The 8th annual Holiday Lighting of the Venice Sign held back the rain and delivered a warm, wonderful night of festivities on Windward Avenue.

Master of Ceremonies Mike Newhouse opened the event and the crowd was treated to a charming performance by Walgrove Elementary’s “Strings By The Sea” violin group, followed by Winston House artist Emmanuel Frank.  Then the winners of the Venice Art Crawl‘s “My Venice Holiday” poster contest were the announced by Venice Art Crawl President Sunny Bak and Assemblywoman Autumn Burke.  The competition was open to all Venice public elementary schools and one winner was chosen from each grade.  They were awarded certificates of merit by the California Senator Ben Allen, Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, Congressman Ted Lieu,  LAUSD Representative Nick Melvoin, Councilman Mike Bonin, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, and the Venice Chamber of Commerce which also put together backpacks of gift for each.

The main musical performers then took the stage led by Sign Lighting Musical Director Rob Christie, a 2x Grammy-winning producer.  The “All Stars” featured A-list talent like Ricky Z  on guitar, Warren Ham on sax and Jordan West on drums.  They were joined by singer and Hallmark star Jen Lilley, Rachel Talbott (the current artist of the week on Radio Disney Country) and Danielle Bisutti.  They rocked the heart of Venice with mix of Christmas standards.

MC Newhouse then brought out a couple of local heroes that the Chamber took the opportunity to honor for their long-time and unsung service to Venice.  Head librarian at the Venice Library Rachel Bindman who is leaving after a dozen years here and Westminster Elementary School Custodian Al Duncan who has been serving Venice school kids for 25 years.  They were treated to thunderous applause after addressing the crowd.

The warm December evening turned out to be an ad hoc celebration of Venice families as a clutch of groups like the Alliance of Venice Local Schools, the Venice Oceanarium, The Venice Flying Carousel, the California Dance Institute, The Venice Art Crawl,  the Venice Neighborhood Council and the Venice Heritage Museum all displayed efforts to promote family-friendly initiatives.  They joined government agencies and local sponsors handing out free treats – highlights were The Venice Whaler and Chef Nicky’s famous “chowdah,”  pizza from Big Daddy’s Pizza, Mennotti’ coffee and cocoa, hot cider from The Erwin and cookies from Larry’s!

Event Producer and Venice Chamber President George Francisco praised the local businesses who contributed to make the event happen: “This celebration is completely dependent on the generosity of over 50 Community Level Sponsors, all local businesses who put up their hard-earned money to make sure that Venetians can enjoy a couple of hours of joy and holiday cheer.  Anyone can look at all the logos on the banner and know who they should support.  I don’t know where we would be without them and I am especially grateful to the Premier Level Sponsors who all really stepped up – Chulita on Rose, Lexus Santa Monica/Toyota Santa Monica, Winston House, Brandview Capital, Bird, ArsonHouse, Rolling Stone and especially the folks at Bev and The Waterfront.  Hopefully folks made some great memories and hopefully we can keep on making more great memories every year.”