The Advisory Board of Discover Coronado has approved a plan to help Coronado’s retail shops better compete this holiday against other San Diego shopping districts and online vendors such as Amazon. A collaboration between Discover Coronado, the City of Coronado, the Coronado Chamber of Commerce and Coronado MainStreet has been established to make the City’s downtown and holiday tree more festive during December.
The 100-foot-tall pine tree in Rotary Park continues to outgrow its existing strand of holiday lights. The result leaves vast portions of the tree undecorated. Discover Coronado and the City of Coronado will split the cost of fully decorating the entire tree with a new lighting design, something that hasn’t been done in decades. The historic tree will be adorned for the entire holiday shopping season, debuting on Friday December 2nd, following Coronado Holiday Parade.
The local organizations leading this project believe tastefully enhancing the tree in Rotary Park during the season will elevate the holiday spirit on Orange Avenue, where many of locally owned shops are situated.
Coronado MainStreet will also contribute to the initiative by launching efforts that encourage a “Shop Local” mindset.
This latest initiative is a key part of Discover Coronado’s ongoing support for the Coronado community, including:
- The annual wrapping of Coronado’s Free Summer Shuttle service since its inception nine years ago. This year, Discover Coronado underwrote the cost to redesign the exterior wrapping to include an iconic mural that once graced the Cora Mart building on Orange Avenue.
- Extended the funding of the vibrant art banners that line Orange Avenue. These banners add a pop of color throughout the year and spotlight Coronado’s non-profit organizations.
- Discover Coronado helps fund a variety of smaller projects on the island, including the Promenade Concert Series, the student Jog-A-Thon that benefits Coronado Elementary School PTO and a September basketball event benefitting the Warrior Foundation, Freedom Station.
- Community beautification is also key to Discover Coronado’s mission – benefitting residents and visitors alike. The organization has funded on a study to beautify Orange Avenue – Coronado’s gateway. Short term improvements include unifying mismatched items like benches, bike racks, trash cans; and adding additional lighting and flower planters.
About Discover Coronado
Founded in 2010, Discover Coronado is the City of Coronado’s official destination marketing organization, tasked with enriching and enhancing Coronado as a destination to spur spending by overnight guests. The nonprofit organization’s important efforts generate the City’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), which provides many key public benefits to the residents of Coronado – ultimately improving quality of life in the area.
