Briefly In The News

Santa rides into town today

The Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce’s annual Hospitality Night will take place from 5 to 9 tonight in downtown Laguna Beach. Santa will arrive at 6 p.m., after a concert and sing-a-long at the Laguna Presbyterian Church, and a performance by the Laguna Beach Community Band at Peppertree Lane. At 5:30 p.m., the Thurston Middle School band will perform in front of City Hall, heralding the arrival of Santa, who will light the city hall pepper tree with the mayor, and then be paraded down Forest Avenue to meet Mrs. Claus at Santa’s House.

Forest Avenue will be blocked off and shops will be open until 9 p.m. Many downtown businesses will have open houses to celebrate the festivites.

The Laguna Presbyterian Church will offer homemade soup and tamales made by the women of La Playa, who have published a cookbook with tamale recipes that will also be for sale. Other offerings at the church include sodas and drinks, hot dogs, a live nativity, free cookies and hot cider in the rose garden. Tours of the newly restored sanctuary will also be offered.

Capping off the evening will be a screening of “It’s A Wonderful Life” at South Coast Cinemas at 9:15 p.m. For a complimentary ticket, call the chamber at (949) 494-1018.

Louganis’ dive club to join ZeroTrash

Greg Louganis, five-time Olympic diving champion, former Laguna Beach resident and head dive coach of Orange County based So Cal Divers, is bringing the team’s community outreach program “SoCal Gives Back” to ZeroTrash Laguna.

SoCal Divers will team up for the ZeroTrash 1st Saturday “Pick It Up” event in Laguna Beach, according to Zero Trash founder Chip McDermott. Other clubs are invited to participate. All divers that participate will receive “hero bucks.” For more information, visit https://www.socaldivers.com.

Mini gardens topic at club

Miniature magical-oasis “Fairy Gardens” will be the topic of discussion at the Friday, Dec. 10 meeting of the Laguna Beach Garden Club. Kim Domer and Dani Mendenhall will present “Creating A Tiny Bit of Enchantment in Your Garden,” based on their new venture, “Dragonfly Hollow.” Inspired by their daughter’s love of pixies and fairies, combined with an aptitude for gardening, the pair have created a magical miniature boutique at the Dragonfly Shops & Gardens in Old Towne Orange.

The club meets at 9 a.m. at the Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann’s Drive, Laguna Beach. The social gathering starts at 9:30 a.m. with a Plant & Garden “Boutique, with a business meeting at 10 a.m. and the speaker at 10:30 a.m. The meeting is free one-time for guests. For more information on the garden club, see the club’s website at https://www.lagunabeachgardenclub.org.