Setting the Stage for the Holidays

When Santa Claus throws the big switch that illuminates the “Merry Healdsburg!” tree on Friday night, it will be the culmination of many days, many more people-hours and many thousands of dollars invested in the display.

Will it be worth it? Heck yeah!

This year’s Merry Healdsburg party is, surprisingly, only the fourth for this still-fresh city celebration, though the tradition of a tree-lighting the first week of December is much older. But it used to be a quieter affair—maybe the Community Band would play a program of holiday music from the gazebo stage or something, but the glamor and the glitz of Merry Healdsburg didn’t start until 2021.

Though this tree is two feet shorter than last year’s, in every other way Merry Healdsburg 2024 is a larger-than-life expansion of the “winter wonderland” concept. The jingle-jangle is everywhere, from the free Cinderella-worthy carriage rides around the colorfully lit Plaza to the surrounding sounds of holiday song.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Santa should show up after dark, but this is not a night for anyone to show up late. The attendance for Merry Healdsburg grows every year, and with this weekend’s good weather, it’s sure to beat last year’s rain-soaked crowd of 2,000.

The evening begins with a 5pm holiday performance by the Healdsburg Chorus, and before 6pm, Santa arrives. Meanwhile a 76-vendor Holiday Night Market starts up in full swing, with everything from hot savory foods to sweet and baked goods, gifts and crafts, plus wine and beer.

And that’s just the basics. Soaps, candles, amethysts, pottery, lavender and more are sold by local vendors—the market manager is Janet Ciel, who manages the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market almost all year round and twice in summer.

The lighting of the tree, which is expected on the hour or close to it, is an astonishing revelation that emphasizes not only the height of the tree but its width and conical shape with 5,000 colored lights in both wrapped and vertical strings.

“First day, we wrapped the tree in lights. Second day, we finished with the ones that come from the top, and then we do the ornaments,” said Rich Swartz, the recreation supervisor for the job with the Community Services Department.

This Year’s Tree

Speaking of the tree, once again it is a farmed white fir from Jones Forest Products in southwestern Oregon, many a city’s usual source for Christmas trees (“Majestic Christmas Trees – No Tree Is Too Large,” the company proclaims). Healdsburg has even published an About Our Tree pdf that can be downloaded from the city’s website. It includes the history of the tree’s 40-year growth cycle, from innermost ring to harvest, and a photograph of the cross-section of the trunk for anyone interested in counting the rings.

To see the real thing, go to the Healdsburg Plaza. The tree’s been standing since the middle of last week, once the rains let up and it could be delivered on its huge double trailer, then sunk in a custom Christmas tree holder in the middle of the Plaza’s west lawn.

On Tuesday afternoon, workers rose on bent-neck cranes into the green shaped canopy, to dangle ornaments in primary colors from its limbs and branches, as Swartz directed their movements from the ground.

“Each year the tree’s a little different,” said Swartz, who has acted as the city’s St. Nick for the past three years. “This one’s 46 feet. Last year was 48. But this one’s three feet wider, so it’s a little fluffier.”

How many ornaments will be used overall? “I think we’re at 700 now. We had 600; we added more this year,” Swartz said.

Elsewhere in the Plaza

Back to the Merry Healdsburg events. Following the tree-lighting that will reveal the fir in its finest glory, Santa will stick around for photos with the kids (and their parents, if they insist).

At around 6:45pm the Sugarplums, a trio of talented young women in red Santa skirts, will perform. Their style is based around Andrews Sisters-styled female harmony, with a nod and a wink. While their musical accompaniment is pre-recorded—don’t go looking under the palms for a hidden string section—the vocals are live, and charming.

What does all this celebration cost? Well, it’s free to all comers, although the Holiday Night Market is a market, after all. But that tree didn’t grow itself: According to Themig, the tree cost $13,500. Freight and installation were another $4,360, for a total of $19,360. Major contractors included Precision Crane, with its cost of just over $1,700 for its services to install the tree, and Image Tree Services, which donated its services to decorate it.

Before the comments come in, be it known that the Healdsburg Tourism Improvement District, HTID, provided a $20,000 grant to the City to fund the tree and its installation. Since the HITD is supported by visitor expenditures in local hotels, it’s the tourists who bring Merry Healdsburg to town.