November 12, 2026
By 5 p.m. tonight, the stage at Rodeo Drive and Brighton Way will be lit. Ali Ward will host, and the program builds to a countdown led by Mayor Craig Corman, the City Council and the Rodeo Drive Committee's executive board. Then come fireworks. This year's theme is "50 Years of Brilliance," for the committee's 50th anniversary, and the City of Beverly Hills announcement runs the free celebration from 5 to 8 p.m.
The rest of the season will look different. While the anniversary night was growing, the décor on the city's other streets was cut by more than a third. Rodeo Drive and the rest of Beverly Hills are funded from separate budgets, and in 2026 those budgets went in opposite directions. That split is why the Jolly Trolly is gone, why La Cienega and Camden are back to plain white, and why private sponsors are paying for tonight's finale at an event that has not traditionally had any.
According to the September staff report to the City Council, the Rodeo Drive celebration and Rodeo's décor are funded from the city's Tourism and Marketing budget. That budget comes from the Transient Occupancy Tax, the 14% tax on hotel room sales. For about 28 years, one-seventh of that tax has been set aside for tourism and marketing. The decorations along the rest of the city's streets come from a different source: the city's capital improvement budget, plus an agreement with Utopia Worldwide, Inc.
| Line item, holidays 2026 | Amount | Funding source |
|---|---|---|
| Rodeo Drive lighting celebration, city share | $667,575 | Hotel tax, Tourism and Marketing |
| Sponsorship from Gearys, Auto Vault, Two Rodeo Drive | $45,000 | Private sponsors |
| Rodeo Drive holiday décor | $566,959.20 | Hotel tax, Tourism and Marketing |
| Citywide décor | Cut 37% from the prior program | City capital budget and Utopia Worldwide agreement |
The citywide cut came from a zero-based budget review that the Council took up at its April 21, 2026 study session. The goal was to reduce the program's annual cost by 50%. Staff got it down 37% for 2026 by dropping some items and shrinking others instead of buying new parts.
The Rodeo event was under the same pressure. Staff kept the holiday share of the Tourism and Marketing budget at its projected level, and at that level city money covered the core program but not the fireworks or a second wine garden. The Rodeo Drive Committee brought in local sponsors, and their roughly $45,000 paid for the fireworks finale. The report says the event "has not traditionally had a sponsorship model." Beyond the line items, the city covers about $70,000 in permit and personnel waivers and the cost of marketing the event. Last year's rain plan cost another $42,875. The report says that was only the second rain plan in a decade, and it came out of contingency funds, not the base budget.
The Beverly Press reported that thousands of residents and visitors are expected. The announced program:
Rodeo Drive Committee President Kathy Gohari told the Beverly Press that "Fifty years ago, Fred Hayman understood that Rodeo Drive could be much more than a shopping destination – it could be an experience that captures the imagination of the world."
Under the closure plan in the September staff report, Rodeo Drive is closed from South Santa Monica Boulevard to Wilshire. Dayton Way and Brighton Way are closed from Rodeo to the east and west alleys. The closure began Wednesday at 9 p.m. and runs until 6 a.m. Friday. The City Brighton Garage and the Two Rodeo Garage stay reachable through the alleys. If you're taking transit, the D Line's Wilshire/La Cienega station has been open since May 8, 2026. The Beverly Drive station closer to Rodeo is still under construction, and Metro's October 2026 community presentation puts its opening in spring 2027.
These elements are discontinued for 2026:
The citywide twinkle lights will now be replaced every other year instead of every year. Staff are also considering lighting every other tree in some areas.
Most of the familiar pieces are still up. The 2026 plan keeps warm white lights across the business district, the Santa and reindeer display, and the Wilshire spans. Robertson Boulevard keeps its pole lights and lighted garland with bows. North Beverly and North Canon keep their white street spans, South Beverly keeps its canopy spheres, and South Santa Monica Boulevard west of Wilshire keeps its snowflakes. The Triangle keeps its bows, garland and background audio, and a still image will be projected onto the Crescent side of City Hall. Some displays are being reused. Beverly Canon Gardens has the same décor as the past two years, and Lights on the Lily Pond is running earlier programming, possibly with fewer reeds.
The Rodeo budget was spent differently too. The original plan was to string garlands across Rodeo Drive. The staff report says the street's light poles raised a structural safety concern, and with "a high amount of construction on the street," the Committee and Council wanted one elegant feature overhead that draws the eye upward. Instead, vendor J. Ben Bourgeois Productions expanded the "dripping" lights that have hung in the median palms for several years. This year they're on every sidewalk palm too, with strands running from the sidewalk to the median. That adds up to 16 strands down the block, where the proposal called for 4 garlands, at the same approved cost. Public Works found no risk to the trees, pedestrians or vehicles.
You can see that construction from the sidewalk. Ferragamo reopened its 9,300-square-foot flagship at 357 N. Rodeo in August with a new global store concept, its first U.S. location to use it, as WWD reported. A block away, at 360 N. Rodeo, Tiffany & Co. has approval to replace the former Luxe Hotel with a three-story store that includes a third-floor restaurant. According to the Beverly Press, the schedule called for work to begin in February 2026 and finish by June 2028. Tiffany's shop at Two Rodeo stays open until the new store is operating.
Holiday décor and programming run citywide through January 3, 2027. Glowing Gardens at Beverly Canon Gardens is open daily from 5 to 11 p.m., with a larger-than-life Christmas tree and an oversized ornament. Lights on the Lily Pond at Beverly Gardens Park runs from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. The dated events:
After tonight's fireworks, the décor on Robertson, North Canon and South Beverly will stay lit through January 3, while La Cienega and Camden keep only their year-round white lights.
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