Orinda Lights Its Trees and Fills Its Theatre on the Same Thursday. How Does the Evening Fit Together?

"Since the City's annual budget can't accommodate a holiday lighting plan, financial contributions from residents and local businesses are vital," Carol Brovelli told The Orinda News in September 2024. Back then, she and Kim Wirtz Straub were raising money to wrap 32 downtown trees in white LED lights.

Two winters later, that budget gap explains the shape of downtown Orinda's holiday season. On Thursday, Nov. 19, the Light Up Orinda tree lighting starts at 5 p.m. at the Orinda Library Plaza. Ninety minutes later, the Orinda Theatre opens its doors for its free monthly movie night: 700 seats, first come, first seated, no tickets. The city runs neither one. A community foundation project and a privately run 1941 movie house will carry most of the evening, and this year they happen to fall on the same night.

A Lights Program That Started With a Budget Gap

The idea came from a neighborhood. According to a January 2025 Orinda News profile, Brovelli loved the holiday lights along Lombardy Lane in Sleepy Hollow and the downtown display in Lafayette. She raised the idea at a Sleepy Hollow Neighborhood Association meeting, and Straub signed on.

Then came the work: picking which trees to light, finding electricity, talking with nearby property owners, and raising the money. The two brought cost estimates and vendor contacts to the Orinda Community Foundation board. The foundation agreed to sponsor the project as its nonprofit umbrella. OCF board president Jim Keefe told the paper that many California communities have a municipal budget for seasonal tree lighting and Orinda does not, so taking on the program was an easy decision.

The first-year plan lit what the organizers called the "gateway" streets, split across both sides of Highway 24:

• South side, 17 trees: along Brookwood Road and in the traffic circle
• North side, 15 trees: six along Camino Sobrante from the FedEx store toward Orinda Motors, three in the traffic triangle, and six olive trees in the Library Plaza

So the six olive trees in the Library Plaza, where this year's ceremony takes place, were on the map from the beginning.

From 32 Planned to 111 Lit

The project beat its own goal in year one. Lamorinda Weekly reported that 40 trees were lit in 2024, against a goal of 32. Fundraising brought in almost $45,000, enough to cover that year's bills plus relighting and maintenance for the 2025 season. With extra support from the Orinda Community Foundation, Light Up Orinda then added 71 trees, for 111 lit trees across North and South Orinda.

The same article describes what downtown looked like before. People regularly grumbled about the lack of holiday lights and decorations, apart from the wreaths the Orinda Garden Club hangs around the city. In two seasons, the number of wrapped trees nearly tripled, all of it paid for by donors and the foundation.

The lights stay up from November through January. Donations still go through the Orinda Community Foundation, and the Light Up Orinda site points donors there.

The Ceremony Has Already Crossed the Freeway Once

The two lighting ceremonies so far took place on different sides of Highway 24. The location matters for how Nov. 19 plays out.

In 2024, the ceremony was on the south side. On Friday, Nov. 15, a crowd gathered at the corner of Brookwood and Orinda Way, in front of the Orinda Theatre. The Miramonte High School Choir sang, local businesses brought holiday food, and Morrison's Jewelers donated diamond earrings for a raffle, according to The Orinda News.

In 2025, it moved north. On Thursday, Nov. 6, people gathered at the Library Plaza for performances by young Lamorinda Idol contestants. A food truck event was running at the same time, and the evening ended with the switch that lit trees throughout Orinda Village and the Theatre District.

This year the ceremony stays at the Library Plaza, at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19. The organizers promise "local hot chocolate, local wine, local entertainment." The free movie, meanwhile, is across the freeway on the theatre side. In 2024, the lighting and the theatre shared one corner. In 2026, the evening starts on the north side and ends on the south side.

The Second Half Runs on the Theatre's Calendar

The Orinda Theatre opened on Dec. 27, 1941, with Texas, starring William Holden. Donald Rheem built it, and architect Alexander Aimwell Cantin designed it. The theatre was slated for demolition in 1984. Preservationists saved it, and it reopened in 1989 with two additional screens while the original lobby and main theater stayed intact. The murals in the middle-sized theater came from San Jose's Garden Theatre when that building was torn down. The Orinda Theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Derek Zemrak runs the theatre business. Dunhill Partners owns the larger Theatre Square retail center, according to a July 2025 Orinda News report. The theatre's recurring programs are its own, set on its own schedule. Free Movie Night falls on the third Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. In November, the third Thursday is also lighting night.

The theatre's schedule lists Planes, Trains and Automobiles for Nov. 19. That is the Thanksgiving road-trip comedy, playing one week before Thanksgiving on Nov. 26.

How the Thursday Lines Up

1. 5:00 p.m., Orinda Library Plaza: the Light Up Orinda ceremony, with local hot chocolate, wine and entertainment, and the switch for this winter's lights.
2. Between events: the walk from the north side of Highway 24 to the south side. The Camino Sobrante trees, the traffic triangle and the Brookwood Road trees are all on the original gateway map, so the route passes some of the newly lit trees.
3. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Orinda Theatre, 4 Orinda Theatre Square: Planes, Trains and Automobiles, free, no tickets, 700 seats on a first-come basis.

Seating at the theatre is first come, first seated, so the order in which you arrive is the order you get in.

The Rest of November on the Same Few Blocks

Nov. 19 is the busiest night, but the same venues are busy all month. The theatre's calendar has events the night before and the week after, and the Saturday farmers' market keeps running on the north side.

A few of these need some planning. Beth Leavel, a Tony winner for The Drowsy Chaperone, is playing her first Bay Area concert in seven years. In late October, the Live at the Orinda page showed only three tickets left. The 5 p.m. Bryan Eng show on Dec. 6 is sold out, and the theatre has added a 7:30 p.m. performance. The Garthe premiere on Nov. 18 is free, the night before the lighting.

Bombal's matinee comes with extras. According to The Orinda News, the feature is paired with vintage newsreels, cartoons, previews and a stage presentation. It runs on the last Tuesday of each month, and this month that is Nov. 24, two days before Thanksgiving.

Light Up Orinda grew from 32 planned trees to 111 lit trees in two winters on donations and Orinda Community Foundation support, with no city lighting budget behind it. The tree list and the theatre's calendar now cover most of what downtown does in November.

At Woehrle Real Estate and Development, we're a Lamorinda family firm, and we care about the details that make Orinda feel like home on a November evening. If this season has you thinking about what your own Orinda home is worth, or what a renovation could add to it, we'd be glad to walk through it with you. Start with What's My Home Worth?