Point Arena has two holiday calendars. The Point Arena Lighthouse runs one from the headland, and the Point Arena Merchants Association runs the other on Main Street. They meet on Saturday, December 12, when both hold a Hometown Holidays event. The Lighthouse gates close at 3:30 p.m. Main Street keeps going until 7 p.m. and ends the day with a tree lighting, which last year came at dusk. If you live on this stretch of coast, both calendars favor you, starting this Saturday.
The Local Rate Starts Saturday
From Saturday, November 21 through Sunday, November 29, the Light Station Store is holding its "8 Days of Christmas." Locals from Timber Cove to Elk who show ID at the entry kiosk get free admission to the Light Station and a discount card for the store. The Lighthouse's event page sums up the card as "The more you spend, the more you save!"
The nine days from November 21 to November 29 include Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26. The Lighthouse closes on Thanksgiving, so this year's Thursday local day falls inside the promotion but the gates stay shut.
The rest of the season, Thursday is the local day. Under the Lighthouse's year-round Locals Thursdays program, residents from Timber Cove to Elk get free admission to the indoor and outdoor museums and 10% off Light Station Store purchases, with sale items excluded. Fall-through-spring hours are 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
| What it costs at the Light Station | Visitors | Locals, Timber Cove to Elk |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor and outdoor museums and the store | $5, age 12 and over | Free on Thursdays and Nov. 21–29 with ID |
| Tower tour | $5 extra, age 4 and over | $5 extra; members free |
| Store purchases | Regular price | 10% off on Thursdays; discount card Nov. 21–29 |
| Members and children under 12 | Free admission | Free admission |
The free days cover the grounds and museums. The tower climb costs $5 for everyone except members. A local can walk the headland and shop for gifts for nothing, but seeing the lantern room on an ordinary day still takes the $5 add-on.
One more reason to go before mid-December: the Whale Watch Room has Tempra Board's exhibit "Iconic Landscapes of Mendonoma" through December 13, during regular hours.
Two Moon Tours, Both Decided Three Days Out
The other way into the lantern room this season is at night. The Lighthouse has two almost-full moon tours on its calendar. The Beaver Moon tour is Saturday, November 21, and the Cold Moon tour is Saturday, December 19. On both nights the gates open at 4:30 p.m. and the tour starts around 5 p.m.
According to the Beaver Moon tour page, docents lead the group up the tower at night, the way a keeper would have climbed it. At the top is the lantern room of the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast, where, weather permitting, the moon lights up the view of the sea and coast. Champagne, sparkling juice, and sweet and savory snacks are included, and you keep an etched Point Arena Lighthouse champagne flute. Tickets are $50, and all proceeds go to Point Arena Lighthouse Keepers, Inc. for upkeep of the tower, museum and grounds.
Whether a tour runs depends on a headcount three days ahead:
- Reservations are taken by phone at 877-725-4448 ext. 1 or 707-882-2809 ext. 1, or in person, until 3:30 p.m. three days before the tour.
- The tour needs at least eight reservations and holds no more than 20 guests.
- If eight people have booked by the cutoff, the Lighthouse keeps taking reservations up to 20 until the day of the tour. If fewer than eight have booked, the tour is canceled and everyone gets a full refund.
- Canceling your own reservation three days or less before the tour gets no refund. The Lighthouse asks guests to call the reservation desk three days out to confirm the tour is still on.
For the November 21 tour, the cutoff was 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 18, so it has already passed on the day this post comes out. If eight people booked by then, there may still be seats, and one phone call settles it. Walk-ins are taken only if the group is under 20.
The Cold Moon tour on December 19 has the same price and the same rules. That makes 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16 the date to put on the calendar. Eight people who book together, whether neighbors, a book club or visiting family, are enough to make sure the tour runs.
December 12 Runs on Two Clocks
On the second Saturday in December, both calendars run at the same time. The Lighthouse holds its own Hometown Holidays at the Lighthouse, with free admission, progressive discount cards, sale items, free hot cider and cookies, and free gifts for children. The Lighthouse calendar lists it from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
On Main Street, the City of Point Arena's listing has Hometown Holidays running from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m., sponsored by the Point Arena Merchants Association. Shops, galleries and an Arts & Crafts Pop-Up Market will offer holiday gifts, special discounts and festive food, and the day includes caroling and a tree lighting ceremony.
The 3:30 p.m. close at the Lighthouse and the evening tree lighting in town set the order of the day:
| Time on Saturday, Dec. 12 | On the headland | On Main Street |
|---|---|---|
| 10 a.m. | Lighthouse Hometown Holidays opens, free admission | Main Street Hometown Holidays begins |
| Midday | Cider, cookies, store discount cards; last weekend for the Tempra Board exhibit | Shops, galleries, pop-up market, caroling |
| 3:30 p.m. | Lighthouse closes | Still running |
| Dusk | Tree lighting, if the 2025 schedule holds | |
| 7 p.m. | Main Street day ends |
The Lighthouse closes well before Main Street's day ends. Start on the headland in the morning, and you can walk the grounds, use the discount card and catch the gallery show before it closes, then drive into town for the afternoon. You arrive downtown just as the tree lighting approaches.
What Main Street Looked Like Last Year
The Merchants Association's Hometown Holidays page has the 2026 date and the general outline, and says to check back for details. The 2025 program gives a good idea of the day. Last year's event was Saturday, December 6, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In 2025, Coast Highway Art Collective hosted the holiday arts and crafts market at 235 Main St., with outdoor booths if the weather allowed. Santa and Ms. Claus were at Coast Community Library from 2 to 4 p.m., and the library held a book sale and activities from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Arena Theater showed "The Grinch" from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The city tree was lit at dusk at Centennial Plaza, 230 Main Street, and carolers were out all day.
The 2025 business list covered most of downtown, including Izakaya Gama, Cove Coffee, Franny's Cup & Saucer, Pelican Bakery, Arena Market & Cafe, The Record, Roots Herbal Apothecary, My Sister's Marketplace, Pier Place and the Lighthouse. Several had their own offers. Izakaya Gama added a $25 gift card for every $100 in gift cards purchased, and Roots Herbal Apothecary took 10% off storewide. In its 2025 preview, The Mendocino Voice described shops, cafés and restaurants with sales, live music and seasonal treats, ending with an evening tree lighting with caroling and Santa.
In 2025, the market and the library filled the middle of the day, and the tree lighting at Centennial Plaza closed it out.
Arena Theater Fills the Weekends Between
Arena Theater's schedule fills the weeks between the two Saturdays. On Thursday, November 19, it's showing John Wilson's "The History of Concrete" at 7 p.m. "You Can See Everything" plays November 20 at 7 p.m., November 22 at 4 p.m. and November 25 at 7 p.m. National Theatre Live's "The Playboy of the Western World" screens Saturday, November 21, at 1 p.m., which gives you time to see it before heading to the headland for the Beaver Moon gates at 4:30.
Saturday, December 5, has two events. The Met's "Samson et Dalila" screens at 9 a.m. At 7 p.m. the theater holds its Light It Up fundraiser with Buckridge Racket Club, Funkasaurus and Metal Health, plus a 50/50 raffle and an auction. The theater's live events page lists an open mic on December 19 at 7 p.m., with tickets at the door. That's the same night as the Cold Moon tour, which starts around 5 p.m. Regular cinema prices are $14 general, $12 for members, $13 for seniors and $8 for youth 17 and under.
Two Saturdays have both a headland event and an evening in town. On November 21, the Beaver Moon tour lines up with the start of the store promotion. On December 19, the Cold Moon tour comes a couple of hours before the open mic. December 12 is the third and has the most going on, with the Lighthouse open until 3:30 and Main Street until 7.
At Kennedy & Associates, our Gualala office is a short drive from the Point Arena headland, and we put the local calendar together each season so neighbors and second-home owners can plan their weekends. To have upcoming dates like the Cold Moon cutoff sent to you along with our listings, sign up to Receive Exclusive Listings.
