WARM BEACH — Kristi Semays snapped a photo of her 8-year-old son Cody in front of a wooden cabin lit up by red, green, blue and gold Christmas lights.
Bing Crosby’s voice crooned “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” over a loudspeaker. A train chugged past. Children in puffy coats waved from the train, all smiles, colorful hats and little gloved hands.
Semays, Cody, and Scott Wynne came to the Warm Beach Lights of Christmas on opening weekend. The annual festival started Dec. 1 and the last night is Wednesday. The family also came to see the lights six years ago. Semays has a picture of 2-year-old Cody in front of the same glowing cabin.
“The train’s the best part because you get to ride through the whole thing and your feet don’t hurt that much,” Cody said.
His mom laughed. “Our boy and his poor feet,” she teased Wynne, “all 46 pounds of him.”
“I used to weigh 39,” Cody reminded her as they wandered off to admire the lights.
More than 1 million bulbs are said to be strung around 15 acres at the Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center, a Christian organization near Stanwood. There are roughly 18,000 strands of lights, enough to stretch from Stanwood to Seattle.
Each year, crews use some 75,000 zip ties to secure the lights and visitors drink about 1,400 gallons of hot cocoa during the month-long festival, according to the organizers. They’ve been tracking the numbers for a long time. This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Lights of Christmas.
A festival that started with a wild idea and a trip to Nashville has become one of the largest holiday displays in the Pacific Northwest. The event draws up to 70,000 people each winter, half of them from beyond Snohomish County.
Laurie Fertello, 59, has been the artistic director almost every year. She grew up in Oregon but has lived at Warm Beach for 34 years.
In the summer, Fertello coordinates camps for people with special needs. As soon as she’s done, it’s time to put up the lights.
She works on the design manual all year, sketching patterns for angels, snowmen and gingerbread houses. She finishes around Labor Day. Set-up starts the next day.
“We hang lights and fix lights and tweak lights right up until opening day,” Fertello said. “One of the best parts of the job is we get to listen to Christmas music starting in September.”
In 1996, the camp director brought together four people, including Fertello, to visit a light display in Nashville. They wanted to do something similar at Warm Beach, which was a popular summer destination but didn’t offer many winter activities. They left Washington in a snowstorm.
While touring the Nashville lights, Fertello said she thought they could pull it off at home. Less than a year later, the team welcomed thousands of guests to the first festival. Organizers estimate that nearly 1 million people have come to the Lights of Christmas since it began.
In two decades there were only two years when Fertello wasn’t artistic director. In 2007, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, the fifth most deadly cancer for women. The doctors caught the disease early, but the treatment sapped her energy. She was able to return by 2009. She is cancer free, and back to designing the light displays.
This November, Fertello joined volunteers to finish decorations in the paint shop. Upside-down plastic buckets caked in glitter sat on shelves. Weeks later, on the porch of a cabin-turned-gingerbread house, the buckets became giant gumdrops.
Outside, workers wrapped lights around trees and settled reindeer on rooftops. They outlined paths with strings of lights instead of handrails. They filled temporary ponds in a grassy field to reflect pyramids of bright lights and a gaggle of plastic geese. Fertello finds inspiration around camp, including the wildlife.
“Everywhere I go, everything I read, everything I see, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, we could do that. That would be fun,’” she said.
The displays feature reindeer leaping off of a roof, sleigh in tow, and a tunnel lit in red and white, like a candycane. Angels press trumpets to their lips. Playful penguins, rosy-cheeked gnomes and cheerful elves catch the eyes of passersby.
Fertello loves the nativity, where statues depict the biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ. While the festival can be loud, there seems to be a hush near the nativity, she said.
She’s always looking for something that will make people pause. She aims to recreate the magic of her childhood. Her family lived across the street from a Christmas display in Portland.
“When you’re a little kid, you walk through the entrance and you’re just like, ‘Oh,’ and you kind of hang there,” she said. “You’re so full of joy and excitement and you can’t wait to see what’s next. That feeling lingers. Every display and every event, we want people to feel that.”
She and her team have crafted scenes of doves in flight, a sparkling waterfall and leaping dolphins. Canoes are moored at a dock made of lights with a sunset in the background.
Fertello treasures the memory of one family a few years ago. She was walking behind parents and their young son who was wearing light-up shoes. The family approached the area called Joyland, where the candycane tunnel and a giant Christmas tree lure in visitors and the smells of cocoa and kettlecorn waft around the plaza. As soon as the boy saw Joyland, he started dancing.
“His shoes just went pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, with the little lights,” Fertello said. “He was part of the show. It was so cute to see him get that excited.”
Kids can grab a seat on the train or line up for pony rides. Local music groups perform. Vendors sell fair food. There’s a petting zoo, shops of holiday trinkets and, in a quiet corner, a prayer chapel.
Earlier this month, Steven Chaffer brought his four kids from Everett to see the lights. The oldest was 10, the youngest just shy of 2. It was their first time at Warm Beach.
Lucas, 10, said the train was his favorite part. He liked the sound it made. Though he had fun at the Lights of Christmas, his favorite holiday is Halloween.
“That better change, buddy,” Chaffer said. “Your dad’s a Christmas guy.”
He looked around at all the lights. “This is even better than I thought it would be.”
People bought brown bags full of fresh, hot donuts. Fires crackled and carolers sang.
Tha and Justin O’Francia and their kids, 4-year-old Keanu and 3-year-old Malana, come every year. On opening weekend, they warmed up next to a fire and listened to carols.
“The kids love it,” Tha O’Francia said. “There’s just something magical about it.”
There have been bumps along the way to creating that magic, Fertello said. Bruce the Spruce, a fake tree who chats with guests, almost didn’t have the mouth he’s known for. At first, no one could agree on how Mr. Spruce’s lips should look. The memory makes Fertello laugh.
“Have you ever tried to make lips?” she said. “There was quite the debate.”
They finally reached an agreement. Then, when they put everything away, the lips went missing.
“We were in a panic,” Fertello said. “There was a big search for Bruce the Spruce’s lips.”
They finally found the mouth of the talkative tree.
Many talents are needed to make the lights shine each December, Fertello said. The camp also has a festival director and staff and volunteers who handle food, entertainment and finances. Some volunteers travel hundreds of miles.
Claudia Pollock comes from California. She loves the atmosphere at Warm Beach. On a chilly November afternoon, she worked in the paint shop with Fertello, decorating a “Bless our Troops” sign.
“Being here a few years, you see who comes through, and people who come in with broken hearts leave smiling,” she said.
Jacque Johnson drives from Wenatchee. She also helped in the paint shop. During the festival, she likes to hear families talking and laughing. Many promise to return.
“Next year’s gonna be fun,” Fertello said, weeks before this year’s opening. “I’ve already got the sketches going.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com
The Warm Beach Lights of Christmas event continues three more nights, from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 20800 Marine Drive. For more information, including prices, go to WarmBeachLights.com or call 800-228-6724.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
