Welcome to "The Stories of The Holidays"

Presented by The San Jose Downtown Association, 3Below Theaters, Guggenheim Entertainment, and The San Jose Downtown Foundation

The Stories of the Holidays is an outdoor experience to celebrate the holidays, storytelling, and local arts organizations. The exhibits are made possible by thousands of hours of work and the collective creativity of artists, writers, directors, and other creatives who spend their lives bringing joy to others through visual and performing arts.

Location: Look for large visual displays celebrating the stories of the holidays, accompanied by hours of audio entertainment, at 125 Market Street in Downtown San Jose

Schedule: From 4pm-10pm nightly through January 3, 2021

• Twice per hour enjoy a 5-minute retelling of such favorite holiday stories and poems as "The Night Before Christmas", "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "A Christmas Carol", "Frosty The Snowman", and "How The Grinch Stole Christmas." Stories are presented in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese and are bookended by hours of favorite holiday music.
• Three times per night enjoy 5-minute comedy routines performed by Frosty & Rudolph, Mrs. Claus & Kringle The Elf, and The Muppets.
• Six times per night you can enter to win fabulous prizes by taking part in four different game shows: "How Does That Christmas Song Go?", "Holly Jolly Holiday Trivia!", “Name That Holiday Movie!”, and "Are You Smarter Than Santa's Reindeer?" You need not be present to participate; at-home entries are welcome! See below for links to the games.

All of the above are presented as audio-only experiences. There is no charge to participate. Visitors are expected to wear face coverings and keep a minimum distance of 6' from others while enjoying the exhibits.

This year, as a result of the 2020 pandemic, local arts organizations have been and continue to be hit hard, living with the fear that they may not be able to survive the shut down. Even worse, the holiday season is when most arts organizations bring in a substantial portion of their annual income so being dark during this time of year is like a double punch in the gut.

In celebration of all of the holiday arts lost this year, we have designed an exhibit to pay tribute to the hundreds of producers, creators, designers, builders, technicians, staff, and performers that breathe life into live events every year at this time and all year round. You’ll also find digital monitors featuring excerpts from past holiday events from just some of the arts organizations in our region, as well as an introduction to our Downtown Business Districts, all of whom have been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. Visit sjdowntown.com to learn more about how you can support our friends in Japantown, The Alameda, East Santa Clara, and Downtown.

While the exhibit is a reminder of how much we have lost this year and how challenging things are for arts groups in particular, we invite you to turn your concern into action. We have created this hub so you may easily access more information about our region's performing arts groups and if you can, please give generously to their Covid-19 Recovery Campaigns. Together, we can rewrite the ending so this isn't the end of our region's arts organizations.

Play Our Trivia Games From Home!

Everyone who plays is entered to win fabulous prizes provided by Downtown San Jose business districts and arts organizations. Choose a game and good luck!

Presented by:

With special thanks to Jeff Christiansen, Julie Engelbrecht, Jonathon Leyden, Sherrol Simard, Bob Smay, Tim Sutton, Donna Butcher, Autumn Young, Scott Guggenheim, and Shannon Guggenheim for bringing The Story of the Holidays to life.