By: Cassie Pearce

Seven-year-old Julia Ascolese, a Hampden community resident waited patiently on the corner of 34^th Street and Chestnut Avenue. Twirling the ends of her scarf and giggling with her sister she waited for the neighborhoods’ nightly festivities to begin. “I always know that it is time for Christmas when I can see the colors from the lights in my bedroom window” she exclaimed pointing to her house about a block diagonal from 34^th Street. Over 60 years ago the residents of this block began an annual tradition that became known as Baltimore’s Miracle on 34^th Street

.Each year, 34^th Street draws in thousands of anxious visitors during the holiday season. Homeowners decorate every reachable inch of their property and flip the switch the weekend after Thanksgiving until Little Christmas on January 6^th. For the past eight years, James Tulner and his family come down to see the lights and get themselves ready for the holidays. “The lights are truly just the beginning of the decorations on this block,” he stated while observing the extravagant Christmas tree made of hubcaps on one of the lawns. Though the multicolored Christmas lights are the main reason the street received public recognition, the artistic homeowners on 34^th Street go above and beyond. A Christmas tree made of old records, a display of brass crabs and old bay spices and snowmen made of bicycles are some of the streets most underrated spectacles. “When you see people put effort into making other people happy, I think you really understand the season itself,” Tulner shared before snapping pictures.

Over the years, homeowners add more and more to their displays. This year, one of the visitors noticed that the blow up snow globes had never been there before as she walked down the street, once again emphasizing the wonderful tradition that has emerged in Hampden. Though the houses are predominantly decorated for Christmas, a home located in the middle of the North side of the street brings together all people. This homeowner creatively and beautifully put together a display with lights and flags representing the global community. As a message for all citizens this season, the word PEACE is lit up with a dove above it symbolizing the true beauty of the holiday season.

Unfortunately, one of the residents shared a “Grinchy” attitude towards the exhibit: “This street can bring almost 1,000 people in one night to our neighborhood making the traffic impossible to deal with,” she said with a frown. But as the children of the neighborhood skipped by, she smirked making it easy to see that any aggravation and hard work that goes into this is truly worth it. For the citizens of Baltimore, this street serves as an example of how important coming together for the holidays truly is.

As Julia Ascolese came back from making her circle around the block, she concluded, “This is my favorite part of Christmas cause it gives me so many ideas for what I’m going to decorate my house like!” This display, located between Chestnut Avenue and Keswick Road, turns on daily from 5p.m. to 11p.m. and should not be missed this holiday season.