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Winterhaven
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas ….
If ever a midwestern transplant casts his eyes eastward
with a twinge of nostalgia, Christmas is sure to
catalyze such feelings. Or so supposed C.B. Richards
when he conceived to parlay his fertilizer yard into
Tucson’s beautiful Winterhaven community. In 1949,
the same year that Bing Crosby released his best-selling
album Merry Christmas, featuring his ode to
a Midwestern holiday, Richards broke ground on a
subdivision designed to echo the Shaker Heights district
near Cleveland, Ohio.
And if the neighborhood’s wide streets and rambling
ranch-style homes weren’t enough to draw buyers from
the snowbelt, Richards stumbled upon a most fortuitous
situation when a nurseryman in town decided to retire.
He was able to outfit the entire neighborhood in
Aleppo pines, Italian cypress and Arbor vitae at
a steal. The abundant greenery paved the way for
Christmas-tree lighting to become a subdivision event.
Richards christened the main street Christmas Avenue
and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, Winterhaven’s glistening treetops have sprung
to massive heights. Nearly 90 percent of residents
take part in the Winterhaven Festival of Lights —
annually transforming their property and dazzling
the parading public with ever-more sophisticated
tableaus.
Photo left: © 1964 Tucson Citizen, reprinted with permission. Photo right: Edward McCain
If you go
Winterhaven Festival of Lights
December 13-27
520-881-4483 (festival information line)
winterhavenfestival.org
(For 2008 the festival has gone green. Through a
partnership with Tucson electric power, they have
replaced 300 strands of bulbs with energy efficient
LED lights) |
