The fate of the Winterhaven Festival of Lights is the topic at a special meeting tonight at the St. Frances Cabrini Roman Catholic Church, 3201 E. Presidio Road, from 6 to 7 p.m. Residents will vote on whether or not to continue the two-week holiday light decoration tradition that goes back to 1949.

The neighborhood event, which costs $85,000 to put on every year, lost city funding as part of the city’s budget cuts. A plan to raise money through corporate and individual sponsorships hasn’t been successful.

Winterhaven residents recently received this impassioned e-mail from their neighbor Karen Clifton:

WE ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING THE WINTERHAVEN FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS!!

We are at a critical point in our future as a Community. As you are aware, and for obvious reasons, the City of Tucson can no longer fund our Festival of Lights. Due to the effects of the recession, there is no money to fund us. Please make no mistake, all efforts have been made in this regard. Now, we need to move on!

Now we could chose from several options:

1. Stop having the festival after a 60 year run.
2. Fund it with minimum donations collected from the neighborhood.
3. Cut back considerably on the event, scale back and spend less money (still need to have some money).
4. Find long-term, sustaining corporate sponsors (small business, large business, locally owned business, businesses that benefit from the Festival, etc).

The Winterhaven Board of Directors and other neighbors working with them are struggling with this dilemma. They are tired of being the only ones who make and keep commitments. As a neighbor who takes some responsibility for
some events, but who is not involved directly in the Christmas event (other than collecting food and money for the food back on drive through nights), I feel I can speak out frankly!

We (you and I) came to this neighborhood to live BECAUSE it is a neighborhood where people know and help each other; we came to this neighborhood to live BECAUSE we have an Oasis in the middle of the desert, an Oasis with trees, bushes, flowers, and green grass; we came to this neighborhood to live BECAUSE there are celebrations of life for us and for our children—one of those celebrations is the WINTERHAVEN FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. Without these special aspects of our Community, we are simply 1950’s style tract homes. All of the items above create a neighborhood where people want to live and where property values are increased.

The first Festival was in 1949. Last year marked 60 years of Festival. Do we really want to end this tradition? Do we really want to let down the community of Tucson (well over 100,000 people came to see us last year)? Do we really want to stop funding the Tucson Community Food Bank? Last year we gave them $23,000 (which, by the way, buys them $207,000 worth of food, and we donated 33,000 lbs. of food. This food drive represents the 2nd.
largest annual food drive for the Tucson Community Food Bank. Do we really want to tell Tucson that we are stopping this tradition?

This article appears in Sep 16-22, 2010.

6 replies on “No Christmas at Winterhaven?”

  2. This neighborhood is a waste of resources. They require you to have a grass lawn and they use massive amounts of electricity for this ‘festival’ that has the same lights at each house every year. Just because they run on their own wells doesn’t mean it’s sustainable… I do commend them for funding the food bank though… But, how much do they waste to get 20k for the food bank? There has to be another way.

  3. Seriously, who cares? Why does it cost $85,000 anyway? Cuz they have police, hayrides, etc? Hopefully, the decorations aren’t subsidized.

    Winterhaven residents can still have lights; they just won’t have the hoopla and the traffic congestion– and neither will we.

    The first time I went to Winterhaven to look at lights– almost 30 years ago– it was a neighborhood with cool lights. It’s fine with me if they go back to that.

    I’m glad the city is not funding it.

  4. So..WHO let the Grinches [above] comment first.. Winterhaven is a great tradition and the Food Bank does benefit our community greatly.. we help our children by the experience, too.. they learn about community effort, giving, and the magic of Christmas Lights.. It is one of the traditions that make Tucson great.. I do invite out of state relatives to come visit because it is so special to our city.. If there was a ticket sales in advance I would buy my tickets to help support this event.. and still donate canned goods for the Food Bank.. arn’t the hay rides a paid fee to ride ? We do need the Police to keep the flow orderly.. Please do NOT let the Grinchy population spoil our Most Unique Event & the magic of the season. *v*

  5. Our Children learn the Magic of Christmas lights? Good grief. A bad economy is spoiling the Winterhaven festival, not people who think that the whole thing is a waste of finite resources… The city also closed almost all city pools, neighborhood centers, can’t fix roads, etc. Some people like lawns and Christmas lights and pretending you are in a bad 60’s movie. Maybe they can figure out how to fund it this year.

    And for the record, I’m not against the food bank. One of the people dearest to me is employed by the food bank (which is one of the best food banks i have ever come across and does incredible innovative things for our community).

  6. I agree – COMPLETE waste of time and energy (both electrical and personal). Just let people drive through if they want – and let’s not pretend that Winterhaven is sustainable – requiring lawns in this day and age, in Tucson, Arizona, should be CRIMINAL!

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