A star shall lead them – to buy a card

Star of wonder, star of light. Buy a card to keep it burning bright.

That’s the message from the Boulder Chamber, which again is selling holiday cards to help pay for operation and maintenance of the star that has shone on the side of Flagstaff Mountain above Boulder during every holiday season since 1947.

This year’s card is designed by Theresa Haborkorn and produced by Leanin’ Tree. Bookcliff Vineyards also produces a wine to benefit the Boulder Star Fund.

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The history of the display is as quirky as Boulder itself.

For more than two decades it alternated between a star during the Christmas season and a cross leading up to Easter. A constitutional challenge to a religious symbol on city park property ended up scuttling the cross, but the star remained as a symbol of Boulder’s sense of community.

Students from Colorado A&M (now Colorado State University) reshaped the display into an Aggie “A” in 1951, and Colorado School of Mines students strung the lights into an “M” in 1958, During the height of the ‘50s “Red scare,” some suspected a Communist plot when someone tinted the lights red. In 1969 the strings were formed into a peace symbol.

The star was left on for months in 1980 in tribute to Americans held hostage in Iran until protesters, claiming it was wasting energy, removed the light bulbs and cut the wires.

Through it all, however, the star has survived. Nowadays it’s turned on at Veterans Day to salute the armed forces and launch the holiday season. Craig Reynolds of Lord & Reynolds Electrical Services took over maintenance of the star from Public Service Co. in 1998 and often asks for volunteers to help.

The cards can be purchased at the chamber as well as Puddle Car Wash, Lucky’s Market, Art Mart, Art Source International, Flagstaff House restaurant, Gateway Park Fun Center and Page Two Café.