The city unveiled the boardwalk holiday lights at a ceremony at the Allegria Hotel on Monday. The lights are on every lamppost from Long Beach to Magnolia Boulevard, and can be accessed through the Long Beach, Edwards, Riverside, National and Magnolia boulevards entrances. Goggin said that they will be on from 5 to 9 p.m. every night for the next six weeks.

Goggin said that there will also be entertainment on the boardwalk. She said that there will be events like taking pictures with Santa, caroling and some musical performances. The city is also providing free trolley service that will run from the East to the West Ends, to encourage people to visit different areas of the city.

“The goal is to support our businesses; anything and everything we can do to help them out.” Goggin said.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a resolution was passed authorizing the city to use money from the Long Beach Relief Fund to provide up to $5,000 in matching donations to the North East Bay and Canal civic associations, for them to purchase new holiday lights for the East End business district, just as the city did for the West End.

Down in the West End, a handful of special events are slated for the coming weeks. After the success of the campaign to restore the West End holiday lights that were lost in the storm — more than the necessary $10,000 was raised in a little over a week — many of the same community organizations teamed up again to see what else they could do to promote West End businesses during the holiday season.

Holiday Bazaar pop-up shops will be lining Beech Street every weekend. Arts in the Plaza artists will be selling their wares in the shops, but Kelly Sullivan, a member of the Historic West End Business Association, said that they are open to inviting other Long Beach artisans to participate. Additionally, every weekend, kids will be able to take their pictures with a surfing Santa. Santa will be at a different location each week to help spread foot traffic to all corners of the West End.

Celebrating winter