Large crowd gathers at Mission Santa Ines to see bonfire supervised by Santa Barbara County Fire personnel
Seeing a glow in the sky caused by giant flames could be sign of panic in some cases, but on Friday night, Jan. 3, it was just the sign of Solvang’s annual Julefest ending and a chance to dispose of Christmas trees safely.
So it was with the 33rd annual Solvang Tree Burn, which the city likes to stage as the official end to its month-and-a-half holiday celebration.
The huge pile of trees, which people were still adding to as the event began, sat in the field across the parking lot from Mission Santa Ines, surrounded by a sizable crowd already surrounding the pile at 5 p.m.
While waiting for the sun to completely go down, the audience was able to get food and refreshment from three local food trucks: Rudy’s Mexican Restaurant, Whiskey ‘N Rye Smokehouse, and Crave Mini Donuts, and listen to some DJ-supplied music.
Like in past years, the event began with a ceremonial (and respectful) flag-burning conducted by the Boy Scout Troop 41, who cut up the worn flag before tossing the pieces into a small fire pit.
After that, the firefighters from the Santa Barbara County Fire Stations 30, 31, and 32 gave a fire-safety demonstration, explaining the dangers a dry Christmas tree can pose and then lighting up three trees set up apart from the big pile to show just how fast a tree fire can ignite and spread.
Just as predicted, the lit tree was engulfed in flames in no time, but a member of the Boy Scout troop was there with an extinguisher to put out the flames before they had a chance to spread further.
After igniting flames on the other two trees and letting them burn before Scouts again came to the rescue, extinguishing the flames, and then it was on to the main pile.
The county firefighters went around and lit it at evenly spaced points on the pile, and just like the single trees just minutes earlier, the pile went up sky-high in flames for the crowd to marvel at. Everybody got their chances to document the fire with their cameras and cellphones before the heat got intense enough for them to back away.
The weather cooperated with the burn for the second straight year after heavy rains just after the new year in 2023. It was a good sight for Solvang Parks and Rec Director Jenny McClurg.
“Another successful burn,” McClurg said as the fire continued to burn under the watchful eye of the fire officials. “I’m glad we were able to get good weather, and we got a great crowd. Its the best one we’ve had in a while.”
Also enjoying the sight was Brett Campbell, his wife Mary Kate, and their son Christopher Jay, 5, of Santa Ynez.
“We had a great time coming out to see this,” Brett said as the fire started to die down and the crowd began to disperse. “There’s always neat things like this to bring the family to and hope to do this again next year.”
