Sherman's Holiday Nights Are Back, and the First Weekend Ends on Christmas Walk Sunday

Roughly half of Sherman Library & Gardens is being rebuilt this year, and its holiday event is getting bigger anyway. Sherman moved that event to daytime last December. This year it moved it back to evenings. It added nights, raised prices, and set a calendar whose first weekend ends on the same Sunday as the Corona del Mar Christmas Walk.

The new event is called Merry & Bright Nights. Sherman's ticket page describes it as "all new" and lists 14 December evenings: Dec. 3 to 6, Dec. 10 to 13, and Dec. 17 to 22. Entry is at 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. On Sunday, Dec. 6, the Christmas Walk runs along PCH from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. That means the Walk's last hour ends right when Sherman's first entry opens, at 2647 East Coast Highway.

Three Holiday Seasons, Three Different Gardens

The 2026 format makes more sense next to the two years before it. In 2024, Sherman's holiday event was Nights of 1000 Lights, which was in its 10th year. The garden opened from 5 to 8 p.m. on nine public nights, plus three nights for members only. In 2025 it ran A Very Sherman Holiday instead, a two-day daytime event with a vendor fair, Santa photos, hot chocolate, and live music.

Compared with 2024, both ticket prices are up $15. The schedule grew from nine public nights to 14, and the calendar now runs Thursday through Sunday for the first two weekends. The third run is longer: it starts Thursday, Dec. 17 and ends Tuesday, Dec. 22. Of the three entry times offered in 2024, the 6 p.m. slot is gone.

The 2026 program lists Santa, a Wishing Tree, holiday crafts, a model train running through a holiday scene, Mexican food, adult beverages, and a dance party. Food on site matters more than usual this year, because the garden currently has no restaurant.

The Garden Hosting It Is Half Torn Up

Sherman started a $17 million renovation this spring, paid for by a fundraising campaign. The project adds a new entrance, more community space, a new Reflection Garden, and a Central Garden Walkway, and it upgrades the environmental systems in the Tropical Conservancy. Executive Director Scott LaFleur told the Orange County Register that about half the garden is "getting a little bit of a remake," and that completion is expected in late summer 2027.

In the same article, LaFleur described how staff plan to keep the garden worth visiting while construction goes on:

"We are trying to create little moments in the garden that will increase people's linger time and give them more things to do."

A 14-night holiday program is the biggest version of that idea so far. Three details from the construction affect a December visit:

1. The entrance is on Dahlia Avenue. A new entrance with a bell tower and wrought iron fencing is being built on Pacific Coast Highway. As of late October, Sherman's notice still sends visitors to Dahlia Avenue and tells them to follow the signs.
2. Some areas are temporarily closed. The same notice says parts of the grounds are fenced off and construction noise is possible. Sherman also posts a garden map for planning a visit.
3. There's no regular dining on site. The restaurant is moving to a new space next to the Tea Garden with its own entrance from PCH. Its old space will become a community and education building. According to Sherman, full dining returns in fall 2027. Until then, Hazeltine's is hosting scheduled afternoon teas through 2026.

Hazeltine's is the new restaurant partner, run by Damian Orozco, who owns Tea House on Los Rios. According to the Register, the plan includes tea, brunch, lunch, dinner, and a full bar. Hazeltine's already catered Sherman's second annual Botanical Ball on Oct. 3. Stu News Newport reported that the sold-out evening drew more than 200 guests and raised more than $450,000 for Living Classroom, Sherman's lifelong learning program, and for the final push of the Grow the Gardens campaign.

Christmas Walk Sunday, Hour by Hour

The 47th Annual Corona del Mar Christmas Walk is free and has no set starting point. You just walk the PCH sidewalks through the village. The Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce lists more than 17 local bands, Santa visits and photos, a beer and wine garden with dancing to the Pinch Me band, vendor gifts, children's activities, street performers, and merchant and restaurant promotions. The entertainment map linked from that page is still last year's guide, so stage locations may change before Dec. 6.

Here's how the two events fit on the same Sunday:

• 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.: The Christmas Walk runs along PCH through the village.
• 5 p.m.: The Walk ends, and the first Merry & Bright Nights entry opens at Sherman, entering from Dahlia Avenue.
• 7 p.m.: Sherman's second entry slot, for anyone who wants a break between the two.

Both events have Santa. The Christmas Walk is free, and Sherman's is ticketed, so a family doing both has two chances at a photo on the same day. Dec. 6 is also the last night of Sherman's first four-night run. The next chance after that is Thursday, Dec. 10.

The Tickets Are Moving Faster Than the Calendar

Members could buy Merry & Bright Nights tickets starting Oct. 5, and public sales opened Oct. 19. Opening night, Thursday, Dec. 3, was already marked sold out in late October. Sherman's page advises buying early.

For households planning more than one visit, Sherman sells holiday bundles that include a year of membership:

• Family Package, $335: four tickets and a one-year Family Membership, which Sherman lists as a $100 savings
• Adult Dual Package, $230: two tickets and a one-year Adult Dual Membership, a $50 savings
• Senior Dual Package, $205: two tickets and a one-year Senior Dual Membership, a $50 savings

For comparison, four non-member tickets cost $260 at the $65 price. The Family Package adds $75 and includes a year of membership. Sherman's homepage says membership "typically pays for itself in about 3 visits." For someone living close by, those return visits come easily, and the next year will include watching the new entrance, the Reflection Garden, and the PCH-facing restaurant get built.

November Is the Quieter Way In

Sherman's November calendar runs under the same construction conditions as December, and several of its programs cost less than a holiday-night ticket. Here's what's listed for the weeks after this post goes up:

Two of these are evening programs, the Nov. 10 farming talk and the Nov. 18 nutrition talk. They're a low-cost way to see how the grounds work after dark before the holiday lights go up.

The village has a few November dates of its own. On Thursday, Nov. 12, the Chamber's Good Morning CdM meeting at Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, 1601 Bayside Drive, covers the Corona del Mar commercial corridor study, proposed zoning recommendations, and next steps, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. The City of Newport Beach keeps background on that study on its corridor study page. On Wednesday, Nov. 18, the Chamber's holiday networking party runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Bungalow, 2441 East Coast Highway. For construction that might affect a drive along PCH in the meantime, the city posts current impacts on its traffic advisories dashboard.

At Country Queen Real Estate, we follow Corona del Mar's calendar closely all year, from Sherman's renovation milestones to Christmas Walk Sunday on PCH. If you're a homeowner here and want to talk about how the village's next few years may shape your plans, we would be glad to hear from you. Schedule a Free Consultation.