Altadena community will celebrate another milestone Saturday nearly a year after the Eaton Fire ravaged the neighborhood: the city’s historic Christmas Tree Lane will be lit once again, with more than 20,000 lights glowing along Santa Rosa Avenue.
The kickoff ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday as organizers expect a larger-than-usual turnout.
The ceremony will feature several new touches, including a moment of silence for the 19 Altadena residents who died in the disaster. Longtime volunteer families will help flip the switch alongside LA County Supervisor
Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena in the 5th District.
When the lights return Saturday, visitors may notice the display shining brighter than before. A donation from the Walt Disney Co., which employs many Altadena residents, funded thousands of additional lights for this year’s show.
The Altadena Christmas Tree Lane, located near the Eaton Fire burn scar zone, has been considered one of the largest and oldest outdoor holiday lighting display in the nation.
Since the 1920s, neighbors and volunteers spent months stringing lights with ropes and pulleys. When the Eaton Fire broke out in January 2025, some of the holiday lights were still wrapped around the trees.