On Friday, November 20, the lights go on along Civic Drive. At 5:30 p.m. the City of Walnut Creek and the Walnut Creek Downtown Association light the Civic Park holiday tree. It is free and runs for an hour, with cocoa, carolers and Frosty the Snowman. That same day, Walnut Creek on Ice opens its 21st season a few steps away at Civic Park, 1365 Civic Drive. The next afternoon, Smuin Contemporary Ballet brings The Christmas Ballet to the Lesher Center for the Arts at 1601 Civic Drive.
Broadway Plaza lights its own tree on Thursday, December 3. Downtown Walnut Creek runs two holiday seasons on two calendars, and the civic one starts 13 days earlier. Opening weekend puts nearly all of its weight on one street. You can plan November and December around that.
Opening night belongs to Civic Park
The rink and the tree lighting have shared an opening night before. The 2025 ceremony fell on November 21, the same day that season's rink opened. This year both move up a day, to Friday, November 20. The rink's last day moves up too, to Monday, January 18, 2027. Bay Area Telegraph confirmed the opening date in late October, and the full schedule is posted on the Walnut Creek on Ice page.
The rink is a community project with a long sponsor list. The City of Walnut Creek, Walnut Creek Downtown and Visit Walnut Creek are presenting sponsors. Mechanics Bank sponsors the 90-foot Frosty's Summit Ice Slide. Broadway Plaza, Lindsay Wildlife, Main Street Kitchen and Bell Brothers HVAC are among the businesses on the dasher boards. The 21st-season announcement quotes Kathy Hemmenway, executive director of the Walnut Creek Business Association: "After 21 years, we've seen kids grow up on this ice and come back with families of their own."
The release also calls it the Bay Area's only outdoor ice rink and ice slide. The rink is covered and open rain or shine.
What a session costs and when the ice is open
Pricing is simple. Skating is $20 per person and the ice slide is $20 per person. Sessions last up to 90 minutes, and skate rental comes with a skating ticket. Skating and the slide take separate tickets unless you book the combo, which is listed as starting at $20. The rink is entirely cashless. You can buy tickets online, or pay on-site with a card or digital wallet.
Here are the posted hours for regular weeks:
- Monday through Thursday, non-holiday: 4:00 to 7:30 p.m.
- Friday, non-holiday: 4:00 to 10:30 p.m.
- Saturday: 11:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
- Sunday: 11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
- Holiday-period weekdays: 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
The holidays have their own hours. Thanksgiving runs 6:00 to 9:30 p.m., Christmas Eve 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Christmas Day 2:00 to 9:30 p.m. New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day all run 10:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The rink calendar lists exact sessions for each holiday-break weekday, so check it before you build a school-vacation day around the ice.
The rink also runs an Ice-Skating Academy, hockey classes, private fire pits and Wednesday morning Littles Skates for the youngest skaters. One of those mornings includes a visit from Santa. Littles Skate dates are booked through the tickets page, and that page is the one to plan from.
The same weekend, the Lesher Center fills up the street
Civic Drive's opening weekend gets crowded because the arts calendar starts at the same time. Diablo Ballet opens the stretch with The Nutcracker Suite on November 13 and 14, a week before the rink opens. Adult and senior seats were listed at $32 to $61, and youth seats at $35. Then Smuin's The Christmas Ballet plays November 21 and 22, the two days right after the rink and tree lighting open. Tickets were listed from $25 to $130.
Date | Civic Park | Lesher Center |
|---|---|---|
Fri., Nov. 20 | Rink opens; free tree lighting, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. | |
Sat., Nov. 21 | Rink, 11:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. | Smuin's The Christmas Ballet |
Sun., Nov. 22 | Rink, 11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. | Smuin's The Christmas Ballet |
The weekend puts a free civic event, a ticketed rink and a ticketed ballet on one street, and they all draw on the same garages. The City of Walnut Creek's parking page lists three city garages: Broadway, Lesher Center and South Locust. All are open 24 hours, the first hour is free, and after that it's $1.25 an hour. Special-event parking at the Lesher Center garage can cost up to $5. Street meters cost $2 an hour in the green-meter downtown core, with a three-hour limit. The purple-meter blocks to the north, south and west cost $1 an hour with a 10-hour limit. Meters are enforced 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, and each meter lists its own holiday exceptions. You can pay at meters through the ParkMobile app. The garages take cash, Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay and ParkMobile, and all three have free EV charging.
A 90-minute skate fits inside the free first hour plus one paid hour at the Broadway or South Locust garage, as long as you park close to your start time.
Broadway Plaza keeps its own clock
Broadway Plaza's Santa season starts before Civic Park's tree lighting. Pet Night with Santa runs Monday evenings from 4 to 7 p.m. on November 16, 23 and 30 and December 7 and 14. Santa photos continue through December 24. Walk-in Santa visits are free.
The center's big moment comes later. The Holiday Parade of Lights & Tree Lighting runs Thursday, December 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. across the center, with music, entertainment, a parade and a tree-lighting ceremony led by Santa. Broadway Plaza also hosts two Makers Markets, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 28, and Saturday, December 19.
Look at the two calendars side by side and they rarely overlap on their big nights. Civic Park takes the Friday before Thanksgiving. Broadway Plaza takes the first Thursday in December. The Makers Markets fall on Saturdays, when the rink is open its longest hours, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. A shopping afternoon at Broadway Plaza and an evening skate session can fit into the same day without colliding.
December on Civic Drive, show by show
Once the Broadway Plaza parade is over, the busy end of downtown shifts back to Civic Drive for the rest of December. The Lesher Center's holiday calendar runs through December 23:
Dates | Show | Company | Listed tickets |
|---|---|---|---|
Nov. 27 to 29 | Once Upon A Christmas | The Ballet School Performing Arts | $40 reserved |
Dec. 9 to 23 | A Christmas Carol | Center REP, with AXIS Dance Company | $38 to $69; Dec. 9 is Pay What You Can |
Dec. 12 | Christmas Dreaming with Stella Cole | Headliners Series | $65 to $81 |
Dec. 16 to 23 | Visit to the North Pole | Fantasy Forum Actors Ensemble | $58.99 per visit, up to five guests included |
Dec. 18 to 20 | The Biggest Gift | Fantasy Forum Actors Ensemble | $18 children's stage seating |
Center REP's A Christmas Carol has the longest run on the list. Its Wednesday, December 9 opening is Pay What You Can, with suggested prices from $0 to $50, the lowest-cost way into a Lesher holiday show this season. Stella Cole's concert is part of the Headliners Series that the Lesher Center presents with the Diablo Regional Arts Association.
Saturday, December 12 is the most crowded day on the December calendar. At 2 p.m., "Holiday Concert: The Snowman Meets Vivaldi!" plays at Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church. It appears on the Lesher Center's holiday list but takes place at the church. At 7:30 p.m., Stella Cole takes the Lesher stage. The rink is open until 10:30 that night. The church also hosts "Snow Day!" on Sunday, December 6, from 5 to 6:45 p.m.
The last stretch runs to January 18
Most of downtown's programming has wrapped by December 24. The Lesher list ends December 23, and Broadway Plaza's Santa photos end on Christmas Eve. The rink keeps going through New Year's Day and into January, with 10 a.m. openings on holiday days, and closes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 18, 2027.
If guests are visiting over the holidays, our team is glad to share our favorite ways to string together a skate, a show and dinner downtown. We live and work in these communities, and planning around Civic Drive's calendar is the kind of local detail Mary Bonham loves to help with. Let's Connect.
