If you can see Mt. Baker, you are part of The Experience
Drive west on Highway 101 at night during the winter months, and you're in for a long, dark, lonely journey. From the Hood Canal Bridge all the way to Sequim Bay, it’s mostly just you and the next car’s taillights in the black of night. But then you reach the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal area five miles east of Sequim, and it’s as though someone threw a switch: you come upon a true winter wonderland of light.
You are suddenly greeted – and surrounded – by a breathtaking array of Christmas lights. The experience is definitely mood changing. What started as a dreary nighttime drive immediately transforms into a joyous celebration of light.
The festive surroundings embody the holiday spirit on a stunning scale: this is one of the largest such displays in the state. It began 19 years ago as a more modest endeavor.
According to Tribal Chairman Ron Allen, “It all started with my brother Jerry (CEO of Seven Cedars Resort & Casino) traveling to Gig Harbor one Christmas to visit friends. He was captivated by the Christmas lights he saw in the neighborhood, which were very well done. I think the enjoyment of seeing those lights took him back to childhood memories of holiday decorations and Christmas lights when he and I were kids.”
“I was impressed,” Jerry said. “It’s part of the Christmas spirit that Ron and I, as baby boomers, grew up with.” Jerry talked to Ron about decorating the casino, initially thinking they would do the display in-house, but they realized it would be too much to take on.
Asking around, Jerry discovered the residential displays were the work of a local Gig Harbor man, Patrick Walker. Jerry contacted Walker about the possibility of illuminating the trees and grounds around the Seven Cedars Casino. Started as low-key “holiday decorating,” the area has blossomed into an ever-expanding explosion of light, color, and holiday cheer.
Lights are put up the week prior to Thanksgiving, and stay up through Christmas and into the New Year, Jerry said.
What began as Patrick Walker’s childhood hobby with his brother turned into a business. “I started hanging holiday lights when I was ten years old,” explained Patrick. “My first project was my parent’s home. From there we went to neighborhood residential decorating. Over the years the business has grown, so now we just do large properties, like tribal casinos. Jerry was my steppingstone.”
“We sure enjoy having these decorations put up,” Ron said. “We hear many, many stories of families making the drive every year to see the lights. We have people who lodge with us every Christmas and look forward to the lights. We've even had truck drivers tell us that driving among the holiday lights at night can focus them like a cup of coffee.”
The Tribe’s holiday display has grown every Christmas. Patrick began by decorating the casino the first year, then expanded to the Longhouse and the adjoining grounds in subsequent years.
“That initial year,” Patrick explained, “we just did the casino, outlining the building and decorating a few trees. But it's snowballed from there, and our business has grown right along with the tribe.”
“Patrick is quite creative,” Ron said, “and he keeps expanding.” Walker’s decorations went on to include the tribal administrative buildings along Highway 101 on the north and south campus, as well as the Seven Cedars Golf Course property at Dungeness and the Dungeness River Nature Center.
Moving forward, any new buildings the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe constructs will automatically include plans for Christmas lights.
When Council members of Marysville's Tulalip Tribe visited Jamestown for a retreat, they were blown away. “Their reaction,” Ron recalled, “was ‘wow… we've got to do this!’” Patrick’s business kept expanding.
Patrick’s company, P. Walker of Gig Harbor, now handles close to 40 million lights every Christmas in properties spread across three states, creating what Patrick called some of the biggest displays in the country. The trees, buildings, and bushes of the Jamestown property alone require between four and a half to five million lights.
“People don't realize how many lights go into making a display of this magnitude,” Patrick points out. “There are three big birch trees by the entrance to the Jamestown Casino; just one of those big birches takes close to 40,000 lights. Remember, we wrap each and every branch, and we work one branch at a time.”
Jerry said the display is expanding every year, and that feedback from the community has been “over the top” in its positivity to the gargantuan displays.
Ron explained that their philosophy is rooted in giving back to the community. He acknowledged that the cold winter weeks leading up to Christmas can be a gloomy time of year, but that their festive display always lifts everyone's spirits. Jerry chimes in, noting that the dark highway leading up to their campus works to their advantage. With no city lights to compete with, their decorations shine brightly.
“We think of ourselves as the gateway to the Olympic Peninsula,” Jerry said. “And it certainly feels that way as you dive through this time of year.”
Many people, including retirees, parents, and grandparents, make a special trip each winter just to see the lights, and even those who’ve seen it before still find it brings a smile to their faces, Ron said. Patrick echoed this sentiment, saying that they love putting the display together because of the joy it brings to people.
“We love putting this together because of the amount of enjoyment it gives people,” Patrick said. "The response has been very positive … phenomenal, actually. It's like Jerry and Ron point out, it's a ‘gift back to the community’ for their support.”
If you are within driving distance of the tribal area – just off the southern tip of Sequim Bay – seeing this roadside attraction is definitely worth the trip. You won't be disappointed. X
