(Tom) This week on Arizona Illustrated's Holiday Special, Winterhaven celebrates its diamond anniversary.

(Eileen) It's outstanding, you know, and I'm a new resident of Tucson, so the first thing I did when I moved here was ask where do I go from the holiday spirit?

This was top of the list.

(Tom) Some special performances by Tucson's Girls Chorus.

(Marcela) I think choirs and music examples in general are a perfect example of a really well balanced example of what a community should look like.

(Tom) All aboard!

the Verde Canyon Railroad Christmas Train!

(Ellen) Christmas and trains, it's just sort of intrinsically linked.

We wanted to do something special for the families of Arizona to come and experience a train ride.

(Tom) And will visit a one-of-a-kind holiday market.

(Adriana) I just want everybody to have a little piece of our culture.

Behind me there's a traditional doll, so I have the Maso, the Deer Dancer, centerpiece for the Yaqui tribe.

(Tom) Ho, ho, hello and welcome to a special holiday episode of Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara.

We are joining you from the Winterhaven Festival of Lights, which is currently celebrating its 75th anniversary.

The annual tradition started back in 1949, and in that time has only missed two years, once for an energy crisis in the 1970s and in 2020 for the coronavirus pandemic.

The event is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. has hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and is one of the largest fundraisers for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

Eight years in the neighborhood, what's it been like?

(Trent) It's been great.

We always look forward to this time of year.

You know, my son, he's five years old, he has been excited for about, excited for it since Halloween.

We started decorating, I think, November 1st.

(Tom) What's been the biggest surprise over the years for you?

(Trent) It's a sheer amount of people.

It's like having a parade outside of your house for two weeks.

You plan not to leave at night, make sure you buy your groceries and whatnot during the day, get home before five o'clock and hunker down.

(Tom) What are you looking forward to in the new year?

(Trent) Just continuing to be with my family.

You know, my son is very young and we're very privileged to be here with him a lot and to see him grow and create these new memories and just being with my family.

Yeah, and I'm also going on sabbatical next year, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Good luck.

(Tom) Family, food and fun are some of the traditions that come to mind during the holidays and music is also a major one.

Next, we take you to a special rehearsal performance of Carol of the Bells with the Tucson Girls Chorus and meet their director, Dr. Marcela Molina, who's been leading the group for nearly 20 years.

[ PRACTICE SET UP NOISES ] (Marcela) This organization has been in the community since 1985.

So we are approaching our 40th anniversary next year, which is very exciting.

It has blossomed into a very vibrant, big organization that serves young women from K through 12 in several locations, provides subsidized programming in partnership with Title I schools and a very robust program for music teachers to support music educators in their journey because, you know, music teachers and teachers in general, they're just so valuable for our community.

And we feel very strongly about supporting our music educators because they are really shaping the future of our world.

I think it transforms lives.

You know, when I started, I told the people who hired me at the time, I said, "I will be there for a year."

And it's been 17.

And it's really because of the girls.

It's been- watching them blossom into their full potential in a world that is just complicated and they are navigating so many - so many challenges, and exposed to so much.

This is very centering and very grounding into- just open up and lift their voice.

♪ WARM UP SINGING (Marcela) You know, I always say that we don't help them find their voice, but we actually create spaces for them to lift it, because it has always been there.

[ BACKGROUND CHATTER ] They have this shared love and this shared goal.

I mean, I think choirs and I think music ensembles in general are a perfect example of like a really well-balanced example of what a community should look like.

♪ JAUNTY PIANO AND SINGING ♪ If somebody tells me I have never heard the girls chorus, I would tell them you're in for a treat.

There is the perfect picture of what I call the possibilities of the world.

♪ YO SOY LUZ - CARLOS CORDERO ♪ I come from Colombia, a country that, you know, for years we have lived in a civil war that has chaotic beauty.

I call it the chaotic beauty.

And the fact that I am able to do what I do in this country is almost a miracle.

And I want the girls to feel like they are powerful and then they can do whatever they put their mind into.

This is just possible.

There is so much potential.

♪ CAROL OF THE BELLS - MYKOLA LEONTOVYCH ♪ ♪ CAROL OF THE BELLS - MYKOLA LEONTOVYCH ♪ ♪ CAROL OF THE BELLS - MYKOLA LEONTOVYCH ♪ ♪ CAROL OF THE BELLS - MYKOLA LEONTOVYCH ♪ ♪ CAROL OF THE BELLS - MYKOLA LEONTOVYCH ♪ ♪ RHYTHMIC STOMPING AND CLAPPING TO SONG ♪ ♪ SINGING SWELLS AND ENDS (Tom) Hey, it wouldn't be Christmas without the Grinch, right?

Are you going to be nice this year for a change?

(The Grinch) Why would I be nice?

It's naughty time.

(Tom) Oh Grinch, it's Christmas time.

(The Grinch) But I like stealing everybody's presents.

(Tom) Are you going to do that this year?

All of (The Grinch) All of them.

(Tom) Yeah.

Hey, tell us about Winterhaven and what it's like to see people marching by and how they... (The Grinch) Well, I've been the Grinch for three years here.

Yeah.

My sister-in-law's house.

It's been great, you know.

I love the kids coming running up.

Some of them are scared.

Some of them love it.

But you know, it's definitely, it puts some love in your heart when they come running up.

Can I get a hug Grinch?

Aww, yes, come here.

I love it.

(Tom) Can we talk you out of stealing presents this year?

(The Grinch) Maybe just for you.

(Tom) Okay, thanks.

Next, we hop aboard the Verde Canyon Christmas Train where Santa's elves are on board spreading Christmas cheer as we pass through canyons and see Arizona's animals lit up for the season and we'll enter a magical tunnel that transports us all the way to the North Pole.

♪ BELLS RINGING [ HIGH PITCHED TRAIN HORN ] We are at Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarkdale, Arizona.

We're celebrating the magical Christmas journey which starts right here at the Bird's Eye Village.

William A. Clark was the dude who put this all together back in the day.

So Clarkdale was founded in 1912.

Same year Arizona became a state, same year these tracks were built.

And these tracks were built to serve the United Verde Copper Company out of Jerome.

The smelter was here in Clarkdale, the mines were up in Jerome.

So we have a lot of amazing history along our route.

We have all kinds of great decorations and photo ops.

We have some creatures of Arizona.

Liberty Wildlife is a long time partner of ours since like 2010 and they bring a bald eagle to our magical Christmas journey every night.

(Markio) This is Cochise, he came to us all the way from Wyoming.

What Cochise wants for Christmas is probably chicken legs.

He loves chicken legs, and he probably will get that.

But he is pretty happy to eat whatever we give him, which is usually anything from quail to rats.

That would be the most common thing that he would eat.

He's a good boy.

He's not on the naughty list.

♪ PEACEFUL SERENE MUSIC (Ellen) We have a slew of elves.

So we have an abundance of elves this year.

We have funnel cake fries, we have hot cocoa bar.

We have a beverage bar on the patio where folks can get Arizona craft beers, even for the grown up.

At boarding time, they'll make a couple of announcements and you'll board the train just about 10 minutes prior to departure time.

So really an easy process.

The train is about a quarter mile long, so we do have a lot of cars, and we'll direct you to which one you need to go to.

Everyone is booked to this very warm, inviting living room style car, comfy sofas with your family hot cocoa in your hand.

And then you can go out immediately.

There's an open air car directly adjacent to your car.

So you can go out to that open air car whenever you like, and the air is brisk, and there's that breeze coming in at 12 miles an hour, and lights dangling from the open air cars.

We follow Santa's secret tracks to the North Pole, and back we go through a secret tunnel.

And that transports us from right here in Clarkdale, Arizona, out to the North Pole.

And it's about an hour long trip, and you see the animals lit in the distance leading our way to the North Pole, and it's all very exciting.

The elves are cheering us on and announcing as we get closer and closer to the North Pole, and everybody gets so excited.

And then there it is, the North Pole.

It's amazing.

The North Pole is so cool.

It's amazing life-size buildings out there.

Santa's workshop, Mrs. Claus's bakery, the ugly sweater factory, which is where I got this, Um naughty kids coal mine for when the children are naughty and they might get coal in their stocking.

We pick Santa up at the North Pole, and he rides back with us and visits all the children on the train.

[ CHILDREN SHOUTING IN EXCITEMENT ] (Santa) Merry Christmas everybody!

How's everybody doing tonight?

(Ellen) On the train ride back, we have some singing and dancing and fun music, and Santa will come through all the cars and visit with all the children and give them each a little gift to commemorate their trip to the North Pole.

Ho ho, Merry Christmas!

(Ellen) So, magical Christmas journey, it always begins the weekend after Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas Eve.

Christmas and trains, it's just sort of intrinsicly linked People have a great fondness for that little train going around underneath their Christmas tree.

Um we wanted to do something special for the families of Arizona.

To come and experience a train ride.

You can actually see our depot from miles away at nighttime.

It's pretty cool.

We see stars out there.

It's pretty beautiful to be out there.

And we just sort of touch the edge of the wilderness here on the magical Christmas journey.

But it's really, as soon as we get out of town, you're transported to a different place, for sure.

(Santa) Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas.

[ TRAIN HORN HONKING ] (Tom) It's a pretty big deal this year this is the diamond anniversary of this festival of lights.

You moved here a couple of years ago from Salt Lake City what do you what do you think of this?

(Jen) This is so fun like in Utah you don't get to walk around without snow on the ground.

Well, I just noticed this home was for sale, and I told my husband I wanted him to buy it for me, because that's so fun here.

I would love to live in this neighborhood.

We felt like we were like transported back into the 50s.

(Tom) Which is more or less where this started around 1949, 1950 (Jen) That makes sense.

75th anniversary, yeah.

(Eileen) I'm a new resident to Tucson.

So the first thing I did when I moved here was ask, where do I go for the holiday spirit?

This was top of the list.

Everyone in this community loves this.

They come back year after year, and I'm really glad to have experienced it my first time.

(Tom) Where did you move from?

(Eileen) I moved from Oregon.

(Tom) Okay, do they have anything like this?

(Eileen) We have some things.

There's Peacock Lane, but it's not nearly as large, and I don't think it's quite as intense.

So it's quite nice to see that.

(Tom) Is this one of the pleasant surprises you've found so far in Tucson?

(Eileen) So many things, the people, the community, but also how people gather to celebrate the season.

It's just lovely.

(Tom) Loom Market is a virtual marketplace where heritage-based artists can sell their work, network, and preserve their cultural knowledge.

Indigenous artists from all walks of life get together under the Loom Market umbrella to support each other and create community.

♪ SOFT MUSIC (Denise) Loom Market was originally intended to be an e-commerce platform that launched in 2022.

We have been so happy to bring artists from the different local communities, including Indigenous communities and African-American artists.

(Rosemarie) I am a Tohono O'odham horsehair miniature artist.

I make horsehair baskets.

I do different types of designs, split stitch, whirlwind, squash blossoms, man in the maze design baskets.

I grew up in the Yaqui culture.

My parents grew up in the Old Pascuas.

I started making Yaqui dolls in 2005.

And when I was working at Job Corps as an art teacher, I made a little Virgin Mary holding the baby.

I made 10 of them and I ended up selling a bunch and then I just went from there.

(Homer) My mom's side is Hopi, so I learned to carve on Hopi's side.

Then when I came to my dad's side, which is Tohono O'odham, I didn't know where to sell the Kachina dolls, so I started carving what I saw down here.

So when I carved now, I carved both tribes, you know, representing both.

(Charlotte) I'm the daughter of Tony Ham, who was a milliner in Tucson, Arizona.

She started her business in 1991, uh, called Tony's Designs.

And she designed all these lovely hats behind me.

(Pilo) Soy del estado de Chihuahua en México.

Es el noroeste del estado de Chihuahua.

Tengo más que 40 años trabajando en esto.

Pudiera decir, “Soy un ceramista,” pero todavía no.

Conozco alguna rama de la cerámica, pero estoy especializado en la alfarería de la región en el caso de Mata Ortiz.

(Denise) During the pandemic, we asked artists what they needed, and they said they needed an e-commerce platform and a professional development capacity building space for artists.

That's when we began to develop Loom.

We have been so happy to bring them all together through this platform so that they can network and learn from each other and share resources.

(Rosemarie) I started making horsehair baskets when I was seven years old.

Horsehair miniature is a contemporary art and it started back in the 1960s when the settlers came.

Horsehair baskets was a contemporary art to trade with foods different types of goods.

That's how horsehair became an art, a contemporary art.

This year I barely started incorporating dyed horsehair, so these are some of the samples that I do have.

(Charlotte) My mom made these hats years ago and she's no longer with us, as she's passed away as of two and a half years ago from dementia.

In order to continue to share her works, I carry on that legacy by getting them out there and sharing them with whoever is interested.

The uniqueness and the familiarity with these hats are along with the African-American community.

They're widely known in the Black church, where you see in the South, these women would wear these beautiful hats to adorn their crown.

And so there's so many different styles of hats in order to go with different types of outfits to accentuate their hair and their dress for the day.

Mata Ortiz es un lugar que está, como le digo, en el noroeste del estado de Chihuahua.

Existió una cultura que desaparece hace más de 600 años.

De ello, heredamos la técnica de elaborar la cerámica.

Entonces, le puedo decir, son más de 40 años que me dedico a esto.

No sé si soy un artista.

No se si soy un especialista ya en ello, pero me ha dado mucho que aprender y me sigue dando que aprender.

Es muy, muy extenso esto aquí.

Este trabajo es elaborado totalmente a mano.

Los materiales son procesados por mi mismo, tanto el barro como los pigmentos.

No lo vas a encontrar en la tienda.

Nosotros mismos los hacemos y los elaboramos.

Le estaba diciendo al principio que es una técnica ancestral.

Es una técnica antigua de más de 600 años que se rescató y hace 50 años, por decir algo, se está volviendo a trabajar en ello.

Pero es con la técnica en el caso de Paquimé, de la cultura que existió en la región de donde vengo yo, en Mato Ortiz, en Casas Grandes.

Y es lo que estoy haciendo.

(Adriana) I just want everybody to have a little piece of our culture.

There's certain dolls I can't make, like the Fariseos, because they're very spiritual.

Behind me there's a traditional doll.

So I have the Maso, the deer dancer, centerpiece for the Yaqui tribe.

I also have the Matachín, the maple dancer.

And then the corn maiden doll.

So it's very sacred and important to our culture to represent them.

Every kachina's got a spirit or something, you know.

The Snow Maiden represents snow, and Hopi dry land farmers, so they want the snow to soak into the ground.

For the Butterfly Maiden, she represents the butterfly, and she prays for everybody.

Water, you know, everything's all for water.

The wood that we use is the cottonwood, the root, and traditionally, that's where the Kachina dolls are carved from.

Some I can knock them out real quick, you know, a couple days a week.

Some will take like six months to three months, you know, it varies depending on how much detail.

(Denise) The community can definitely help support Loom artists going to loom.market.

100% of the sale goes to the artist.

We don't take a cut at all.

We don't take any commission.

(Tom) How does it make you feel walking in here every year?

Seeing the lights, seeing the crowds.

- I feel good because the first thing you're doing is you're handing over cans of food and stuff.

So it makes you feel good because you know you're given to a good cause.

And then we come to you and... - Lifts your spirits.

I mean, the spirit is here.

It's great.

- While we have you here in your gear, what's your prediction for the D-backs in 2025?

- We're gonna win the World Series.

- All the way.

Yeah, piece of cake.

Yep, we've got the guys, we can do it.

- Merry Christmas!

- Merry Christmas!

(Tom) Now we'll drop in again on the Tucson Girls Chorus for another holiday song and their director, Marcela Molina, will introduce it for us.

(Marcela) Silent Night, Traditional Carol, arranged by an alum of the program, class of 2012.

♪ SILENT NIGHT - FRANZ XAVER GRUVER ♪ ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ All is calm, all is bright ♪ Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child ♪ ♪ Holy Infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ Shepherd's quake at the sight ♪ ♪ Glories stream from heaven afar ♪ ♪ Heavenly hosts sing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ Son of God, love's pure light ♪ ♪ Radiant beams from thy holy face ♪ ♪ With the dawn of redeeming grace ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, at thy birth ♪ Jesus, Lord, at thy birth (Tom) Thank you for joining us from the Winterhaven Festival of Lights.

And no matter how you celebrate the holidays, all of us at Arizona Illustrated wish you and your family a very, very happy holiday season.

I'm Tom McNamara, we will see you again next week.