Santa Rosa's most famous holiday moment takes place on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The Courthouse Square tree lights up, there are photos with Santa, and the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber's Winter Lights celebration starts the season downtown, as it has for more than 40 years.
Most of the holiday calendar, though, is a couple of miles north on West Steele Lane. Snoopy's Home Ice and the Charles M. Schulz Museum beside it have scheduled something on 17 separate dates between Saturday, Nov. 21, and Monday, Dec. 28. Several are free, and a few cost less than lunch downtown. Downtown has the biggest single night of the season. The Peanuts corner has the most dates.
Downtown's big night and two smaller ones
The Winter Lights Tree Lighting Celebration is Friday, Nov. 27, on Courthouse Square. It's free and includes live entertainment, holiday drinks and treats, family activities and photos with Santa. The Sonoma.com event listing gives the hours as 4 to 7 p.m.
Two days later, Railroad Square holds its Artisan Holiday Market on Sunday, Nov. 29, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Mayacamas Home, 105 Fourth St., at the corner of Wilson and Fourth. Craig Corona plays live music. On Thursday, Dec. 10, the Downtown Santa Rosa calendar lists Holiday Family Feud at Barrel Proof Lounge from 7 to 9 p.m., marked as free.
The Courthouse Square tree lighting is the season's main public gathering. For the five weeks after it, the busiest calendar is on West Steele Lane.
A rink built for an audience
Programming a rink like a holiday stage goes back to the building's opening. The Redwood Empire Ice Arena, now called Snoopy's Home Ice, opened April 28, 1969, after almost a year of construction. Its opening gala starred 1968 Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming and the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Charles M. Schulz built it, and today the complex also has the Warm Puppy Café and Snoopy's Gallery & Gift Shop.
The rink still puts on shows. Sonoma Clean Power presents "Merry & Bright," a series of free outdoor variety shows with professional figure skaters and dancers, produced by Redwood Ice Theatre Company. No tickets are needed, and the rink suggests arriving early to get a hot cocoa and a good place to watch. The rink's show page says they're held in its courtyard at 1667 West Steele Lane. The 2026 showtimes:
- Friday, Dec. 4: 5 and 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: 2, 3, 5 and 6 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 6: 1, 2 and 3 p.m.
The next weekend brings the ticketed show. Redwood Ice Theatre Company's "A Very Merry Ice Show" runs Friday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 12, at 6 and 8 p.m. It features Olympian Polina Edmunds and two-time World Team members Kim Navarro and Brent Bommentre. The season at the rink ends Monday, Dec. 28, with the Santa Rosa Figure Skating Club's "Tis the Season" Starring Snoopy. Karen Kresge directs, and there are shows at 4:30 and 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
What a night on the ice costs
The free courtyard shows are the cheapest part of the season, and regular public skating costs more on weekends. Snoopy's Home Ice charges by session type:
| Session | Admission | Skate rental |
|---|---|---|
| Weekend or holiday, 2+ hours | $14 ages 12+, $12 ages 11 and under | $4 |
| Night, 1.5 hours | $10 | $2 |
| Weekday | $8 | $2 |
For two adults and two children with rentals, a weekend or holiday session comes to $68 and a weekday session to $40. Admission is sold in person starting 30 minutes before each session. The Warm Puppy Café serves sandwiches, salads, soups, fries and a full hot-cocoa menu.
The rink's weekday schedule also has a few small events that are easy to miss:
- Snoopy Skating School group lessons, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45 to 4:15 p.m. on Dec. 1, 3, 8, 10, 15 and 17. Each $25 visit includes the lesson, skate rental, admission to the 4:15 p.m. public session and a Learn To Skate USA membership.
- Toddlers on Ice Winter Wonderland Trail, Wednesday, Dec. 16, with sessions at 9:30 and 11 a.m. for children under 6. It's $25 for a toddler and a guardian, plus $10 for each additional child and $5 for each additional adult. Reservations are required, and the rink says a special Peanuts guest will appear.
- Skating School holiday performance, Thursday, Dec. 17, from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Skaters from the Tuesday and Thursday clinics perform, and it's free and open to the public.
The museum beside the rink
The Charles M. Schulz Museum adds its own events to the calendar, starting earlier and running into the same weekends. Its Holiday Happy Hour is Saturday, Nov. 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $35, and members get 20% off.
Thanksgiving weekend falls on both sides of downtown's big night. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day, then holds its Family Fun Weekend with cartoonist Joe Wos on Friday, Nov. 27, and Saturday, Nov. 28. Activities are included with admission and free for members. That Friday is also the day of the Courthouse Square tree lighting. A family could spend the day at the museum and still be downtown by 4 p.m.
December's museum events are mostly for children:
- Kids Night, Saturday, Dec. 5, from 5:30 to 9 p.m., is $45 per child and includes pizza, games, crafts and cartooning. The Merry & Bright courtyard shows run at 5 and 6 p.m. the same evening.
- Gingerbread Doghouse Workshops are Saturday, Dec. 12, with a parent-child session from 10 a.m. to noon and a session for grades 1 through 6 from 1 to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 13, from 1 to 4 p.m. for grades 1 through 6. The cost is $40 per person or per parent-child team.
The museum also has a new exhibit. "Why Can't I Have a Normal Dog?" opened Nov. 11 and runs through July 12, 2027. "Blanket Statements: The Philosophies of Linus" continues through March 10, 2027, and "Inking History" through Jan. 10, 2027.
General admission is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors 62 and older, and $7 for students with ID and youth ages 4 to 18. Children 3 and under and members get in free. EBT cardholders pay $4 for up to four people, and military visitors get $1 off. Tickets are sold on arrival, not online. The museum is open Monday and Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's closed every Tuesday and on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In 2026, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fall on a Thursday and Friday.
Where the season goes after West Steele Lane
The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts fills most December evenings that the rink and museum leave open. Its holiday calendar lists:
- A Celtic Christmas, Thursday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m.
- Home for the Holidays, Sunday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m., with a pre-show discussion at 2 p.m.
- Pink Martini All-Stars: A Season of Stars, Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m.
- Posada Navideña, Friday, Dec. 11, at 6:30 p.m.
- A Drag Queen Christmas, Sunday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
- Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet, Thursday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m.
Two LBC dates fall on the same days as West Steele Lane events. On Sunday, Dec. 6, the last Merry & Bright show starts at 3 p.m., the same time as Home for the Holidays. On Friday, Dec. 11, Posada Navideña starts at 6:30 p.m. and "A Very Merry Ice Show" at 8 p.m.
Two places that opened this fall are good for dinner before or after a show. Bistroquette de Goguette is a wine bar and café next to Goguette Bread at 59 Montgomery Drive. Sonoma Magazine reports that it's open Wednesday through Saturday from 1:30 to 9 p.m. and recommends reservations. Olives & Agave serves Mediterranean and Levantine food at 909 Village Court in Montgomery Village. According to Sonoma Magazine's October profile, it opened in early October and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The holiday calendar ends Dec. 28 with Snoopy on the ice. That's a month after the Courthouse Square tree lighting, on the rink Schulz opened with Peggy Fleming and the Vince Guaraldi Trio in 1969.
Del Fava Parker has followed Sonoma County long enough to know which events come back every year and which places on the map are newly open. If your plans for the coming year include a move across town or a sale, we're happy to talk through what your home is worth. Request a Home Valuation, and we'll have an answer before the Dec. 28 show.
