Stilt Walking After All These Years

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No, this post is not a rerun of last week’s edition.

From the time I moved to Washington, downtown Seattle was the place to be at Christmas time. The lighting of the tree at Westlake kicked off the season. Store windows were decorated to the nth-degree. There were horse-drawn carriage rides and a brightly colored carousel. The hotels all had something special—like the gingerbread display at the Sheraton and the Teddy Bear Suite at the Olympic.

We did a number of Bellevue-to-Seattle Christmas expeditions with the whole caboodle of kids and grandkids along for the ride. Those usually included lunch and a shopping expedition and were often topped off with a live show of some kind at the Fifth Avenue Theater in the evening.

We live in Bellevue on the east side of Lake Washington. Seattle is on the west. Eighteen years ago, Kemper Freeman, a downtown Bellevue commercial real estate developer, decided to do something Christmas-y on this side of the water. To that end, he invented Snowflake Lane. It used to kick off with a parade through Bellevue’s downtown core on the night after Thanksgiving. From then on, through Christmas Eve, it included a half hour of live Christmas music, complete with plenty of drummers as well as costumed toy soldiers, snow princesses, dwarfs, etc. During the festivities, a blizzard of fake snow falls down on the celebration.

We didn’t go the first year. The second year, Colt was less than a month old. We didn’t go that year either. The following year was the big windstorm that shut down everything due to downed power lines for a big part of the Christmas season. We missed that one, too. The first time we took Colt was the year he’d just turned three. When the troop of costumed drummers tuned up, his whole body vibrated to the music. That hasn’t changed over time. Whenever there’s a band concert, his left foot is always tapping along in time to the music. And from the time he was three on, we’ve visited Snowflake Lane every year.

Eventually a trip to Snowflake Lane replaced our Christmas time Seattle excursions. Now each night two city blocks of Bellevue Way between Bell Square and Lincoln Center are shut down for a half hour parade that starts at seven pm. The drummers that used to be stationed along the sidewalks now play and march as part of the parade. And now floats are there every night as opposed to just the first one. Inclement weather be damned, hundreds of people come each night to join in the festivities. Between drummers, dancers, and toy-soldier stilt-walkers, the live cast numbers somewhere in the neighborhood of 200.

Colt is a junior in high school. He’s involved in his school’s drama department. He’s also a top-notch bowler. (In last week’s tournament, he bowled his best game ever—a 290, missing a perfect 300 by three pins in the first frame!). When it looked as though his part-time job was ending, his drama teacher suggested that he try out for Snowflake Lane. His audition went well, and he was hired to be a stilt-walker.

The stilt-walkers are dressed in toy soldier costumes. They are stationed along the sidewalks bordering the parade route, and their job is to walk up and down their assigned area, handing out peppermint sticks to wide-eyed and enchanted little ones. Since Colt is well over six feet tall to begin with, the addition of seventeen inches of stilts makes him amazing. How he can bend over to hand out candy to those little kids without falling flat on his face is beyond me!

I was there for this year’s first night performance. For a WWW—a Washington Weather Wimp—being out in twenty-degree weather with cold winds driving down the canyon between buildings was cold as could be. But when the drummers tuned up, I couldn’t help but feel a tear in the corners of my eyes as I recalled all those wonderful occasions when we were there with grandkids who were still young enough to be enchanted. You can’t ever get those times back, but I wouldn’t have missed any of them.

Thanks to Colt’s mother we managed to find a place to watch that was in Colt’s section of sidewalk. Taking a photo while he was on the job just wasn’t possible. Most of the time, when he’s passing out candy, it goes to the really little ones. But that night, girl who was a little older, maybe junior high or so, slipped through the crowded sidewalk to get her own tick. When she did so, she glanced back over her shoulder—probably at her mother—with a satisfied smirk that said, “See there? I told you I could still get one!” For me, that look was the highlight of the evening.

We’ve had a number of days of inclement weather between Thanksgiving and now, but the show does go on. I didn’t take the accompanying photo. As I said, taking on-the-job photos of stilt-walkers just isn’t feasible, but this one should give you some idea of how at least one of the cast members looks.

While I was tearing up a bit that first night, I was also very proud. After years of taking the family to enjoy the show, someone from our family is carrying the torch forward and creating Christmas memories for a whole new generation of kids and their families.

That’s the thing about holiday celebrations. It always takes a whole new generation to keep them going.

27 thoughts on “Stilt Walking After All These Years”

  1. tears to my eyes….but, this dawning, here in Green Valley, as I watch the sun come over the mountains, I wonder how you could leave Arizona….Happy Holidays….

  3. I can sense your immense pride at Colt’s being in the parade bringing joy to little ones! This sure brings back memories of when I took my oldest son to all of the Christmas parades in Peoria, Illinois so many years ago. It definitely was a magical time watching the parade and then seeing all the superbly decorated windows of the major department stores. No matter how cold it was or how much snow was on the ground, we always went to this yearly event. Lovely memories, for sure!

  5. Image was Hot linked blocked…..wanted to see it. Not sure what the Hot Linked thing is but I was sad as we too are from Bellevue/Mercer Island area and would love to see it.

  6. thank you again for stirring up the old Brain contents of your followers. you have an uncanny knack for enabling memories to be revisited in these times of stress and change. Hopefully you and yours are all doing well. You go Girl. almost three years of Following your Blog. Chuck in Tacoma. Merry Xmas to All, Aloha.

  8. Judy, thank you for this post. It’s wonderful hearing stories like this because it reminds us of Christmas past but also gives hope for Christmas future. Thank you so much for this, you’ve given the gift of hope

  10. Sweet story, thanks for sharing. While my husband was doing graduate work at UW, we lived across from the Ballard Lockes, with our tiny daughter. We loved watching the festive boats going in and out of the Lockes, decorated with lights and tinsel, blaring out Christmas music. And the San Antonio Riverwalk and those boat rides also provided fun ways to acquire Christmas cheer!
    Merry Christmas, y’all!

  11. My niece let me know that there will be a gingerbread house party while I am visiting. Creating new memories for her children and reminding me of my own happy mom days. Giving me an excuse to peruse the candy aisles for unique items that can be used on the houses. Last time, pre-pandemic, I contributed lego-like bricks that tasted like sweet tarts. Don’t know if I’ll top that one!

    I have been re-reading some of the Brady series, and was reminded of a discussion we had here a few weeks ago about naming characters. Exit Wounds includes a character named Dennis, and at that point Joanna is pregnant with the baby who will become Dennis in the next book, Dead Wrong. Dennis’s middle name is Lee, which is the last name of her ob/gyn and, of course, of a major character in the Ali Reynolds series. Is there a Dennis lurking in the Busk family somewhere? And a Lee you remember fondly from somewhere?

    My Jance book collection got its own dedicated bookcase this week, after a neglected corner of our home was emptied, sorted and consigned to various appropriate fates or destinations. A very satisfying bit of work! Plus, no more rummaging through a three-deep pile to find a book. They are in order!

  12. Thanks, Judy, for the joyful, tearful memories…gave me pause to remember Christmas in New York City…my favorite was the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center in the 1960’s when it was a much less elaborate ceremony…carolers, no speeches, and that wonderful aah moment when the mayor or some local celebrity pressed the button and…voila! Magic! Wish it was like that again – too much glitz and glamour in recent years. Takes away from the wonder and excitement of the season.
    If you can reach up to Colt, please give him a hug from me! He is awesome – just like his grandma!

  13. Fortunately, this passing forward is what keeps the treasured values alive and growing, hopefully. Enjoyed meeting you years ago at the Hillerman writers conference in Albuquerque.

  15. I love Snowflake Lane, and have been going for years! My grandson at almost 16 still loves that evening with grandma!

  16. As a former Seattle resident, I got enormous nostalgia out of your description of Christmas there. Is Candy Cane Lane still functioning? (It’s in the u-district).

    Bob Glass

  18. As a born and raised Seattleite now 75 years old who, due to a job transfer, Have now been a 40 years resident of Portland Oregon, I fondly remember my home town traditions 0f the ‘50’s. I was always anxious, even at early grade school age, to get downtown to soak in the elaborate window displays at Frederick & Nelson & the colors of year by their very talented display manager, Jim Hicks. One year F&N even borrowed live polar bears from the Zoo . And don’t forget the Franco Mints! Next it was awe inspiring to view the Star on the corner of the Bon Marche. (Thrilled that Amazon restored & enhanced it.). The Christmas lit boat parade through the Ballard locks on wet dreary nights was a must do because Santa got off the ship to give us Candy canes . My 2 sons barely remember their early experiences
    in Seattle. We did made traditions here, Santa and toy land at Meier & Frank, ice skating at Lloyd Center. Not quite the same when when it was a new experience and not the family tradition. It’s those experiences that bind us together. I’ll have to get up to Bellevue next December to embrace their newer Christmas tradition in an excitingly thriving world.

  19. Wow wonderful memories. Know friend of my husband’s said they were without power for two days there.

  20. Those Christmas traditions in Seattle and Bellevue are some of my favorite memories of my life in Seattle. Thanks for the memories, tears also.
    Liz

  21. I miss Frederick and Nelson at Christmas. Along with Santa in the window, my aunt who worked at Best’s Apparel took me to a higher floor at Frederick’s to see Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly. They also passed out candy. I still have my Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly tree ornaments. I lived in the northend and we neighborhood kids used to ride the Ballard Laurelhust bus downtown alone with a transfer in the U district. We could watch the holiday parade from Metropolitan Business College where my uncle worked. Santa was always the last entry in the parade.

  22. Of course you are a weather wimp! Look where you grew up…Bisbee, and you lived in Tucson (as I have since 1981). I head for the coats when the temp is thinking about dropping!

  24. This story made me very nostalgic- My family was a bit dysfunctional, but Christmas was always wonderful- Birthdays were as well-
    In NYC all the major department stores had beautiful displays, and every magical scene was attended by a crowd-
    I remember seeing the windows of Lord and Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, and
    Bonwit Teller- Alas, they have either closed, or been “updated-” for a younger
    generation- A few years ago I went to Saks, braving the mob on Fifth Avenue, to get inside to buy a present for my husband- There was not much that was familiar about it- The blaring music was not at all christmassy, and there was not a soul around who could tell me which floor to go to for what I had in mind, despite the huge crowd in the lobby-
    This was quite a contrast to the Saks I remembered, where salespeople would practically ambush unshepherded customers with offers of help and guidance-
    I have not been back since- Your lovely Christmas parade sounds just wonderful-
    I hope to see it some day- I guess telling Colt to “Break a leg!” would not be
    the right wish for him up there on stilts-

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