A short and sweet history of Candy Cane Lane

This episode was actually recorded on Christmas Eve of 2020 and has been sitting in a folder on my computer ever since. I am happy to have it finally edited and out in time for people who might not know about candy lane to visit! I also thought about doing an episode on Harvey’s. I will probably start scripting it and digging around for info now. But for now, here’s the original script for the Candy Cane Lane Episode, and happy holidays!

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You know, I woke up this morning and my phone told me it was 30 degrees outside. We sure have reached winter. When I was a kid I used to pray for 30 degrees, because I knew 30 degrees was a chance for snow! But we haven’t had a lot of snowy christmases here. I can recall one white Christmas in the last… ten years? Our snow always seems to come in the year, sometime between January and March. 

Another Christmas staple of growing up in Bremerton was Candy Cane Lane. Candy cane lane was the best Christmas light show in town and most houses on the street participated. They would take donations for the food bank (and presumably the electric bills lol). My mom would bundle the three of us up in coats that had been sent from our grandmother in Southern California, who was perpetually convinced that we must be freezing to death so far north. Mom would hand each one of us a can of something from the pantry and pack us into the backseat of the car to make the drive to candy cane lane. My sisters and I would fight and goof around in the back of the car, my mom would inevitably threaten to turn the car around and take us home. When we arrived We would trade our canned goods to someone at the entry in exchange for a little candy cane. You know the one, the little bitty one in the clear, rectangular wrapper.  then we would join the slow moving caravan of lookie loos. Most of my memories are just of being dazzled by all of the lights outside of the windows, sucking on that bit of candy, slowly sharpening it into holiday shiv. Going to Candy Cane Lane was like going to see Santa. It was magic. 

This week I found myself wondering if candy cane lane is still a thing. Does every town have a candy cane lane? How does such a thing even get started?

Bremerton’s candy cane lane probably got started around 1960 but it’s possible that it goes back into the 1950’s, which is when most of the houses on viewcrest dr and the surrounding area were built. The opinion of what’s included in “Candy Cane Lane” varies a little but every one agrees that Viewcrest Drive is the main body of the cane, with some folks saying that Parklane Dr and a section of E 30th make up the head of the cane. I also saw some talk about sunrise lane, fern wood court and other spots nearby, but none of those were close enough to touch the lane itself, though there’s no doubt they share the same spirit! 

This is where we meet our first founding father of Candy cane lane ( of which there are two).  Also I am so sorry because I am about to massacre this name. Henry Weischoefer was born April 29th of 1922. He graduated from SK HS in 1940. He served in the Army Air Corp from1942-1946. After returning from service in 1946 he joined the family construction business. And this is when candy cane lane is born. The Weischoefers built a lot of neighborhoods in the east Bremerton and manette area, including Viewcrest Dr and possibly the surrounding neighborhoods like Parkland or Sunrise. A kitsap sun article written by Josh Farley in 2018 stated that quote “Local lore has it that a common owner built homes he sold to his friends. They included gates to neighboring backyards to ease walks between homes.” End quote. It’s possible that person was Weischoefer, but I don’t really know. Mr. Weischoefer passed away dec 18 2010, his obituary stating that he was a founding father of Candy Cane Lane in 1960. 

Let’s meet our other founding father, shall we? His name was Jim Sellar. Mr.  Sellar was born in California nov 14,  1913. He moved around a bit, went to school in Chicago before meeting Marian Dilley, who would become his wife. After getting hitched in 1936, The newlyweds moved to Bremerton. Jim took a job at Lent sheet metal and plumbing. He put his expertise from work into good use, using galvanized stove pipe to make the first candy canes for candy cane lane. They were L shaped, he painted them white and wrapped red ribbon around them. These candy canes were mentioned a lot as the symbol of candy cane lane and there used to be strict standards for how the residents of the lane had to space and align the canes along the street. 

Mr. Sellars was well known for the lighted, moving displays he enjoyed building. These included merry-go-rounds, Ferris wheels and spinning Christmas trees. The personal accounts of residents who saw the fesitivities long before my time fondly recount the memory of a large jewelry box, complete with a spinning ballerina. I do not know if that was one of his creations, but it sure sounds like it would be. Mr. Sellars and his family moved away from Viewcrest drive in the 70’s and Mr. sellars passed away in 1995. Even though they were gone, they left behind a strong tradition!

So, is candy cane lane still going now? The houses on Viewcrest have been changing hands over the years, especially now that it’s been long enough for the original residents to leave us. There are two recent kitsap sun articles from 2017 and 2018 about the experiences of new homeowners on Viewcrest Drive. One stated that it was made explicitly clear to them that they were buying a house on candy cane lane but the other homeowner, who was from poulsbo, had no idea until he moved in and found the stovepipe candy canes hanging up in his basement. Not just a gift, but a piece of Bremerton of history. Could you imagine moving into a new home only to discover you’re living smack dab in the middle of candy cane lane?! That had to have been so initimidating. I’ve owned my house, not on Viewcrest, for about four years now and I feel overwhelmed just THINKING about hanging Christmas lights, let alone put out a yard display worthy of an HGTV Christmas special! 

But the answer is yes, Candy Cane Lane has kept going for all this time, enduring tough weather, economic crashes and even a bout of vandalism in the year 2000. If you want to visit candy cane lane it’s in East Bremerton, back behind Trenton Ave. just plug viewcrest dr into your gps- and enjoy the view of Seattle when you top the hill on E. 30th! You can also hit it from the other side, on Sylvan Way, with less of a view. The lights should be on through the new year. And hey, if you stay in the car it’s a pandemic safe activity. 

I poked around and tried to find some vintage photos of our Candy Cane lane but it doesn’t seem there are a lot out there, maybe because low light photography was so difficult in the era of film. I will keep nosing around and post what I find, if anything!

I hope you are all staying healthy and warm and I wish you the happiest of holidays.