Diamond Bar's December Moved From a Sledding Hill to the Checkout Counter

Diamond Bar's holiday season used to center on one Saturday at Pantera Park. This year it is spread across five weeks of 10% cashback on purchases at local businesses, a one-hour lighting at the city's oldest structure, and a series of smaller events at the Diamond Bar Center with sign-up deadlines that start this month.

The city's Winter Snow Fest and Craft Fair page now carries the word "canceled" in its title. That leaves a gap in early December. The city's Keep It Local campaign is filling that gap with a spending incentive more than a new event.

What last December looked like at Pantera Park

The 2025 Snow Fest ran from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Pantera Park, 738 Pantera Drive. The city brought in more than 100 tons of snow for three sledding hills and a snow play area, and added a craft fair, community booths, live entertainment and food trucks. The city sold only 800 sledding wristbands at $10 each for unlimited runs, and game activity cards cost $1 for four games or crafts. Resident presale opened weeks before non-resident presale.

The city's own Measure Q fact sheet, published ahead of the Nov. 3 vote on a proposed 1% local sales tax, lists Winter Snow Fest with the Halloween Party, Concerts in the Park and Movies Under the Stars among canceled community events. The same document cites more than $1.1 million in annual service cuts beginning July 1, 2026.

Trucking in snow, staffing sledding hills and running a six-hour festival is the kind of cost a city can drop all at once. An incentive like cashback works differently because it pays out only when someone buys something, and it shapes most of what Diamond Bar's season offers now.

The windmill is the one big free gathering left

The city's holiday season opens this Saturday, Nov. 14, with the Windmill Lighting Celebration from 5 to 6 p.m. It takes place at the base of the windmill near the entrance to Diamond Bar Towne Center, at Grand Avenue and Diamond Bar Boulevard. The event is free and includes the lighting, holiday music, hot chocolate and photo opportunities, according to Patch.

The windmill stands 30 feet tall. The city calls it the only remaining structure from the Diamond Bar Ranch era, which ran from 1918 to 1956. It is believed to have first stood about 200 feet from where it is now, supplying water for livestock and helping irrigate crops. Snow Fest needed a park, a snow supplier and wristband sales. The lighting needs one hour and a corner the city already has. That difference helps explain why it is still on the calendar.

The location matters for what comes next. The Towne Center entrance is surrounded by places to shop and eat, and two weeks after the lighting, buying from local businesses starts earning money back.

How the city's holiday budget now works through an app

The Keep It Local: Shop Diamond Bar First campaign launched in July 2024. It runs through the free Open Rewards: Shop Local app, also available on Google Play. Shoppers create an account, then either link a credit or debit card for automatic tracking or upload a photo of a receipt. The city says participation is free for shoppers and for businesses.

The city's most recent description of the payout says rewards usually post within 48 hours of a qualifying purchase and can go toward future purchases at participating local businesses. Shoppers can also cash out through Zelle, Venmo, PayPal or check after their next visit.

"Shop Diamond Bar for the Holidays" runs from Friday, Nov. 27, through Thursday, Dec. 31, and the city calendar lists 10% cashback for shopping in town. Compared with the program's normal rate, that is a real increase. When the city explained the app in June 2025, ordinary qualifying purchases earned 5%. In 2026 the city has raised the rate for a series of themed weeks, and the holiday campaign is the longest one:

Restaurant Week was the most generous of the year. Dine-in, takeout and curbside orders all qualified, with rewards on every menu item. The holiday campaign pays half that rate but lasts five times as long, running from the Friday after Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve. At 10%, a $100 qualifying purchase during the campaign returns $10. That is the price of one Snow Fest sledding wristband last year, now earned through local shopping. The city's Holiday Rewards Calendar and its Keep It Local page track the promotions. Questions about the app go to the Economic Development team at [email protected] or 909-839-7012.

The newest storefronts are part of the same campaign

The city uses Keep It Local for more than cashback. It also organizes ribbon cuttings and produces short spotlight videos for new businesses, and October's openings show how that works.

ALittle Tea, at 1155 S. Diamond Bar Blvd., Suite J, specializes in freshly handcrafted teas and held its ribbon cutting on Oct. 15. Its own Open Rewards offer pays 10% back on qualifying purchases through this Sunday, Nov. 15. That offer bridges the gap between Sandwich Day and the holiday campaign.

Farther along the same boulevard, Mixue, an ice cream and tea shop at 1223 S. Diamond Bar Blvd., appeared on the city's list of new businesses for Oct. 14 to 20.

Blank Canvas South held its ribbon cutting on Oct. 14. It is a new event venue at 334 S. Diamond Bar Blvd. for weddings, celebrations and other gatherings, and the city's bulletin mentions a limited-time booking promotion. For a holiday party, the city's own Diamond Bar Center at 1600 Grand Avenue is the other option. As of late October it still had weekend dates for holiday events of up to 100 guests in its Oak, Pine and Sycamore rooms. Renters bring their own decorations and catering, and bookings go through [email protected] or 909-839-7065.

The rest of the season runs on sign-ups

Without one big open day at Pantera Park, the city's remaining holiday programs are smaller, require registration and are spread across several weeks. Most of them meet at the Diamond Bar Center. The dates that matter after Nov. 12:

1. Nov. 19, 6–8 p.m. Fall Cookies and 3D Dinosaur Creations workshop at the Diamond Bar Center, open to ages 10 and up. All three remaining workshops cost $45 for residents and $55 for nonresidents, plus a $15 materials fee paid to the instructor.
2. Nov. 20. Registration for the Holiday Dinner Dance must happen before this date to be entered in the poinsettia raffle.
3. Nov. 23–25. The city's three-day Thanksgiving mini camp for children, with arts and crafts, games, STEM activities and sports, according to Patch.
4. Nov. 27. The 10% holiday cashback begins.
5. Nov. 30. Registration closes for the Dec. 18 senior excursion to see the San Juan Capistrano holiday lights, with round-trip transportation from the Diamond Bar Center.
6. Dec. 3, 6–8 p.m. Holiday Cookies workshop.
7. Dec. 10, 5:30–9 p.m. Holiday Dinner Dance for ages 55 and up at the Diamond Bar Center, with dinner and dancing. Tickets are $25 for residents and $30 for nonresidents, as reported by Patch.
8. Dec. 15, 6–8 p.m. Unique Holiday Cupcake Creations workshop.
9. Dec. 31. Last day of the holiday cashback campaign.

Registration for the workshops and the camp goes through the city's online recreation registration portal.

Last year's season had one date and an 800-wristband limit. This year, the free windmill lighting on Nov. 14 is followed by five weeks in which every qualifying purchase at a participating Diamond Bar business earns 10% back.

At Tony Real Estate Group, we follow Diamond Bar at this level of detail: which storefronts open, which city programs change and how the budget shows up in daily life. Those details affect what a home here is worth. If you would like to see how they apply to your own property, get your free home valuation.