Accompanied by parents or grandparents, happy kids with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads thronged downtown Redwood City Saturday, Dec. 4, as the annual Hometown Holidays event returned to Courthouse Square. The 15th annual celebration began at 10 a.m. and included a full day of fun—music, food, arts and crafts for sale, carnival rides and a chance to roll around in a snow lot. Crowds then gathered along Broadway to watch a parade that included costumed reenactors from the Bethlehem AD tableau, school kids, a lighted SamTrans bus, a marching band and other units, followed by the arrival of Santa Claus on a float. As darkness descended, the lighting of the Courthouse Square holiday tree provided the grand finale.
The merriment wasn’t over, though. Shortly after Hometown Holidays ended, the Caltrain Holiday Train rolled into the Redwood City train station, glowing with thousands of lights. Families got a chance to see Santa, Frosty and other characters and listen to live music, as well as to drop off a toy donation for the Marines’ Toys for Tots program and the Salvation Army, which provided the train’s brass band.
