Westmont’s Third Annual Christmas Festival has sold out. The program will feature traditional and contemporary holiday music performed by Westmont’s Chamber Orchestra and multiple choirs, as well as dance, dramatic readings and visual art. There will be performances at First United Methodist Church, 305 East Anapamu (at Garden Street): Friday, Nov. 30, and Saturday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 2, at 3 p.m.
Westmont kicks off the Christmas season with the sixth annual Christmas Tree Lighting on Kerrwood Lawn, Wednesday, Nov. 28. The lights on the 150-foot redwood tree, affectionately known as The Giant Pickle, will glow at 5 p.m.
Westmont professors are visiting local congregations to discuss how they integrate their faith into their work. The new program, Classroom to Congregation, is designed to provide learning opportunities and stimulate conversation at Central Coast churches.
Westmont’s Keck Telescope has provided color photographs of a rare celestial surprise in the northeastern evening sky. Comet 17P/Holmes in the constellation Perseus caught astronomers off guard when it suddenly brightened on October 24.
More than 30 students in a Westmont marketing class have organized an auction to raise funds for after-school programs for low-income Santa Barbara youngsters. Auction for Eastside Alternatives will feature vacation packages, golf outings, artwork, gift certificates and holiday gift ideas and much more on Friday, Nov. 16, from 7 p.m. at Chase Palm Park Center, 236 E. Cabrillo Boulevard. The silent auction ends promptly at 8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The Westmont Wind Ensemble will give a free concert Wednesday, Nov. 14, 8p.m., at Montecito Covenant Church, 671 Cold Spring Road. Directed by Professor Paul Mori, the group is composed of several ensembles of woodwind and brassplayers. A wind quintet will perform work by Russian composers Anatol Liadov and IgorStravinsky, and an octet will play Ludwig van Beethoven’s Octet for Winds, opus 103.The program will also feature pieces by J.S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and othersperformed by two flute quartets, a brass ensemble and a large ensemble combiningall of the musicians.