When first-time homeowner Leigh Jackson bought her place on Aitken Avenue in July, it didn’t carry with it the festive warning signs of giant blow-up snowmen or the remnants of lights on the street overhead.
The 23-year-old Vancouver Island transplant didn’t know any better.
After all, Jackson had never even been on Candy Cane Lane in the winter when the streets in Van Bien explode with bright over-the-top lights and neighbour after neighbour gives their best rendition of Christmas spirit in the form of decorations.
“Winter is not my favourite thing,” laughs Jackson, who has seen “maybe one” white Christmas before moving to Prince George just over two years ago for her job as an x-ray technician.
So it was a bit of a surprise when friends recognized her new street. Time after time, they would say the same thing when she told them the good news.
“‘Oh, so Candy Cane Lane?’ I’m like, this must be some big deal,” says Jackson, adding it was then she realized the scale of the lit-up lane and it became clear she would really have to commit to Christmas. “Can’t be that house with no lights.”
Luckily, the previous owners offered to leave some supplies. So Jackson enlisted the help of boyfriend Andy Martin to make their home match.
A giant blow-up Santa is the star of their lawn’s show, but the two also have a polar bear figurine, a Merry Christmas sign and several strings of lights to line the home.
They’re hoping that’s just the beginning. Jackson envisions Martin making some figures from wood, and they plan on looting the after-Christmas sales. Across the street, neighbours have cut out a life-size nativity scene and two houses down, a large red sleigh is a popular prop.
“You can go take your picture in that, but ours isn’t that interactive,” laughs Jackson, adding next year will be different. “I hope to have more of a unique set up. I just want to be more involved in it.”
Getting through their first winter on Aitken Street was not without its hiccoughs.
Martin painstakingly plugged in each light to make sure they were working well ahead of the Dec. 1 start. But when they finally strung up the street-famous overhead lights and triumphantly flicked the switch, nothing happened.
It turned out to be a problem with the first strand, and soon Martin found himself scrambling up a ladder, then a tree to take down the offending bulbs.
“It was a little bit dicey but we got it done.”
Martin, who is from Prince George, says Candy Cane Lane is a community staple.
“It’s the only place in town and tons of people drive through all the time,” he says, pointing to the dimming of Connaught Hill’s lights.
“I think it brings a sense of neighbourhood. You feel like a neighbourhood when you’re all doing something together,” adds Jackson.
One morning, they woke up and someone had tied red bows to trees outside every home.
Martin helped veteran volunteers set up the long line of diagonal lights using a bucket truck. It was a full day affair, but Martin says he was happy to get involved.
“If they’re willing to give up their day and go throw up lights for Christmas, those are good neighbours and people you want around,” says Martin, adding it’s time for the younger generation to keep the tradition alive. The next-youngest man was 61. Martin is 25.
One of those neighbours is Wayne Cameron, one of Candy Cane Lane’s founding members who has lived in the neighbourhood for 40 years.
“Every year is unique,” Cameron says. “We still stand in awe of the thousands cars bumper to bumper every year that go up and down the street. The buses, the seniors waving at you.
"It’s fostered community here."
