to noon at the Wetlands and Marine Science Education Center and include lagoon history, ecology, and hands-on work such as planting, weeding or picking up trash. The novice sprints start at 10 a.m., so you can watch the early races at the Stadium and still make it to the lagoon later in the morning.

Saturday, Nov. 28: The Stadium Turns Into a Market

The morning after the tree lighting, the large crowd is back on the water's edge. The Patchwork Show returns to Marine Stadium, 490 Bay Shore Ave., on Saturday, Nov. 28, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Patchwork says its shows are free. The Long Beach show features makers, junior artists, live music, artisan food vendors, food trucks, crafts and activities. It is pet-friendly and bike-friendly and offers bike valet. Patchwork has held its Long Beach show at the Stadium for several years. A 2022 notice and a 2024 preview both place it there.

For the 2024 show, a Discovering LA preview counted more than 100 Long Beach makers and directed visitors to park at Mother's Beach. For 2026, Patchwork says it will post the event and parking map on Instagram closer to the show. Only the boat launch ramp is listed as closed that day, so the water stays open. The bike valet makes riding in a practical choice for anyone coming from the north side of the lagoon.

The same day, 2nd & PCH lists a Small Business Saturday market. That center's season starts earlier, with its own tree lighting and Santa arrival on Nov. 19 and a Dreamers Market on Nov. 21, then a Mrs. Claus storytime and caroling on Dec. 1. If you're planning Thanksgiving weekend for visiting family, Friday evening at Alamitos Heights Park and Saturday at the Stadium are close together and both free.

The Lagoon Between the Two Saturdays

Colorado Lagoon itself has changed since last year's tree lighting. In its September 2026 project update, the City reported that the old culvert had been demolished and all but one damaged segment of the sheet piles removed. That opened the channel and restored natural tidal exchange between the lagoon and Marine Stadium and Alamitos Bay. Colorado Street reopened to vehicles on Sept. 30. Longbeachize reported on Oct. 1 that crews were still working on the landscaping and the pathway.

In the City's Oct. 3 update, Eliot Street was still waiting on repairs to the bike path near 3rd Street and Paoli, along with removal of field offices and equipment. Trail sections and lookouts were expected to open after punch-list work. The finished design links the channel and Marina Vista Park with decomposed-granite paths, plus site furnishings, safety fencing on the bridges, and signs about lagoon and channel ecology. Marina Vista Park has been open since July 31, though construction fencing remains around active work zones and protective fencing remains around new plantings. Native planting and sod were scheduled for October and November, so the area between the two Stadium Saturdays and the park may look different week to week this month.

Cynthia and Nathan have watched Alamitos Heights traditions like the tree lighting last through years of construction and a change of location. If you're curious how this kind of neighborhood-scale life shows up in what nearby homes are worth, Cynthia Voss & Nathan Walter are happy to talk it through over cocoa at Orlena and Vermont, or to prepare a Free Home Valuation whenever it suits you.