by Lisa Robinson
In the 1930s, the San Lorenzo Valley took Christmas very seriously. In fact, so seriously that it had a lighted trees contest along San Lorenzo Valley Drive, now referred to as Highway 9, promoted and sponsored by the Big Tree Lighting Association.
In 1938, there were ninety-four entrants; Ben Lomond must have looked grand with multiple large illuminated trees: “Ben Lomond Yule Tree Blaze” reported the Sentinel.
The Ben Lomond Community Club decided that year that they would plant a permanent tree to be decorated annually. The tree was to be planted at the intersection of the highway and the north end of mill street on a triangular plot donated by George Guthrie. The intent was to make Guthrie’s Corner a park, and so the club appointed a Monument and Christmas Tree committee. They held a card party, playing bridge, whist, and pinochle, to raise funds.
The twenty-five foot redwood tree was planted in mid-November and illuminated on November 30. The final touch, a star, was added the following day. They were not quite sure how they were going to place the star, but resident John Larson, an old-time sea-faring man solved the problem using a long ladder and “deftly thrown ropes.”
The Ben Lomond school children erected a tree on the Stirling Point at the corner of Love Creek and the highway. The boys were given the task of getting the tree, and the ornaments were made by the girls.
The Ben Lomond Fire Department also had a “so beautifully lighted” tree, which was first illuminated on Thanksgiving.
But the largest, most spectacular and elaborately decorated tree, was the ninety-eight foot redwood tree of Big Tree Lighting Association located in the Brook Lomond tract. The high intensity mercury vapor and sodium vapor lamps to “bring out the natural green of the tree at night,” were shipped from the East and installed by Coast Counties Gas and Electric, with the transformer and cable being laid concealed underground. It was illuminated on weekends and holidays since the fireman’s dance at Halloween and would stay illuminated from dusk to midnight from December 1st through January.
Winners of the lighting contest were awarded their ribbons at the Del Mar Theater in Santa Cruz at the end of December. The Ben Lomond School won first prize in the schools category and the Ben Lomond Community Club won first prize in the Senior Organizations category.
The individual category was won by Al Malone of Boulder Creek. He was awarded the “honor of outstanding achievement”. His display, although simple, gave a warm effect. It consisted of moss laid on the limbs of a fir tree, flooded with the light of a blue-cellophane covered floodlight.”
This 1939 Standard Map shows “Guthrie’s Corner” and “Stirling Point” the location of two of the winning trees.