Thousands of guests walk, drive decorated street, view light displays
Every year on N. Van Ness Boulevard, street residents wrap their houses in Christmas lights, inflatable seasonal characters and holiday decorations, causing the neighborhood to fill with light.
Christmas Tree Lane began in 1920 with a single Christmas tree dedicated to the passing of a child. As the years continued, more and more house owners decorated their yards with lights and blow-ups, over time becoming an annual tradition.
Hundreds of thousands of guests from all over town walk or drive down Christmas Tree Lane with family or friends each year.
Luciano and Kate Baltierra enjoy both walking and driving down Christmas Tree Lane. They go multiple times during the holiday season together and both plan to come back and drive down to the end to see the last house lit up.
“This is our second time walking Christmas Tree Lane,” Luciano said. “However, we have driven many times and I would like to consider it a tradition; I look forward to it. I like the fact that it’s free and the fact that we could enjoy all these lights that all these people have put up and they’ve spent so much time and energy to do that, to make it good for all of us, for all the people in Fresno.”
The main parking lot for the lane is in the Fig Garden shopping and financial area. The entrance for the lane is at Shields Ave. with traffic flow going North. Christmas Tree Lane ends at the intersection of N. Palm Ave. and W. Shaw Ave.
In the following podcast, Shane Phillips discusses Christmas Tree Lane with junior Mackenzie Beckworth.
Visiting the lane for her first time, Mackenzie Beckworth, ’21, felt she experienced a whole new world of color and decoration walking down Christmas Tree Lane. Beckworth shares how she hopes to make this one of her new traditions.
“I have been down to Christmas Tree Lane only once,” Beckworth said, “I went last night with some family friends. My favorite things were actually seeing all the musicians there and listening to people who would put their pianos out there and start playing, I thought it was really cool. I am looking forward to walking down with my friends and probably just talking with them, not necessarily looking at the lights, we do that to, but just having conversations.”
Celebrating their 97th anniversary in 2019, Christmas Tree Lane remains one of the longest running holiday events in Fresno. However, not every year was a success. In 1941, power went out do to wartime restrictions and in 1973, lights did not shine due to an energy crisis.
Richard Castadeo recently moved to Christmas Tree Lane with his wife. Castadeo enjoys seeing everyone spending time together while walking down the lane.
“I have lived in Fresno my whole life so I have been down here about 50 times and this is definitely a tradition of ours. My favorite part of being out here is the people, the kids, the dogs, just everybody enjoying it, the camaraderie. I always look forward to the start, when the lights burst on for the first time, for the start of Christmas Tree Lane.”
Walking down Christmas Tree Lane for the past 15 years, Julie Andrews enjoys singing while walking down the lane with her friends. She always looks forward to seeing Santa and all the entertainment going on around her.
“One thing we always look forward to is definitely seeing Santa,” Julie said. “We saw him twice tonight. We enjoy the entertainment here every year and walking up and down the lane, and this year there was a lot more entertainment and that’s always nice because it gets you in the spirit.”
Each year, more then 100,000 people visit Christmas Tree Lane.
Anyone interested in viewing the light show can view Christmas Tree Lane, Dec. 3-25, Sun. – Thur. 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Fri. – Sat. 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. This year’s walk-only days are Dec. 3 and 11.
For more articles, read Farmer, professional observe environmental impact on The Valley’s water, farming or Hallie Rojeski prepares eighth grade students for 31st annual US Constitution test.
Shane Philips can be reached via email.
