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BEYOND THE VILLAGE - LUCINDA HAAGENSON

Beyond the Village: Lucinda Haagenson

Lucinda Haagenson is one of our very active Pasadena Village members. She is co-chair of the Cultural Committee, organizes the Friday night dinner groups, creates interesting outings for Village members such as the recent successful field trip to the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and culture tour in Riverside. And yet she manages to reserve time and energy for participation and leadership activities in her Altadena community. 

A few weeks ago, an article written by Lucinda slipped into the Meanderings BLOG, a section of the Pasadena Village Web Site reserved for creative writings provided by the members. It was interesting; touched with the history of a local tradition that came to life every December. It demonstrated the benefit of persistence in the maintenance of a California Historical Landmark also listed on the U.S. National Registry of Historic Places. It reminded us of the fast-approaching holiday season. Her piece is reproduced below.

Volunteering With Christmas Tree Lane

In 1885 Deodar trees were planted along Santa Rosa Avenue. A group of volunteers began hanging lights on the trees in 1920 to celebrate the holiday season. It is the oldest, large scale, Christmas lighting spectacle in the United States. It is listed on the U.S. National Registry of Historic Places and is also designated as Calif Historical Landmark # 990.

In 2006 I was asked to join Christmas Tree Lane Association to help with the boutique by my friend Alice Landolph. I helped by making ornaments from light bulbs used on the trees, making trivets and coasters, making Swarovski crystal tree earrings, making candles, ordering tee shirts, tote bags, cards, bookmarks and toys for kids. I soon became manager of the boutique.

The first Winter Arts and Crafts Fair was in 2010. It was started by Linda Lane-White and Elizabeth Nelson. That year they had 14 arts vendors and added $1050.00 income to Christmas Tree Lane Association. After two years they both moved away.  

In 2012, I did both the boutique and the fair with the help of my friend, Mary Landau. I soon realized that I couldn’t do both and continued only with the Arts and Crafts Fair along with creating memorabilia for the boutique. 

In 2015, my daughter Claire helped me make a tree photo prop with cut outs for people to put their faces in. This was added to the Santa photo booth. It has become very popular. The photo booth income for that year was over $500.00.

In 2019, we had 30 vendors and 8 food trucks bringing in an income of over $4000.00. I have all the forms, applications, and letters in my computer. I can send out to all the vendors, with a few clicks. I have many of the same vendors each year. That same year, I added 10 wreaths with the antique light bulbs and 80 lightbulb ornaments to the boutique.  

I have added to the work force for the day of the fair with my two daughters doing face painting, my son helping me and the hot cocoa booth, and my granddaughter, Ellerose enjoys making birds and fish ornaments from the lightbulbs. She also enjoys working with adults selling memorabilia in the boutique booth. Ellerose earned her Silver Award with Girl Scouts by teaching others to make these ornaments.

After not having the lighting ceremony and fair for two years due to Covid, we are all, with the entire community, looking forward to our annual Christmas Tree Lane lighting ceremony and Arts and Crafts Fair. Come see me at the Santa, tree photo booth!

Find more information about Christmas Tree Lane . Additional information is available on Face Book. 

As for the BLOGS…

Readers will be surprised at the gems hidden in the words of Village members addressing a wide variety of topics from Science to Racism to Village Voices and more. We encourage you to check them out.