GRASS VALLEY, Calif. — If you visit the Sierra Foothills in December, you'll find a dazzling trail of lights leading straight to downtown Grass Valley. If you follow Paul Haas, the town crier, he will give you a tour of the annual Cornish Christmas celebration.
As you make your way down Main Street, you'll encounter a festive bazaar filled with vendors, lively musicians and even a walking Christmas tree — who claims to be more popular than Santa Claus.
"I’m more unusual, that's why," said a festively decorated Cindy Moon.
Grass Valley's Cornish Christmas celebration is a long standing tradition dating back to the Gold Rush era.
"Cornish Christmas has been taking place, not just the 56th annual, but it goes all the way back to when the Cornish miners came to Nevada County to mine from the hard rock," Haas said.
The Cornish people came from Cornwall, England, which had many underground tin mines. During the California gold rush, many Cornish people were enlisted to help dig mines and extract gold from underground gold veins near Grass Valley.
"With that, they brought the Cornish carol choirs, and those are what we're going to see," said Haas.
The Cornish carols are the highlight of the event.
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Eleanor Kenitzer has led the choir on the steps of Union Square for over 35 years.
"To us, this is a living history. They've been sung here in our street since 1878. Every single solitary Christmas," Kenitzer said.
Carols were very important to Cornish miners, with music rooted in Methodist hymns passed down through generations and eventually reaching Grass Valley. Kenitzer has faced challenges in keeping this tradition alive. The carols were never written down as sheet music.
"So when we started singing 35 years ago, we didn't have a lot of written music. They handed me a record and said, 'Here's the music.' So, I had to copy it off the record and give it out to the choir," Kenitzer said.
The Cornish people introduced new traditions and innovations to Grass Valley, including the iconic meat-filled Cornish pasty and the Cornish pump, essential for mining.
"The Cornish pump is what goes around and actually de-waters the mine, otherwise the ground is full of water and we’d all be swimming under there," said Kenitzer.
Without the Cornish miners, Grass Valley may have just been another gold rush ghost town, but thanks to their hard work in the mines and the welcoming culture, the town has grown to what it is today.
MORE WINTER FAMILY FUN ON THE BACKROADS: You don't have to walk your sled up the huge hill at Leland Snowplay in Tuolumne County. Take the magic carpet instead.
