Venice Chamber of Commerce’s annual tradition returns Saturday evening
By Sam Catanzaro
The Venice Holiday Sign Lighting returns this weekend featuring an evening of festivities and entertainment.
The annual event, now in its 10th year, is put on by the Venice Chamber of Commerce, local merchants and the community. It will take place on Saturday, December 4th, under the Venice Sign at the intersection of Windward Avenue and Pacific Avenue in Venice. There will also be a live stream on the Chamber’s Facebook page (@VeniceChamber). The festivities begin at 6:15 p.m. and at 8:00 p.m., a special surprise guest will pull the switch lighting the Venice Sign green and red.
Musical entertainment will be provided by Vicki Peterson, co-founder of the iconic and groundbreaking female rock band The Bangles. To back Peterson, Grammy-winning Producer and Sign Lighting Musical Director, Rob Christie will once again assemble the Venice All-Stars, which include Warren Ham, a member of Toto and Ringo Starr’s All Star Band, Ricky Z, who has performed with the likes of Lauryn Hill and Michael Buble and Randy Cooke, who has drummed for legends including Ringo. The expected crowd of thousands will be treated to even more top-flight entertainment from local legend Tom Freund and up-and-coming artist David Frank.
For the seventh year, the Venice Chamber of Commerce and the Venice Art Crawl bring together all local public school children in the “My Venice” Holiday Poster Contest to illustrate what the holiday season means to them. A winner is chosen from each grade level and will receive a $100 gift card and other assorted holiday presents while also having their art on display at the Sign Lighting. “The Venice Art Crawl’s ‘My Venice’ Holiday Poster Contest inspires children in the community to create more art and they become the artists of the future,” said Sunny Bak, Venice Art Crawl President.
During the event, the City of Los Angeles will close Windward Avenue east of Pacific Avenue for on-stage entertainment and exhibits. A limited number of tables are available to those who participate in the event as a sponsor, and tables will be available for purchase by businesses and nonprofit organizations looking to introduce themselves, their services or products to the Venice community. Those interested can call 310-822-5425 or email info@venicechamber.net
