Who decides when the holidays start in a place with no town hall?
In Alamo this year, the first public step was taken by a tree contractor. On Friday, October 23, a crew working for Contra Costa County Public Works pruned one tree at Andrew H. Young Park, at the corner of Danville Boulevard and Jackson Way. The park was closed while they worked. The County's notice gave a single reason for the job: preparation "for the upcoming Holiday Tree Lighting Festivities."
That is the County's whole role in this season's public record. It maintains the tree. Nearly everything else on Alamo's November and December calendar comes from a property owner, a hobby club, a women's club and a hospice nonprofit, and most of it takes place within a short stretch of Danville Boulevard. If you want to know what's happening between Thanksgiving and New Year's, you're looking at a handful of private calendars and one shopping center.
The plaza's owner hosts the longest event of the season
The event that runs longest is at Alamo Plaza. European Train Enthusiasts, working with the Alamo Improvement Association, is bringing back its model train show. It features model trains running on a European-style layout. EDENS, which owns the shopping center, lists it as "Alamo's beloved holiday tradition," and the dates cover more than five weeks.
- Dates: November 27, 2026 through January 3, 2027
- Regular hours: Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Extra days: December 22, 23, 29 and 30
- Closed: Christmas Day and New Year's Day
- Admission: $5, benefiting the Contra Costa and Solano Food Bank; children under 6 get in free
Opening day is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and the extra December dates fall in the week of Christmas and the week of New Year's. The organizers get no money from the gate. The $5 goes to the food bank, so every family visit doubles as a small donation.
The show is listed on the shopping center owner's page, not on any civic calendar, and that's typical for Alamo. EDENS bought the center in 2022 and describes its work since then as "revitalization." The most visible piece of that work is the pair of "Tunnel of Love / Welcome to Beautiful Alamo, California" murals by ABG Art Group, the Oakland-based creative collective co-owned by Trent Thompson. EDENS's own description calls the plaza a "gathering place for local residents" with more than 200,000 square feet of retail, dining, wellness and service businesses, anchored by Safeway. In a town with no city hall and no civic plaza, the shopping center's parking lots and storefronts serve as the public square, and the train show is the clearest example of that each winter.
The Sunday market keeps going all season
The plaza also hosts a weekly event that never takes a season off. The Alamo farmers' market sets up every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot near Bank of America. The state's certified farmers' market list, dated October 1, 2026, shows it as a year-round market, so it doesn't break for the holidays.
Market hours overlap with the train show from late November on. On the six Sundays between November 29 and January 3, the market opens at 9 and the train layout opens at 10, so a single trip to the plaza covers both.
One oak tree, two lighting nights
The second center of the season is the Alamo Women's Club, 1401 Danville Boulevard. The club's oak tree is lit twice, by two organizations, on two dates.
The first is Hospice East Bay's Tree of Lights ceremony. Alamo is one stop on the nonprofit's 2026 tour of local communities, and its schedule puts the Alamo ceremony at the Women's Club on Tuesday, November 24, at 6 p.m. Neighboring towns get their own dates on the same tour. Orinda's is November 12 at Village Square, Danville's is November 19 at the Town Meeting Hall on Front Street, and Walnut Creek's is November 30. That puts Alamo's ceremony two days before Thanksgiving.
The second is the club's own Holiday Celebration & Hospice Tree Lighting on Thursday, December 10, from 4 to 6 p.m. The club describes an evening of wine, appetizers and seasonal music by the Monte Vista Barbershop Singers. At dusk, the oak is lit "in memory of loved ones and in support of Hospice and Brun's House."
So the same tree, at a private club, gets lit twice in support of hospice care, on two evenings put on by two nonprofit organizations a little more than two weeks apart.
The County's tree at Andrew H. Young Park
That brings the calendar back to the oak at Andrew H. Young Park, the tree the County pruned in October. It sits at Danville Boulevard and Jackson Way, and the County's own notice ties the pruning to the Holiday Tree Lighting Festivities there.
The County's part was the physical work, which meant closing the park for a day and sending a contractor to prune one tree. The rest of the season on this list belongs to the plaza, the clubs and the nonprofits.
The old Rite Aid space reopens in December
One of Alamo Plaza's anchor storefronts is filling this winter.
The former Rite Aid at 130 Alamo Plaza is being converted into Vim + Vigor Fitness's first Reserve Club. Danville San Ramon reported in September that remodeling crews were working inside the unit and that the space had been empty for just over a year, since Rite Aid closed during the company's nationwide bankruptcy proceedings.
Vim + Vigor's Alamo page says the club is scheduled to open in December 2026 and that its pre-enrollment office opened November 2. The company calls the Reserve Club "our most elevated fitness experience" and says its standard membership rate will be $109 a month.
This connects to the holiday calendar because of where it is. The plaza that hosts the train show and the Sunday market is scheduled to fill the former Rite Aid unit during the train show's run. It also adds to a fitness cluster already in the center. The same Danville San Ramon report notes that The Iron House operates at 190F Alamo Plaza and the BODYROK Pilates studio at 170F, and that 24 Hour Fitness had a long run in unit 140F before it closed in 2020. With the Reserve Club, that will be three fitness businesses in one center, six years after 24 Hour Fitness left.
A short drive away, at Stone Valley Center, there's another conversion. Bay Area Telegraph reported in August that The Post, an American comfort-food restaurant, was moving into the longtime Forli Ristorante space at 3160 Danville Boulevard. The Telegraph said the concept draws inspiration from an early-1900s post office. The restaurant's website is the place to check for its hours and reservations.
The season at a glance
| Date | Event | Where | Host |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, Nov. 24, 6 p.m. | Tree of Lights ceremony | Alamo Women's Club, 1401 Danville Blvd. | Hospice East Bay |
| Nov. 27, 2026 – Jan. 3, 2027, Wed–Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. | Model train show, $5 for the food bank | Alamo Plaza | European Train Enthusiasts with the Alamo Improvement Association |
| Every Sunday, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. | Farmers' market | Alamo Plaza, Bank of America lot | Alamo certified farmers' market |
| December | Vim + Vigor Reserve Club scheduled opening | 130 Alamo Plaza | Vim + Vigor Fitness |
| Thursday, Dec. 10, 4–6 p.m. | Holiday Celebration & Hospice Tree Lighting | Alamo Women's Club, 1401 Danville Blvd. | Alamo Women's Club |
| Dec. 22, 23, 29, 30 | Extra train show days | Alamo Plaza | European Train Enthusiasts |
Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on a Friday this year, and they are the two regular show days when the layout is closed. Of everything on the table, the market is the only fixed weekly event, and it keeps running after the last train is packed away in January.
The changes at Alamo Plaza this season, from the train show to the old Rite Aid space getting a new tenant, are the kind of details Lauren tracks when she prices homes nearby. If you'd like to know how they factor into what your own home is worth this winter, Lauren Kraus can put that together for you. Request your complimentary home valuation.
