Christmas time is the most magical season of the year with twinkling lights, merry music and the smell of gingerbread in the air. With countless city-wide traditions like the annual tree lighting ceremony and the lighted Christmas and smaller family and church traditions, 足交视频 transforms into a winter wonderland鈥攄espite the 80-degree heat.

Sometimes it can be hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you鈥檙e opening presents wearing a Buc-cee鈥檚 themed holiday shirt and shorts, but 足交视频ns never fail to climb up on that ladder and hang those lights. One notable neighborhood-wide effort back in the 1960s and 1970s was the illustrious Candy Cane Land or, what some referred to as Candy Cane Lane.

Back in December 1961, Candy Cane Land was pioneered by the Airline Garden Club members who sought to bring festive holiday cheer to their front lawns and gardens. Residents of Airline Terrace participated in the festivities by buying 6-foot, Texas-sized candy canes made of stove pipes and displaying them in their yards along with lights.

鈥淧eople go out of their way to see these decorations and they really add to the holiday spirit,鈥 one resident said in a 1976 letter to the editor.

The Airline Garden Club鈥檚 Candy Cane Land quickly spread like wildfire throughout the town with anywhere from 104 to 150 houses decorating their houses with the enormous peppermint candies.

Throughout the years, Candy Cane Land evolved and grew to include Mesquite Lane and Rosebud Avenue and even impish elves. Consisting of five sections of stove pipe, the canes are thoroughly wiped down with vinegar before three coats of paint were applied.

While the third coat of paint was drying, glitter was then sprinkled on the canes to give them that extra sparkle. To get that peppermint effect, weatherproof red ribbon was wrapped around the cane and then a red bow was added for a final touch.

鈥淲e hope the candy cane idea spreads all over and that by Christmas, 足交视频 will look like a forest of canes,鈥 Mrs. H.L. Block, Airline Garden Club project chairman, said in 1961.

Year after year, neighbors and community residents continued to show an invested interest in Candy Cane Land. At first, instructions were handed out to neighborhood residents on how to build the candy canes but as the project started to eclipse more and more houses, ready-made candy canes were sold to residents.

For $10.10, residents could purchase the Christmas decoration with the works which included all the materials needed for the display. For $8, residents could make and sell the complete ensemble minus the spotlight and lamp.

The Airline Garden Club knew that in order to get the project rolling the project needed to be simple enough and affordable for residents. The canes also needed to be durable. In 1968, five days before Christmas, a holiday grinch visited Candy Cane Land on East Locust Street and smashed four of the stove pipe candy canes.

鈥淚t makes you sick to think of someone deliberately doing such a thing,鈥 one resident said in 1968.

In fact, vandalism isn鈥檛 the only issue that plagued Candy Cane Land. In 1965 candy canes were being outright stolen from Candy Cane Land. In 1965, the Advocate reported that each year since 1961, at least one candy cane had been stolen from the neighborhood.

That wasn鈥檛 the only time the cheerful lights on Candy Cane Lane were dimmed. In 1973 President Richard Nixon issued a request to conserve energy across the country. So for 1973, Candy Cane Land forwent the typical lightshow and spotlights.

For almost two decades and for two weeks during Christmas time, Candy Cane Land was a bright and cheerful display of the holiday spirit but also of community effort and dedication. Ceremonies were held each year as the lights were turned on. It became an unofficial tradition in 足交视频 with the town鈥檚 mayor ushering in the holiday season with the inaugural lighting of the winter wonderland.

While Candy Cane Land or Lane, whichever you remember the magical landscape being referred to as, no longer exists today. New traditions have sprung up to take its place.

While light displays today might not encompass the entire neighborhood or over 100 houses, residents still strive every year to make 足交视频 a magical place to make new memories (even without snow).

In this column called Ask Madison, Madison O’Hara, a 足交视频 native and Advocate reporter, answers questions readers have about anything and everything to do with the Crossroads. Email your question to Madison at askmadison@vicad.com or call her at 361-580-6558.