Light in the darkness

The Wildwood Star

December 24

Lois & Sutherland Streets

On Christmas Eve, look way up and you will see the Wildwood star shining brightly in the night.

The Wildwood star is a Christmas tradition that started 37 years ago, by long time Wildwood resident Bob Stutt.

The Birds and the Browns are long-time supporters of the star. Terry Peters says his family joined in when his Grandma, the late Ann McKay, who was housebound, lived on Lois Street and could see the star from her home. “It lit up her day,” Terry recalled.

Annually, the star lights up, for the first time on Christmas Eve and is taken down on New Year’s Day.

To see the star, head over to Lois and Sutherland streets on a clear night and look up before 10 pm.

When everyone gets together to haul the star, gas, generator, lights, and more, up the mountain, they plan a little get together around the star. There’s a fire and the helpers drink hot chocolate to celebrate the season.

“It’s a collective effort to keep it going, but I’d like to give a big shout out to Scotty Brown, for being so passionate about the star. It’s his generator that keeps it going,” says Terry.

He still thinks the best star story is the one when Bob Stutt’s family hired a helicopter for Bob (who was too frail to walk to the top of the mountain) and had it fly him over to the site.

Dressed as Santa Claus, Pete Bird joined Bob in the helicopter and when they flew over the star everyone who was setting it up looked up to see Santa throwing candy canes down on them!

-Isabelle Southcott