Santa Claus joined Mary Casillas Salas, Council member Jill Galvez and Council member John McCann in lighting up 28,800 LED lights along Third Avenue.
In place of the highly anticipated Starlight Parade and Children’s faire, residents of Chula Vista may stroll the Third Avenue corridor to witness the lights glisten among the 117 adorned streetlight poles, 26 of which have five-foot tall lighted snowflakes.
The parade is a 50-plus year tradition that brings more than 30,000 spectators to Third Avenue. To find another way in celebrating the holiday season, the city collaborated with the Third Avenue Village Association (TAVA) to install holiday lights and banners to celebrate the season and promote shopping and dining locally.
“I invite everyone to come celebrate Starlight Nights on Third Avenue,” said Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas. “Starlight Nights promotes the holiday spirit, showcases our historic downtown, and lights up our Third Avenue businesses.”
In addition to the streetlights, the City is installing up-lights on the palm trees in the median along Third Avenue from E to G Streets. That project is ongoing and will be completed by January.
“We hope to see much more exciting things on Third Avenue and we hope that everyone tonight takes a walk down Third avenue and takes a look at the lights,” TAVA President Marco Li Mandri said.
McFarlane Productions, a Southern California events and promotions company, worked with the city to retrofit and install the lights. According to Laura McFarlane, they retrofitted each to 110 amps fo install the light fixtures since they were pulling 320 amps. The city had been working on getting the light fixtures since Thanksgiving, but the process was delayed due to the product being stuck in Long Beach.
“What I love about living in Chula Vista is that it still feels super small even though it’s the second largest city in San Diego. I just feel like downtown. It has a lot of charm,” McFarlane said.
