Incredibly Shrinking Purple Balls

NYE 2013
and the story of The Great Temecula Grape Drop

It was a great idea. You have an ice rink open on New Years Eve, why not have a party. And since we live in Southern California Wine Country - and the Ice Rink is in Old Town Temecula - why not drop a giant illuminated bunch of grapes from city hall?

The first bunch was simple. Not really. How do you create a 3-foot by 5-foot bunch of grapes, light them, and have them descend from a crane. (City hall was not complete that year.) A ton of searching giant holiday exhibits and looking for PURPLE balls of size, and I had a solution - purple sequined tree ornaments - the biggest we could find. 

But still how do you make them glow and shine. Sequins would need a spot light of some sort and not give the image of .. well the big apple's crystal ball. So LeAnn found illuminated spheres (6") at Costco. They were clear. We thought "Lets paint them purple" to match the sequined balls. Wrong - there is an internal light vs external light compatibility issue. Some purple is blue, some is red and if you have external lights to the sphere vs internal, well some of those come out raspberry.

But eventually we did create the perfect bunch. It ended up 3x6-feet instead of 5 and was a great hit, although when we wanted to drop them from city hall, we wanted them a little bigger. So we added some sequined balls that year - couldn't find anymore of the inner lit spheres, and we added some really cool leaves. 

Well, they were cool until the test drop occurred during the 2010 rain storms and the leaves color washed away, and the leaves melted all over our purple balls. A quick fix worked for the year and no one was the wiser.  Notice the picture at the top ... that was 2012 NYE... SOME of the balls are a little "raspberry." If you look to the left, under the green leaf, another ball is a little "raspberry." 

Well these were actually perfectly matched purple balls - matched to the purple sequined ball. But with lights on the OUTSIDE they came out pinker than our burgundy sprayed spheres with white lights on the inside.

Go figure. 

And that wasn't the least of my creative dilemma. For this year the request was a bunch of grapes twice the size.  More to come.

New Years Eve in Old Town TemeculaHedstrom 54-33751BX-1P 26 in. Giant Knobby Ball - Purple (Google Affiliate Ad)

The Big Guy is Coming To Town with Snow, Ice Skating and Holiday Fun

Snow, Ice Skating, Santa and a Great Grape Drop New Year's Eve Party It’s WinterFest in Old Town Temecula

More than 30,000 twinkling lights from archway to archwaywill welcome  the “big guy” when Santa arrives by horse-drawn carriage Friday, November 25th at 6 p.m. He's accompanied by Dickens Carolers, balloon artist Greyzie the Elf, and the MSJC Menifee Jazz Ensemble. There is also a holiday puppet show from 6 to 9 p.m.

Kids can visit with Santa every Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.  through December 18. The Tahquitz District Boy Scouts will take souvenir photos for a donation and help Santa in his workshop.  Be sure to get  Santa's Magic glasses and Antlers while supplies last. You will find them only in Old Town Temecula. Weekends include Dickens carolers and other family-oriented entertainment with puppet shows, music and Dynamite Dave. Santa's Electric Light Parade brightens the evening Friday, December 2nd at 7 p.m. 

 

You don't even need to leave town to enjoy ice skating. Old Town Temecula's seasonal ice rink returns Friday, December 16 with hourly sessions through January 2, 2012.  Grand opening ceremonies are December 16 at 3 p.m. followed by regular ice skating sessions. The 3,500 square foot ice rink will be located at Main and Mercedes. Check the website www.temeculacalifornia.com for times, prices and more information.

Santa's Electric Light Parade in Old Town Temecula

Santa's Electric Light Parade makes its first trip through Old Town Temecula tonight at 7 p.m. The popular holiday parade features dozens of homemade floats from families, organizations, and businesses, as well as bands and Santa Claus.

It starts at 7 p.m. but street closures start early to make way for the parade. Your best bet is to get into town by 4 p.m. and Park in the Old Town Parking Structure or park along Pujol  Street, or anywhere outside of the Front Street parade route and walk in. Plan on staying until the parade is over.

There are plenty of restaurants and shops to keep you warm. Adults will enjoy the numerous wine bars, olive oil tasting rooms and Old Town's Temecula Cheese Company. The Temecula Sweet Shop and candy store features candies from baby boomer's  childhood, jelly bellies, fudge and handmade chocolates. Temecula Root Beer is just that plus a few shirts, hats and sweatshirts.

A quick rundown of street closures: the south end of town closes the earliest. Old Town Front Street at 1st closes at 4 p.m., cross traffic at first is open until 6 p.m.; north end of Old Town Front Street closes at 6 p.m.; cross streets of Main Street closes at 6 p.m.; The Sixth Street parking lot and Stampede Parking Lots are closed for staging of the parade. For a map of closures see http://www.temeculacalifornia.com/Winterfest/winterfest.html