Christmas Tree Lane

For 11 months out of the year, Van Ness Avenue is known as one of the most sought after street names to live on. This month, its name is actually forgotten and is known instead as ‘Christmas Tree Lane’.

With the exception of the years 1941 and 1973 (wartime restrictions and energy crisis), this year will be the 89th year in a row that Van Ness Boulevard between Shields Ave and Shaw Ave has been decorated from home to home (some 140+ of them) and tree to tree with millions of lights, tensile, bulbs, and elaborate wood holiday cut-outs.

Whether you are driving the lane or walking the street (there are no sidewalks) under the hundreds of oak and pine you will immediately notice upon entry that you have entered a neighborhood very different than others in Fresno. Unlike the housing developments we see popping up in a few months, this neighborhood took decades to develop. The lots are large, the landscaping lush, and the homes a random a combination of bungalows, period revival, adobe, and ranch. Many of them with basements, libraries, and even the occasional hidden passage!

Christmas Tree Lane began with the decoration of a single tree in the memory of a child that had passed away in 1920 and continues now as a grass-root tradition that provides a budget friendly Christmas event for the over 100,000 that visit it each year. Christmas Tree Lane is such a FresYes experience that people will wait over two hours on busy nights and even get soaked in the rain to experience the magic of ‘the walk’. One of my families favorite things to do while enjoying the lights and music of the night is to try to spot the 8 hidden reindeer! So come out and enjoy the splendor of this historic Fresno tradition with your family and friends this holiday season.

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Jason Farris

Head YES man at FresYes.com

I grew up in Fresno. Relaxed in its calm breezes, listened with my dad to the crack of the bat at little league baseball games when I was a kid and now take my son to do the same at minor league games. I broadened my mind at its schools (I went to high school right here at San Joaquin Memorial, and to college at Fresno State!) I love that if I drive for two hours in one direction, I can be in the mountains. For two hours in another, luxuriating on a California beach. I can enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere of San Francisco or Los Angeles, but still be able to come home to relaxation, calm, and quiet.

I love where I live, and I also love what I do. I'm lucky to be able to work in a profession in which I get to build relationships; one that has me meeting new people each and every day and helping them to build new lives in my beloved city. I'm lucky enough to work in a profession in which I can marry cutting-edge technologies and marketing techniques to good, old-fashioned, nose-to-the-grindstone work. I am lucky enough to work in a profession that allows me to work as an advocate for my clients; to use every tool at my disposal to get a job done well for them, and with as little stress and expense as possible.

I love my city. I love my job. One inspires my excellence for the other.

Fresno? I say FresYES

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