Bay Area’s “Eye of Diablo” Sunset Beacon Lighting Ceremony (2022)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

A joint proclamation was signed on February 25, 2022, at the Veterans Memorial Building in Danville, to light the Beacon on Mount Diablo to honor veterans on Pearl Harbor Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day from sunset to sunrise, beginning in 2022 and every year thereafter.

The lighting of the Beacon for Memorial Day 2022 will happen after sunset on Monday, May 30th, Memorial Day. The Beacon will shine throughout the night and then be rested shortly after sunrise on Tuesday, May 31st.

Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2022 – 8:23 p.m. Save Mt. Diablo will hold a beacon lighting event on the summit of Mount Diablo at sunset to honor the men and women who died while in the u.S. Military. Includes veterans, and the playing of taps. The beacon will shine throughout the night and be rested shortly after sunrise May 31. Mount Diablo State Park Summit, end of Summit Road, Walnut Creek

California State Parks is the owner of the Mount Diablo Beacon, and the nonprofit land conservation organization Save Mount Diablo maintains and operates the Beacon.

The Mount Diablo Beacon was originally lit by Charles Lindbergh in 1928 to assist in the early days of commercial aviation. The Beacon shone from the summit of Mount Diablo each night until December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It was not relit until December 7, 1964, when Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces during World War II, attended a ceremony on Mount Diablo’s summit in commemoration of the survivors of Pearl Harbor. He suggested that the Beacon be lit every December 7th to honor those who served and sacrificed.

Save Mount Diablo, California State Parks, the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter 5, and California State University East Bay Concord Campus organize the annual lighting ceremony of the Beacon every December 7 in honor of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

Save Mount Diablo also lit the Beacon every Sunday after sunset, followed by resting it every Monday after sunrise, during the darkest period of the pandemic from April 2020 through April 2021. California State Parks and Save Mount Diablo will now work to ensure the Beacon is lit every Memorial Day and Veterans Day to further honor our veterans.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.