Campbell Community Center Celebrates 25 Years, Lights Up Tree

Friday will be a day of multiple celebrations, culminating in the annual community tree lighting ceremony at the Campbell Community Center.

The Campbell Community Center is commemorating its 25th anniversary with a community event, taking place Nov. 30 from 6-7:00 p.m. in the Orchard City Banquet Hall and patio. 

"One of the strengths of Campbell is the sense of community and the community center is the crown jewel," says Cynthia Bojorquez, Campbell Recreation Department Director. "It's a place that you can come and meet one another and build that sense of community that makes Campbell unique."

Residents are invited to come by and sing Happy Birthday, have cake and refreshments and then, singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer watch as the tree at the Campbell Community Center is lit.

Bojorquez urges everyone who attends the lighting, tentatively scheduled to take place between 7:00 and 7:10 p.m. to bring an umbrella!

The tree lighting is once again being made possible by a donation from Commercial Tree Care

"We really appreciate them continuing to give us holiday lighting," says Al Bito, Campbell assistant to the City Manager. "Without them, we wouldn’t be able to have them because of our budget cuts."

Twenty seven years ago in August, the city of Campbell purchased the building on the corner of Winchester Boulevard and Campbell Avenue for a cool $9 million, according to Jeannette Watson's book: "Campbell--The Orchard City." The property, then owned by the Campbell Union High School District, was home to the only high school within the city's boundaries--Campbell High School. It operated from 1900 to 1980.

"The site didn’t become a functional service center until two years later," Bito says.

After improvements and renovations were completed, "the lights went on" in 1989, he says.

"This is really a celebration of the city council’s foresight at the time that valued this community," Bojorquez says. "We couldn’t buy this kind of land now. Their purchase is really monumental."

Another celebration taking place on the same day, from about 6-6:30 p.m. is the unveiling of Campbell's Rescue 25, Northern California's first paramedics truck.

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