The Segerstrom family’s 44-plus-year tree lighting at Town Center Park — a 96-foot white fir trimmed with 150,000 LED lights, with Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale performing free across from South Coast Plaza.
The Segerstrom Family Annual Tree Lighting at Town Center Park is one of Southern California’s largest community tree lightings — a 44-plus-year tradition held at the green park across Bristol Street from South Coast Plaza. Each year a 96-foot white fir is trucked in from the Pacific Northwest and trimmed with more than 150,000 LED lights, making the tree one of the most-lit civic Christmas trees in the region.
The lighting ceremony runs mid-to-late November each year, 7:00 PM at Town Center Park, with Pacific Symphony, Pacific Chorale, American Ballet Theatre Gillespie School, Southern California Children’s Chorus, and Orange County School of the Arts performing across the program. The newly-configured event space faces Bristol Street with the Westin Hotel as backdrop. Admission is free — the Segerstrom family runs it as a public open-air evening, deliberately at the park rather than the shopping center to underscore the community framing.
The lit tree stays in place through the holiday season as a Costa Mesa landmark — drive-by visits and after-evening walks through the South Coast Metro district carry the rest of the season. South Coast Plaza’s holiday programming and the broader arts-district holiday calendar (Pacific Symphony, South Coast Repertory’s annual A Christmas Carol, the Segerstrom Hall holiday performances) run alongside.
Town Center Park sits across Bristol Street from South Coast Plaza, adjacent to the Westin Hotel South Coast Plaza and within walking distance of Segerstrom Center for the Arts and South Coast Repertory. The address is 695 Town Center Drive in the South Coast Metro district. From the 405, exit Bristol Street north; the park is on the east side of Bristol.
Mid-to-late November each year (typically the Thursday before Thanksgiving). 7:00 PM ceremony at Town Center Park. The lit tree stays in place through the holiday season for after-evening visits.
Yes — the ceremony, the full performance program (Pacific Symphony, Pacific Chorale, American Ballet Theatre Gillespie School, Southern California Children’s Chorus, OCSA), and viewing of the lit tree are all free. The Segerstrom family runs it deliberately as a public community evening.
The Segerstrom family holds the ceremony at Town Center Park deliberately — public ground rather than the shopping center floor — to underscore that the evening is a community moment, not a retail one. The park is the family’s chosen civic stage; the lit tree faces Bristol Street so it stays a visible South Coast Metro landmark through the rest of the season for drive-by viewers as well as on-foot attendees.
South Coast Plaza’s parking structures across Bristol Street are the close-in target — they’re free and have direct sightlines to the park. Surface lots near the park fill earliest; arrive at least 45 minutes before the 7:00 PM ceremony, or plan to walk in from the further-back Crystal Court parking on the west side of South Coast Plaza.
Town Center Park is the green civic plaza in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Metro district — directly across Bristol Street from South Coast Plaza and adjacent to the Westin Hotel South Coast Plaza, with the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and South Coast Repertory sitting on the same arts-district campus a short walk south. The park is owned and programmed by the Segerstrom family as part of the broader South Coast Plaza complex. It’s the Costa Mesa public space the family chose deliberately — public ground for a community evening rather than the shopping center itself.
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