Baltimore's own 'Miracle on 34th Street' light display

The annual event draws thousands of tourists from across the city and beyond – but also spawns traffic jams and parking problems.

from the December 21, 2007 edition

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"We knew what we were getting into, absolutely," says Jeannette Cosper, who moved to the block six years ago. She and her husband were eager to live on the Christmas Street, and when a house came on the market "we knew we had to buy it," she says. Just days after moving in, they received a friendly visit from Burke – to welcome them, but also to remind them of their responsibilities. Forget unpacking; the Cospers had to prove their good citizenship by immediately decorating their new house in time for the official street lighting ceremony, which takes place on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Now their basement is filled with 30 bins of Christmas stuff.

"We enjoy the spirit. We love the crowds a lot," Ms. Cosper says. "My husband sits here on our porch and gives out candy canes to the kids."

Eric and Lisa McDade also made the decision to live on the street, but with an escape clause. "We're only in Baltimore temporarily," says Lisa. (Eric is a medical resident at the University of Maryland hospital.) "So knowing that it was only temporary, we could embrace living on the Christmas Street with fervor."

The McDades are renting their house, but before they signed the lease they learned the rules. They have opted for a simple motif of twinkly lights and gold balls. "We tried to think of a theme, so it's not too hodge-podge, which I think maybe isn't necessarily in the true spirit of our street," Lisa says.

"No, hodge-podge is more the spirit," Eric laughs. "I think ours is a little too restrained."

Still, "it's great living here, it's a lot of fun," Eric says, once you learn basic survival strategies, like making sure to get home before dark, before the crowds arrive. Otherwise, finding parking is its own miracle on 34th Street.

Not everyone agrees that the "miracle" is great fun, especially residents of surrounding streets who have to bear the brunt of nightly traffic jams, idling tour buses, litter, and noise. After the first few hours of hearing Jingle Bells and other holiday hits wafting from outdoor speakers on the 700 block, it can get a bit old – quickly. "It's fun for the first week or so," says George Noleff, who used to live in an apartment across from the Christmas Street, "but then it can get on your nerves. You begin to mumble under your breath."

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The "miracle" is not an official civic event, which puts the Hampden Community Council in an awkward position. It wields little authority over a six-week long extravaganza that has a major impact on its neighborhood. Over the past few years, tensions have surfaced between those who think it helps boost Hampden, a traditionally blue-collar community wrestling with gentrification, and those who find the crowds and traffic unbearable. One unifying element is that almost everyone resents the vendors who come from the outside, setting up trucks and stands to sell hot dogs and hot cocoa, trinkets, and "Miracle on 34th Street" T-shirts.

Powering all the lights must be costly, but no one on the Christmas Street seems to know, or want to know, how much. People often ask if the local utility company, Baltimore Gas and Electric, offers to subsidize the event as a public service. It doesn't. "I don't want them to," Hosier insists, even though electricity rates have doubled in the past year. "If I gotta have other people pay for it, I might as well stop doing it."

But there's another tradition here worth noting: If a family can't afford to light their house, neighbors will, without fuss, pull over an extension cord and plug it into their own socket. And everyone pitches in to decorate the homes of the elderly and help each other string lights from rooftop to rooftop. "I just wish people would take this idea back to their own neighborhoods and decorate," says Hosier, who dons an elf suit most nights at this time of year. "Maybe not as crazy as we do – but in their own way."

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