Before the Old Oak on Diablo Road had a single string of lights, Carmine DeVivi went at it with Scouts. The Old Town merchant recruited Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts from Alamo to clear the debris that had been piled over the tree's crown when Diablo Road was repaved. They found what he later described as "huge chunks of black top asphalt, stones, pieces of wood" smothering the roots.
His next idea was the one Danville still turns out for. At an Old Town Guild meeting, DeVivi proposed that merchants light the tree with as many lights as they could afford. He gave a second reason too: the lights would "call attention to the tree and its preservation." That account comes from his own letter, quoted in a 2006 history the Danville Weekly published using Museum of the San Ramon Valley archives.
On Friday, November 27, 2026, the town gathers for the 50th Lighting of the Old Oak Tree. The tradition began as a way to keep the oak alive, and each change to the tree since then, from the steel frame to the young oak planted beside it, follows from that first campaign.
The Year the Oak Became a Median
The tree lighting and the tree's trouble both date to 1976. Until then, Diablo Road ran along the north side of the oak. That year the southern lanes were paved, and the oak ended up in the middle of a four-lane road with pavement over its roots on both sides, according to SFGate's 2000 report on the tree's decline. Photographs from that period already showed the damage.
The first lighting followed that same year. Old Town Guild representatives put the lights up, volunteer Ken Preston handled the wiring, and DeVivi led the ceremony as Father Christmas on the Friday after Thanksgiving. About 300 people came.
DeVivi chose the figure on purpose:
"My reason for having Father Christmas was because traditionally he was non-sectarian as a symbol and an image portrayed for everyone."
He played the role for 15 years. His original costume, red velvet trimmed in mink with a wreath, keys and bells, has been shown every year at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.
In those early years the evening started at the Danville Hotel, with opening ceremonies on Hartz Avenue. People lit candles, sang carols and walked to the tree. When crowds grew into the thousands, the format flipped. The ceremony moved to the oak, streets closed, and families strolled back through Old Town afterward for music and refreshments. That is the order the evening still follows.
A Rescue Plan Measured in Decades
The lights worked as a symbol. When Danville incorporated in 1982, the oak's shape became the town logo, as Danville San Ramon reported in 2008. The roots were another matter. Here is how the tree's care has unfolded since the first lighting:
- 1987. A Town study found the oak, then estimated at about 300 years old, was near the end of its life.
- 1988. A replacement tree called the "Son of Oak" was planted just west of the landmark, in the same narrow median.
- Fall 2000. Arborists dug around the trunk and drilled 42 holes into the roots. They found decay in about 75 percent of the areas tested, and the consulting arborist's report recommended removal.
- October 2000. The Town Council chose to keep the tree. "I'm looking for any way possible to keep the tree up," Councilman Mike Shimansky told SFGate.
- Early 2001. A 16-foot steel frame on six columns went up around the trunk and branches for $70,000. Residents formed the Support the Oak foundation and raised money toward it. The council had also weighed a $150,000 framework spanning all four lanes of Diablo Road to catch the tree if it fell.
- October 27, 2019. A major branch collapsed during a high-wind event, and the Town closed Diablo Road between West El Pintado and I-680 while an arborist assessed the tree and a tree service removed limbs at risk.
- November 2019. On the arborist's direction, the remaining branches and foliage were pruned so the tree could heal. By November 19, a Town spokesperson said the oak was stable and its lights worked, according to the East Bay Times.
What DeVivi started with Scouts and a few strings of lights turned into a decades-long preservation effort backed by the Town and by residents. The second oak in the median is there because of it.
The Frame Did a Second Job
The steel frame changed how the tree gets used day to day. Long before 2001, people tied poster boards to the trunk for birthdays, graduations and other milestones. Once the frame was up, the Town set simple rules, as Danville San Ramon reported in 2008. Signs go on the steel frame, not on the tree. They stay up no more than 48 hours, should be dated, and can't solicit or advertise. Whoever posts a sign is expected to take it down.
That rule keeps tape and twine off the bark. The structure built to hold the tree up also gives the town's congratulations somewhere to hang.
Beverly Lane, then curator of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley and a member of the original Town Council, described the pull of the spot in the same article: "If you're going to come from downtown, you're going to go by that tree."
Fifty Years, One Missed Crowd
The event has kept its date. In 2020 it went virtual during limits on large gatherings. It came back in person in 2021, as Danville San Ramon reported. The Danville Area Chamber of Commerce's 2026 history sheet puts the oak's age at an estimated 350 years. It says the tree "has started to show its age," credits the community-backed metal structure with keeping it upright, and calls it the most notable landmark in Danville.
This year's program, from the Chamber's event page:
- When: Friday, November 27, 2026, 5 to 8 p.m.
- Hosts: The Danville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Danville
- Music: The Danville Girls Chorus, the Monte Vista High School Chamber Singers and the San Ramon High School Chamber Singers
- Then: Father Christmas and the Snow Angel greet the crowd, and a procession follows Diablo Road down into downtown for entertainment and holiday treats
The Chamber's page also asked downtown businesses to sign up for an event activity map listing special hours, promotions and offerings, so the shop-local side of the night is still part of it.
Getting There on the Friday After Thanksgiving
For a sense of how the streets work that night, the Town's 2025 notice is the most recent model. Last year the program started at 5 p.m. near the oak, on Diablo Road between West El Pintado and the 680 freeway. Portions of Hartz Avenue, Diablo Road, Prospect Avenue, El Pintado, Front Street and Linda Mesa Avenue closed from 4 p.m. to about 9 p.m., and part of Diablo Road closed from 1 p.m. Parking was free on surrounding public streets and in the downtown municipal parking lots. The 2025 lighting countdown came by 6:30 p.m., and the evening ended at 8. Check the Town's news flash page for this year's specifics before you head out.
Two other downtown dates fit around the lighting. The Town calendar lists an Art and About Holiday Stroll this Sunday, November 15, from noon to 4 p.m. in Historic Downtown Danville at Hartz and Prospect Avenues. At the Village Theatre Art Gallery, 233 Front Street, the Town's Art in the Dark exhibition of black light, LED and light-and-shadow work is on view through December 18. That makes it a short walk from the procession route on the night of the lighting.
When you stand on Diablo Road on the 27th, look for the six steel columns around the old trunk and the younger oak planted just west of it in 1988.
Brad Gothberg has watched the Old Oak light up over more than 35 years of living and working in the San Ramon Valley. If the holidays have you thinking about your own Danville home and what it's worth this season, request a Confidential Market Valuation and we'll go over it with you quietly and on your schedule.
