It served you well for the days leading up to Dec. 25. It perfumed your house with a clean, foresty smell. On Christmas itself, it presided over a celebration months in the making.
And now it’s drying into kindling, turning brown and sprinkling poky needles all over the carpet.
It’s time to burn that thing.
Solvang is declaring an official end to the holiday season—and its popular Julefest—with an annual Christmas tree burning on Jan. 10. Each year, the Santa Barbara County Fire Department supervises a massive evergreen bonfire coordinated by the Solvang Recreation and Parks Department as one of the largest fire safety demonstrations on the Central Coast.
Bring your standless and de-ornamented Douglas firs and blue spruces to toss onto the pile. Make sure the lights have been stowed away (wind them around a hanger and hang them in the closet to prevent them from somehow tangling into an Escher-esque knot in a box over the coming year) and there are no sparkly balls or glittery candy canes tucked near the trunk.
The T-Bone Ramblers Band will provide music to burn by, and visitors can buy refreshments if they’re so inclined.
The event runs from 5 to 7 p.m. on the fields of Old Mission Santa Inés at 1760 Mission Drive.
For more information, call 688-5575 or visit solvangusa.com.
This article appears in Jan 9-16, 2014.
