The Old Oak Tree's 50th Lighting Honors a Tree Danville Chose to Hold Up
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
"Ever since the '70s, people have kind of watched the tree, and in a lot of ways it became the symbol of Danville," Beverly Lane, then curator of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley and a member of the original Danville Town Council, told Danville San Ramon in 2008.
On Friday, November 27, that symbol gets lit for the 50th time. The Danville Area Chamber of Commerce is calling this year's Lighting of the Old Oak Tree a golden anniversary, and it runs from 5 to 8 p.m. The ceremony began in the same year the tree's troubles did, and twenty-five years later residents raised money so the oak would still be standing for an anniversary like this one.
The oak stands in the median of Diablo Road, with traffic passing on both sides. According to the 2008 Danville San Ramon account, the lighting ceremony began in 1976, after Diablo Road was widened to four lanes. The same widening caused problems for the tree. A road project gave Danville its gathering point and a long-term worry at the same moment.
The location is part of why the tree took hold. Assistant Town Manager Marcia Somers described the oak, sitting just off I-680, as something of a gateway into town. "If you're going to come from downtown, you're going to go by that tree," Lane added. For Westside Danville, the tree sits on the way in and out of downtown on Diablo Road.
Here is how the tree's last half-century unfolded, using dates from that 2008 report and the Chamber's 2026 history sheet:
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1976 | Diablo Road widened to four lanes and the first lighting ceremony held |
| 1982 | Danville incorporates and uses the oak's silhouette for its Town logo |
| 2000 | Arborists find decay at the root crown and call the tree unstable |
| Early 2001 | A steel support frame goes up around the trunk and branches |
| 2026 | The 50th lighting, set for the Friday after Thanksgiving |
By 2000, worries about traffic stressing the oak had become a finding. Arborists told the Town the tree was unstable and unsafe for the public because its roots were rotting. "They do quite extensive readings of the health of the tree and what they found is there had been some decay at the root crown," Somers told Danville San Ramon.
The Town Council looked at more than one answer. The same report says one option was a steel framework spanning all four lanes of Diablo Road to catch the tree if it fell, estimated at $150,000. One council member suggested taking the tree down. Residents organized instead. They formed the Support the Oak foundation and raised money toward a different frame: a 16-foot steel structure on six columns that circles the trunk and branches. It went up in early 2001 and cost $70,000, less than half the estimate for the lane-spanning design.
The Chamber's 2026 history sheet puts the tree at an estimated 350 years old and credits "the support of our compassionate community" for the metal structure that keeps it from falling. In other words, the ceremony has been held around that rescue frame for half of its 50 years.
The frame also carries a smaller local custom. Residents have long posted congratulations and other messages at the oak, and yellow ribbons went up for veterans during both Iraq wars. In 2008 the Town's rules were that signs hang on the steel frame rather than the tree, come down within 48 hours, and carry no advertising.
The 2026 program follows the tradition. The Chamber lists performances by the Danville Girls Chorus and the chamber singers from Monte Vista and San Ramon High Schools. Father Christmas and the Snow Angel follow, and then a procession leads down Diablo Road and through downtown to the festivities, entertainment and holiday treats. The Chamber and the Town of Danville co-sponsor the evening, which marks the start of the holiday shopping season.
The second half of the night happens downtown, and the Town has set its boundaries. Its 2026 business registration form defines the activity area as Hartz Avenue from Linda Mesa Avenue to School Street, plus Prospect Avenue from Front Street to the Clocktower parking lot entrance. Participating businesses with an activity or promotion will appear on an event map, and they must register by November 16 to be sure of a spot on it. The map that comes out of that deadline will show which storefronts are taking part in the 50th.
For getting around, the Town's most recent published traffic advisory dates from 2024. That year, Diablo Road, Hartz Avenue, Prospect Avenue, Front Street and West El Pintado closed from 4 to 9 p.m. A partial eastbound lane closure on Diablo Road started at 1 p.m. for stage setup, and parking was directed to nearby public streets and downtown municipal lots. Take that as the 2024 pattern only, and check the Town of Danville for the 2026 notice before heading out.
The downtown the procession reaches this year differs from last November's. Two changes on Hartz Avenue matter most for anyone planning dinner around the lighting.
Rancho Cantina began a soft opening on August 24 at 501 Hartz Avenue, on the corner of Hartz and Church Street, as Bay Area Telegraph reported. It is the second location of a restaurant that has operated in downtown Lafayette for more than a decade. Danville residents Nico and Alice Tzikas took over the Lafayette restaurant in April 2024 and planned the second location closer to home. It occupies the space Cocina Hermanas held for nearly seven years. The restaurant said full reservations would open September 1, so this is its first holiday season taking bookings.
Farther up the street, Virtue + Vice at 267 Hartz Avenue served its final meals the weekend of September 12, Danville San Ramon reported. It had opened in spring 2022. Over more than four years it produced 14 menus and more than 100 cocktails, and its Wednesday Dine for a Cause nights raised more than $100,000 for local nonprofits.
The Town and Chamber calendars already map out the next month, from the last of the Halloween events through the weekend after the lighting, and most of it happens within a few blocks of the oak:
Art in the Dark, which opened at the Village Theatre Art Gallery on October 17, stays on view through December 18, so it is still open on both sides of the lighting. Pair the gallery with dinner on Hartz on the 28th, and the weekend after the procession becomes a second evening downtown under the same lights.
Landmarks like the Old Oak Tree become part of how a home near downtown Danville is described and valued, and that is local knowledge Scott Thompson brings to every listing conversation. If the 50th lighting has you curious about where your own place stands this season, start with an Instant Home Valuation, and Scott can walk you through what the numbers mean for your part of town.
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