San Jose's Christmas In The Park Endangered By Funding Cuts
SAN JOSE (KCBS) - With 450,000 visitors every year at San Jose's Christmas in the Park, the seasonal spectacle of trees and lights is one of the most popular events downtown.
"I love it, especially when it's bright and shining," said Taylor Motekaitis, who thinks it would be a tragedy to see the tradition come to an end. "I think it would be so sad, because it brings the community together, and everybody from San Jose always comes to see it."
KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:
But the city is facing another multi-million dollar deficit next year, and there's talk of canceling the free festival if an alternate source of revenue isn't found.
"Well the good news is that we won't be selling Santa's sleigh and hawking the reindeer to pay for this, but the bad news is that we're going to need a lot of help," said San Jose City Councilman Sam Liccardo who represents the downtown area.
He is proposing selling naming rights to some Silicon Valley companies, and says that it's likely old-fashioned philanthropy will help save the festival.
Big donations and small are accepted: this year visitors are being asked to contribute a dollar each to keep the tradition alive.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
