Christmas Lights on The Cane River of Natchitoches Louisiana

Julie Coleman is interviewed by Charles Marsala of AWE News regarding the Natchitoches Christmas Festival.

The festival was first presented in 1927 when Max Burgdorf, Superintendent of Utilities for the City of Natchitoches, Louisiana, decided that the community needed an event to celebrate the Christmas season. He purchased enough 10-watt Christmas tree bulbs to string along Front Street and to make a set piece to display on the riverbank. No one is certain why Burgdorf wanted the lighting program, but some say that it was his way of saying “thank you” to the city he loved.

The Natchitoches Christmas Festival soon grew to mean more than Christmas lights strung across the downtown area. The first Christmas set piece, credited to Burgdorf, was a piece of metal twisted into a “Star of the East”, which was six feet across and lit with Christmas lights. It was placed on the banks of Cane River Lake across from Front Street. Charles Solomon, a City Utility employee, built the next “Star of the East” that was approximately twenty-one feet across. Solomon, known as Mr. Christmas, created forty set pieces during his four decades while serving as Chief Electrical Inspector. Charles Maggio helped Solomon create the set pieces after beginning work in the Power and Light Department in 1936. Solomon and Maggio volunteered their services to the city long after their retirement in 1973 and 1976, respectively.

The famous set pieces can also be seen in the movie “Steel Magnolias”, which was produced in 1989 in Natchitoches. Through the years, unique traditions have evolved that allow the Natchitoches community to celebrate in its own special way. The first Christmas Festival Parade is believed to have taken place in the 1940s.

Throughout its history, the Christmas Festival has become a family-friendly event that is sensitive to the needs of both tourists and residents. The traditions that have evolved from this event have helped shape the area’s unique history. Every event and tradition has etched its way into the very fabric of our history and plays as much an important role as any historical figure, place, or event of the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. The many unique traditions set Natchitoches Christmas Festival apart from any other celebrations.

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