The Peace Candle is a tower-like structure erected every Christmas season in Easton, Pennsylvania. The approximately tall structure, which resembles a giant candle, is assembled each year over the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument, a Civil War memorial located in the city's Centre Square. It is typically assembled in mid November and lighted over Thanksgiving weekend and disassembled in early February each year.
The Peace Candle was first erected in 1951, and has been put up every year (except two) since then. Due to damage or disrepair, the Peace Candle has been replaced with new candle structures twice since the original construction. The first candle lasted until 1968, the second candle from 1969 to 1989, and the current candle was built in 1990. The structure is dedicated to the Easton area men and women who have served or are serving in the United States armed forces.
It has been said to be the largest non-wax Christmas candle in the country. Although conceived with the hopes of restoring Easton's pre-20th century reputation for elaborate Christmas decorations, city officials also believed a candle would serve as a symbol of peace for all religions and denominations. Due to its symbolism for peace and its placement over a Civil War monument, the candle has been the site of several anti-war protests over the decades. Some have criticized the Peace Candle, calling it a symbol of the over-commercialization of Christmas, and condemning the fact that it covers a war monument.
Structure
The Peace Candle has undergone several changes and variations over the last 68 years. The current candle was built in 1990, and is expected to last until about 2014, after which time Easton officials expect to build a new one. As of 2009, the central main candle stands , and the base brings it to about . It reaches a height of about above ground level when factoring the monument it rests atop. When the candle is assembled, several by 8-foot by box pieces are placed around the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument, a Civil War memorial in Centre Square, the town square of Easton's Downtown neighborhood. Made from marine-grade plywood and galvanized steel, the box pieces are stacked vertically until the structure is assembled, and then bolted together using about 500 bolts inside the Peace Candle. The flame placed atop the candle is about high and illuminated with 31 bulbs. The entire structure weighs between eight and 10 tons. The main candle is surrounded by four, high side candles, and a fountain that surrounds the Peace Candle's base is filled with a ring of Christmas trees.
The Peace Candle is believed to be the largest non-wax Christmas candle in the United States. Since it was first erected in 1951, Easton city officials have at various times declared it the largest candle in the world. In 1972, city council president Henry Schultz declared, "We claim, and no one has ever argued with us, that this is the largest candle in the world." However, the Schlitz Christmas Candle, a non-wax candle-like structure in Schlitz, a small town in Hesse, Germany, is larger at tall. The current Peace Candle is taller than the Guinness World Record-holder for tallest candle, which belongs to an tall, wide candle exhibited at the General Art and Industrial Exhibition of Stockholm in 1897. However, only wax candles are eligible for the record, and there is no Guinness World Record for largest non-wax candle. When the third incarnation of the Peace Candle was built in 1990, Easton officials tried unsuccessful to seek a Guinness record for it.
Creation Easton, the county seat of Northampton County in Pennsylvania, was considered one of the earliest cities to feature elaborate Christmas decoration displays on its city streets, with brightly colored lights and ornamental displays adorning its homes, businesses and residences long before they appeared in other American cities. Easton is also believed to be the home of America's first Christmas tree, as German immigrants who settled in Easton brought the symbol with them in 1816. By the mid-20th century, however, the predominance of Christmas decorations began to diminish in Easton, and support among city officials and residents began to wane as interest in the tradition dropped. Bethlehem, another Northampton County city, came better known for its elaborate Christmas decorations, although it has been suggested it followed the example first set by Easton. In 1951, Mrs. Hutton Hughes wrote a letter in the city's newspaper, The Easton Express, urging that a new holiday program of Christmas lighting be established in the city. On June 13, 1951, the Merchants Association of the Easton Chamber of Commerce responded to the letter by forming the Easton Area Christmas Committee, which set a goal of restoring the prestige of Easton's old Yuletide decorations. Several suggestions were made for a Christmas centerpiece in Centre Square, the town square of Easton's downtown neighborhood, to serve as the focal point of the Christmas program and promote downtown shopping. One of the suggestions was to pile evergreen trees around the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument, a Civil War memorial located in Centre Square, but it was deemed too expensive to pursue. Another suggestion was to attach a giant candy cane atop the monument, but it was dismissed as too secular. During one of the committee meetings, Easton resident Virginia Purdy suggested the idea of assembling a large candle in Centre Square, "because it would have no commercial aspect and it would serve to further good will in the community". The proposal was accepted.
Easton Councilman Frank Bechtel was named chairman of the Easton Area Christmas Committee, and W. Nilan Jones was appointed chairman of the construction subcommittee. Jones, with the help of committee member and architect William Tydeman, studied the engineering angles involved in building a wooden candle structure that could be assembled over the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument. After determining such a project would be feasible, Jones drafted plans for a candle-shaped tower. The committee sought $4,000 for the Christmas display, and asked about 1,200 businesspeople were asked to make donations. Volunteers from the community, as well as members of the Local 239 United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, dedicated time, money and materials to the project, and Theodore Bean, proprietor of the local contractor company Bean, Inc., arranged for the use of his equipment and services to erect the candle.
However, four days before it was scheduled to be built, Tydeman determined the structure design was too high to withstand the winds, and that there was a risk that it could topple along with the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument. Tydeman resigned from the project to protect his company from possibly liability, but helped the committee come up with a new, safer design. The committee considered piercing the plywood panels to allow wind to travel through, but Jones said "some of the wood could have splintered apart and taken someone's head off". Jones called A.P. Heller, the Reading-based company that built the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument, and sought advice from the son of the man who owned the firm when the work was done. The son suggested shortening the candle would allow it to withstand the wind, but also delivered a message from his father: "He wants to know why you want to cover up his work?" The candle proposal was completely redesigned and cut to .
The planned structure was referred to as the Christmas Candle, which it was called every year until 1967. Construction began on December 8, 1951. Using a crane with a berm, as well as electrical equipment and other tools, 20 workmen placed the heavy plywood sheathing sections along all four sides of the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument. The structure was red with speckles of gold and silver, and green fir foliage around the base. It was assembled in four sections, which each ranged between and in weight. Once the tower was complete, it was topped off by an electric neon "flame". Since the Christmas Candle design was cut to , the top of the candle reached the base of a bugler statue at the top of the memorial. The flame consisted a cage-like frame of curved steel bars covered with yellow neon lights. The flame was placed over the bugler, and a yellow cotton sack was placed atop the statue to further create the image of a flame, and so the bugler would not be visible atop the candle. Plastic wax drippings were designed to extend downward from the top of the candle beneath the flame. Construction of the Christmas Candle progressed slower than expected because Bean Inc. contractors had trouble attaching the base sections. The work was not finished until December 9. The original Christmas Candle display cost $3,390.92, all of which was offset by donations from about 271 donors amounting to $4,055.35 in total.
First candle (1951–1968) Inaugural decade
On December 10, 1951, Easton Mayor Joseph Morrison flipped the switch to light up the Christmas Candle during its first dedication ceremony. Joining Morrison and Frank Bechtel in the dedication were a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi and a Protestant minister, to demonstrate the Christmas Candle was meant to serve as a symbol of peace for all religions and denominations. News reports indicate between 500 and 1,000 people attended the ceremony. In addition to the candle, the decorations included Christmas trees, smaller candle displays, large plywood wreaths and Christmas lights set up by students from the Easton High School and the city's Wolf and Schull junior high schools. It also included a plaque honoring the Easton area men and women on active duty in the United States armed forces. The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission decorated the nearby Northampton Street bridge, which crossed the Delaware River, with its first Christmas light display in 14 years. A series of nightly Christmas choir concerts were held in front of the Christmas Candle starting December 18, and organ music was piped to the Centre Square from the city's First Presbyterian Church. Downtown business owners participated by decorating their windows with Christmas themes. Morrison called the Christmas Candle display "the most elaborate in Easton's history". The Christmas Candle was so large it drew the attention of airplanes passing over the city.
On December 11, however, one of the neon lights in the flame structure short-circuited and started a fire on the yellow cotton sack placed over the bugler statue, causing an actual fire on the Christmas Candle flame for a brief amount of time. The blaze caused only minor damage to the Christmas Candle, but the bugler statue was exposed and visible inside the flame for the rest of the season. Despite this setback, the Christmas Candle was widely considered a success, and the Easton Area Christmas Committee signed a charter on December 17, 1951, tasking itself with organizing a yearly holiday program revolving around the Christmas Candle. The candle was assembled again every Christmas season until 1961, with ceremonies generally including holiday decorations, Christmas carols, refreshments, appearances by Santa Claus and other forms of entertainment. The Easton Area Christmas Committee was responsible for raising the funds and encouraging the civic interest necessary to keep the program active.