San Diego Weekend Guide: Dec. 1-3 – Festive Flair

Now that the pumpkin pie is nothing but a memory, candy canes are popping up everywhere this San Diego weekend – this is the first of two weekends just packed with holiday goodies.

Side note: We give you a taste of the holidays here, but please look to our How to Holiday in San Diego guide for a deep dive into all the celebrations our region has to offer all through the season.

Side note 2: Not feeling festive quite yet? Scroll down. We’ve got three non-holiday events for you. Three!

The city of San Diego hosts December Nights, a free holiday festival in the heart of Balboa Park. Opening at 3 p.m. Friday, it features more than 1,000 entertainers performing on four stages, activities spread throughout the park and more than 120 food and retail vendors with tasty bits to try and great gift ideas. Some museums will offer complimentary evening
admission too.

Bring a gift or two to the First Friday Night Market at Grossmont Center in La Mesa Friday as the market hosts turns into a Holiday Fair for December. Organizers also are hosting the fifth annual drive for donated vegan food, toys, pet supplies and more to be distributed to organizations that serve those in need. Head to the center near Chuze Fitness.

The Makers Arcade 2023 Holiday Fair opens a two-day run at 10 a.m. Saturday at San Diego’s Broadway Pier. Peruse creations from more than 100 makers, while enjoying craft cocktails, beer, gourmet food trucks, live music, photo trailers, and more. Tickets start at $6.

What shenanigans, pray tell, might go down at Santa’s Disco Luau? You’ll have to boogie down to Ocean Beach to find out, Newport Avenue specifically, for OB’s 44th annual Holiday Parade, which begins at sunset Saturday.

It’s opening weekend for the DNA New Works series at the La Jolla Playhouse, with readings of three plays, Suburban Black Girl, 59 Acres and Human Museum. Three more plays will be featured before the series, for artists to develop new plays and musicals, concludes Dec. 10. Tickets are free, but must be reserved online.

Cardinal Robert McElroy will lead the annual procession through North Park for Our Lady of Guadalupe ahead of the Feast Day in her honor. A mass at St. Augustine High School, with around 1,500 people expected, will follow. The procession, from Morley Field at Arnold and Upas Streets, starts at 11 a.m., with mass at 1 p.m.

There’s been a nip in the air lately. It’ll warm up again next week, but in the meantime, why not warm up with chili? The SoNo Fest & Chili Cook-Off returns to the border of South Park and North Park to support McKinley Elementary School, sure, but really to tantalize your taste buds. The 11 a.m. cook-off, at Thorn and 32nd streets, features dozens of chefs from local restaurants, each offering up a special chili. Tickets start at $25 for five tastings.

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