San Diego Metropolitan - Balboa Park

After the Balboa Park staff removes the final traces of gravestones, spider webs, glow-in-the dark ghouls and fake rodents (or perhaps, real ones) from last month’s first-ever Trail of Terror, believe it or not, it’ll be time to haul out the holly. This month they once again deck the palms for an expected 100,000 guests to this year’s Christmas on the Prado, held Dec. 1 and 2. The park’s 23rd annual family event features museum exhibitions, cultural activities, entertainment and international edibles.
As San Diego’s largest free community festival, it takes underwriting by the San Diego Foundation, a partnership with the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department, and more than 6,100 volunteers to make Christmas on the Prado a success. The museums drop their admission fees so visitors can check out current exhibits, shop for unique gifts and munch on themed delicacies.

To name just a few examples of this year’s food, the Spanish Village Art Center presents giant hot dogs, coleslaw and baked beans; the Model Railroad Museum offers dining-car burgers; the Aerospace Museum grills up a Southwestern barbecue; the Junior Theatre and the Natural History and Mingei International museums have Christmas cookies and other treats; and the Reuben H. Fleet will serve bratwurst in the outdoor beer garden.
The weekend also includes excerpts from “The Nutcracker” performed by the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet at the Casa del Prado Theater, and twice each evening children will sing traditional songs in the Museum of Man’s Santa Lucia procession. For holiday-hyped little ones, the San Diego Zoo sponsors this year’s Kids Zone with live animal presentations, entertainment and hands-on arts and crafts. Children also can visit Santa Claus at the Automotive Museum, Spanish Village, Spreckels Organ Pavilion or the San Diego Art Institute, which, by the way, will offer hot cider and chestnuts roasted on an open fire. It’ll practically be a scene from a Johnny Mathis song.
The adorable, the wistful and the cute are frequent themes of Norman Rockwell’s work.

Christmas on the Prado’s traditional pitfall has been the parking — to be precise, the lack of it. But this year the B-Park people have a new strategy. In addition to the usual free parking along Park Boulevard, the Inspiration Point lot and the zoo parking and overflow lots, free parking also can be had at the lighted San Diego City College lots. Free, continuous shuttle service to and from the festival is available from City College, but sorry, folks, no shuttles from the zoo lot this year. Riding the bus or San Diego Trolley also is recommended. For further info on parking or the event, visit balboapark.org.
Starting in the middle of this month, you can pick up a Christmas on the Prado brochure at Balboa Park museums or the Visitors Center. Call (619) 239-0512 for more.

Just opened at the San Diego Museum of Art is “Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People.” The touring exhibit features more than 70 original oil paintings and 322 Saturday Evening Post covers by the icon-making American artist. As the fourth stop on a two-year, seven-city tour, the Museum of Art is the collection’s only West Coast venue. It will continue on to the Phoenix Art Museum, Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass. and New York City’s Guggenheim Museum after its Dec. 31 closing here. The Rockwell exhibition is underwritten by the Fidelity Foundation and sponsored by the Ford Motor Co. and The Henry Luce Foundation. The Museum of Art has extended hours for the exhibit, running Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and until 9 p.m. on Thursdays (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day). Purchasing tickets in advance through Ticketmaster at (619) 220-TIXS or ticketmaster.com is recommended. Call the Museum at (619) 232-7931 or log on to sdmart.com for information.
Norman Rockwell’s gentle humor is evident in this well-known self-portrait.

The Mingei International Museum has named Ann Sinclair Bethel to its new position of director of education and library services. Bethel, who served as the executive director of the San Diego Historical Society from 1995 to 1999, is responsible for developing the Mingei’s education program, training and project planning for the docent organization, and management of the art reference library. Meanwhile, Jennifer Ann Luksic, who also worked with the San Diego Historical Society, has assumed the new senior curator position at the Museum of Man. Luksic manages a staff of four curators, two librarians and a registrar in her new job.

And one final yuletide note: more than 300 poinsettia plants will decorate the historic 1915 Botanical Building during the holidays. Now in its 15th year, the seasonal display consistently has been funded by the Poinsettia and Gladys Hakel funds of the San Diego Foundation, and City Beautiful of San Diego Inc., a nonprofit philanthropic organization. The poinsettia display on Dec. 1 at 2 p.m. will be dedicated during a free public ceremony, and remain open Friday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Jan. 3 (excluding holidays). v