Every year Fig Garden lights the night with over one hundred thousand bulbs. Christmas Tree Lane is a lasting tradition in the tree packed community of Fig Garden.

For the last 81 years Christmas Tree Lane has illuminated the sky along Van Ness Boulevard, from Shields Ave. to Fig Garden Village. This is the longest decorated Christmas lane in the United States.

With lights covering about 140 homes and 300 trees over a two-mile stretch it is no wonder that about100,000 people stroll down the lane each year.

“I walked down Christmas Tree Lane this year for the first time,” Wesley Wells, ’06, said. “It was a lot better than driving by since my family and I could stop and go as we pleased, skipping the boring houses without lights and staring at the elaborate design of some house’s light displays for up to 30 minutes.”

Three-dimensional light structures give personality to the event, but few people know the work they require. One man who, requested to remain anonymous, boasted having put over $100,000 into his front yard and having spent seven years compiling his display.

Some find it difficult to understand why such residents are so eager to give up time, money and painstaking effort.

“I went down Christmas Tree Lane to hang out with my friends,” Garrett Horn, ’07, said. “My neighborhood also puts on light displays but this was something else. I don’t know how the neighborhood gets so motivated.”

While the celebration beautifies the whole neighborhood, few know the historical motivation behind the festivities.

Christmas Tree Lane was created when, as a memorial to their son who died, the Winnings family decorated one tree along Van Ness Boulevard in 1920. In following years their neighbors also began to decorate trees until all of Van Ness became known as Christmas Tree Lane.

Christmas Tree lane will continue running until Dec. 28 from 6:00 P.M. ? 10:00 P.M. on Sunday through Thursday and from 6:00 P.M. ? 11:00 P.M. on Friday and Saturday.

For more information concerning Christmas Tree Lane go to www.oldfig.org/about/christmastreelane.html or try www.centralvalley.com/portal/getout/forkids/.