Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: When did The Peace Candle first start?
The Peace Candle was first erected in 1951, and has been put up almost every year since then.[3] Due to damage or disrepair, the Peace Candle has been replaced with new candle structures twice since the original construction. The first candle lasted until 1968, the second candle from 1969 to 1989, and the current candle was built in 1990 and is expected to last until around 2014.[4][5] The structure is dedicated to the Easton area men and women who have served or are serving in the United States armed forces.[6]
Due to its symbolism for peace and its placement over a Civil War monument, the Peace Candle has been the site of several anti-war protests over the decades. On December 16, 1972, a group of Vietnam War protesters gathered at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Easton and drafted a petition asking Easton City Council to keep the Peace Candle up all year long until the war was ended.[70] Although the protesters acknowledged it was unlikely their request would be granted, they felt the petition itself was a symbolic gesture.[71] Easton City Council President Henry Schultz commended the idea, but said it was not within the authority of the council and that it would be "physically impossible" to keep the candle up all year. At the time, liability insurance was only available up to February 1, and that keeping it up longer than necessary increased the possibility of an accident or damage from the weather.[72] As part of the petition, the protesters asked city council to draft a resolution formally naming the structure the Peace Candle, claiming although it was commonly referred to by that name, a formal name had never been officially established. Schultz refuted that request, claiming the name had already been established five years earlier.[70]
Yankee Candle Company was started in South Hadley, Massachusetts when Michael Kittredge, originally from Holyoke, Massachusetts, created his first scented candle, "Christmas 1969", from melted crayons as a gift for his mother. Neighbors began expressing interest in buying his creations, and Kittredge began producing them in larger quantities. The company itself was founded with help from Donald MacIver and Susan Obremski, who were high school friends with Kittredge. MacIver helped fund the start-up business with earnings from his part-time job. Candle production grew considerably after Obremski's father devised a "heated room", which enabled cost-saving liquid wax deliveries at the first factory site in Holyoke. Obremski's invention of a turntable taper wheel allowed production to double, while at the same time decreasing the need for more labor hours. In 1975, she managed the first Yankee Candle Shop located where the Village Commons in South Hadley now stands.
The candle is meant to serve as a symbol for the desire for world peace. During the Christmas season the Scappoose Peace Candle is strewn with strands of Christmas lights. The Scappoose region around the Peace Candle of the World has become more and more developed in recent years, and local residents fear that the candle could be demolished for redevelopment.
In 1983, when the trio performed the song at an outdoor concert in Jerusalem, Israel, a country torn over the Lebanon War, they added lyrics to address the political complexities faced by their audience: "Light one candle for the strength that we need to never become our own foe. Light one candle for those who are suffering, pain we learned so long ago. Light one candle for all we believe in, let anger not tear us apart. Light one candle to bind us together with peace as the song in our heart..." When they repeated the chorus "Don't let the light go out, It's lasted for so many years. Don't let the light go out, Let it shine through our love and our tears," the politically mixed audience cheered.
It has been said to be the largest non-wax Christmas candle in the country.[6][7][8] Although conceived with the hopes of restoring Easton's pre-20th century reputation for elaborate Christmas decorations, city officials also believed a candle would serve as a symbol of peace for all religions and denominations. Due to its symbolism for peace and its placement over a Civil War monument, the candle has been the site of several anti-war protests over the decades. Some have criticized the Peace Candle, calling it a symbol of the over-commercialization of Christmas, and condemning the fact that it covers a war monument.
In 2003, a six-foot slab of fiberglass from the imitation wax at the top of the candle was knocked loose by 50 mile-per-hour winds during a storm. Nobody was injured.[64] James Pruznick, a filmmaker from Pohatcong Township, New Jersey, made a documentary film in 2004 focused on that year's assembly of the Peace Candle, as well as interviews with politicians, artists, merchants and construction workers about the history of the structure. It was first screened in December 2004 and made available subsequently on VHS and DVD.[65] In October 2008, fear grew that the Peace Candle would no longer be erected when Easton employees who previously volunteer to climb the Peace Candle structure no longer wished to assemble it. Those fears were put to rest the next month, however, when the trade union Lehigh Valley Erectors Inc. volunteered to put the candle up.[66]
By 1989, the Peace Candle had become so dilapidated that it was hardly able to sustain the winter weather. Strong winds in November had shaken the structure so much that the wax dripping fixtures atop the candle had fallen off. On November 16, 1989, Mayor Sal Panto Jr. announced on WEST's Voice of the People show that the Peace Candle would not go up another year because the support structure was too weak and the Easton Area Christmas Committee was not receiving enough donations to pay for repairs. The committee was now receiving an average of $3,000 a year in donations, which was used to maintain the existing candle. Panto said, "The sad reality is, this is the last year."[56] However, new fundraising efforts were started to raise $20,000 to build a new Peace Candle. Local businesses and unions volunteered their time and materials to work on it, with the Lehigh Valley Carpenters Union working up to 100 hours a week for about five weeks to have the candle ready for the 1990 holiday season.[10]
"Peace of Mind" (also known as "The Candle Burns") is the name given to a song of unknown origin that was attributed to The Beatles on bootleg albums starting in 1973. The recording has the sound quality of a home-produced demo, and was reportedly recovered from a trash container at Apple Corps headquarters in 1970. As no copyright, claim of ownership, recollection, or documentation about the song has ever been uncovered, its connection with the Beatles remains speculative.
The Peace Candle is believed to be the largest non-wax Christmas candle in the United States.[6][7][8] Since it was first erected in 1951, Easton city officials have at various times declared it the largest candle in the world.[8][11][12] In 1972, city council president Henry Schultz declared, "We claim, and no one has ever argued with us, that this is the largest candle in the world."[8] However, the Schlitz Christmas Candle, a non-wax candle-like structure in Schlitz, a small town in Hesse, Germany, is larger at 138-foot (42m) tall. The current Peace Candle is taller than the Guinness World Record-holder for tallest candle, which belongs to an 80-foot (24m) tall, 8.5-foot (2.6m) wide candle exhibited at the General Art and Industrial Exhibition of Stockholm in 1897. However, only wax candles are eligible for the record, and there is no Guinness World Record for largest non-wax candle.[8] When the third incarnation of the Peace Candle was built in 1990, Easton officials tried unsuccessful to seek a Guinness record for it.[13]
In 1967, the Easton Area Christmas Committee began selling greeting cards depicting Easton's Peace Candle with the hopes of raising funds to maintain the city's holiday decorations. The committee created 15,000 cards that year, and the city's Downtown Improvement Group urged residents to buy the cards and mail them to friends and family across the country, with the hopes that Easton would become nationally known as the "Peace Candle City". The cards were sold in packs of three for $1 at city businesses and homes.[78][79] They were designed in four colors from a painting by Easton artist Joseph DeThomas depicting the Centre Square and the Peace Candle.[79] The 15,000 cards went on sale on Starting on October 18, 1967, Starting on October 18, 1967,[78] and 12,000 were already sold by October 30.[80] The rest by November 1, and another and another 15,000 due to what Councilman Henry Schultz called the "tremendous demand".[81] In 1969, to advertise and celebrate the first lighting ceremony for the second candle, the Easton Area Christmas Committee sold placemats and napkin sets with an image of the Peace Candle in a night setting. Ten thousand sets were sold for $1 each at various stores and banks in the city.[41]
The Peace Candle has undergone several changes and variations over the last 58 years.[9] The current candle was built in 1990,[10] and is expected to last until about 2014, after which time Easton officials expect to build a new one.[4][5] As of 2009, the central main candle stands 94-foot (29m), and the base brings it to about 106-foot (32m).[9] It reaches a height of about 118-foot (36m) above ground level when factoring the monument it rests atop.[8] When the candle is assembled, several 8-foot (2.4m) by 8-foot by 10-foot (3.0m) box pieces are placed around the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument, a Civil War memorial in Centre Square, the town square of Easton's Downtown neighborhood.[9] Made from marine-grade plywood and galvanized steel,[5] the box pieces are stacked vertically until the structure is assembled, and then bolted together using about 500 bolts inside the Peace Candle. The flame placed atop the candle is about 15-foot (4.6m) high and illuminated with 31 bulbs. The entire structure weighs between eight and 10 tons. The main candle is surrounded by four, 15-foot (4.6m) high side candles, and a fountain that surrounds the Peace Candle's base is filled with a ring of Christmas trees.[9]
On December 10, 1951, Easton Mayor Joseph Morrison flipped the switch to light up the Christmas Candle during its first dedication ceremony.[24] Joining Morrison and Frank Bechtel in the dedication were a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi and a Protestant minister, to demonstrate the Christmas Candle was meant to serve as a symbol of peace for all religions and denominations.[7][21] News reports indicate between 500 and 1,000 people attended the ceremony.[12][24] In addition to the candle, the decorations included Christmas trees, smaller candle displays, large plywood wreaths and Christmas lights set up by students from the Easton High School and the city's Wolf and Schull junior high schools.[17][22] It also included a plaque honoring the Easton area men and women on active duty in the United States armed forces.[24] The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission decorated the nearby Northampton Street bridge, which crossed the Delaware River, with its first Christmas light display in 14 years.[7][24] A series of nightly Christmas choir concerts were held in front of the Christmas Candle starting December 18, and organ music was piped to the Centre Square from the city's First Presbyterian Church.[25] Downtown business owners participated by decorating their windows with Christmas themes.[17] Morrison called the Christmas Candle display "the most elaborate in Easton's history".[25] The Christmas Candle was so large it drew the attention of airplanes passing over the city.[14]
Throughout the late-1970s and the 1980s, the Nazareth-based firm Beatty Contractors erected the candle each year. The firm originally did the project for free, but began charging $2,000 in 1981 when the cost of fuel started to rise.[51] During the Peace Candle lighting ceremony on November 28, 1980, Easton Mayor Philip Mitman dedicated the candle to the 52 American hostages being held in Iran during the Iran hostage crisis.[52] During a storm on December 6, 1983, 47 mile-per-hour winds caused the Peace Candle to start tilting in place. When city workers removed the flame next day, they realized the bugler statue atop the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument had moved on its base and would have toppled over had it not been leaning against the candle structure. One of the candle's anchor cables was also snapped by the wind and torn out of the brickwork.[19] The cable was repaired and the bugler statue, which was previously held by its own weight, was reinforced with grouting.[19] A sixteen-pound chunk of granite was also dislodged from the top of the statue, although in an area that most spectators cannot see from ground level.[53] The candle suffered similar damage in 1988, when high winds loosened parts of the structure and snapped support wires. As a result, it had to be taken down early on January 5, 1989.[54] In 1985, the Easton Area Christmas Committee was renamed to the Easton Holiday Committee.[55]
Both in 1967 and 1968, U.S. Rep. Fred B. Rooney lobbied the United States Post Office Department seeking for the Peace Candle to chosen for the official Christmas Stamp in the following year. However, it was rejected both years by the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which reviewed the proposals and narrowed the applications.[82][83] In 1968, an image of the painting The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck was chosen rather than the Peace Candle.[82] In October 1979, the Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania-based Michter's Distillery created whiskey decanters patterned after the Peace Candle. The idea was first posed by Mark Hammerstone of Palmer Township, a decanter collector who approached Schultz with the concept in 1978. Schultz brought the idea to the distillery, which chose to base their second annual Christmas decanter on the Peace Candle. They spent $3,500 to build a 12-inch (300mm) sculpture based on photos of the structure. The decanter, which holds 750-millilitre (26impfloz; 25USfloz) is off-white with red and yellow flames atop the candles and bunches of Christmas greens around the base. Six thousand decanters were produced and originally sold for a $49.50 retail price. They were shipped to collectors as far as Texas, California and England.[84]
The new candle was designed by the Allentown firm Alvin Butz Co., the Allentown firm Barry Isett & Associates, and Bethlehem Steel Corp. Supplies were provided by Dugan & Marcon Inc., Eisenhardt Mills, Ingersoll-Rand Co. and Dectis Painting, and the construction done by the Carpenters Union Local 600, Electricians Union Local 367 and the Northampton County Labor Council.[13] It looked almost exactly the same as the old previous candle, with eight flood lights installed to illuminate the white shaft. The candle cost $35,000 to build, but Panto said without the help from volunteers, it would have cost around $150,000, not including labor. In order to cover the $15,000 shortfall in funds raised, the city sold Christmas cards, posters, ornaments and $10 Peace Candle ownership shares.[10] The first lighting ceremony for the new candle was held November 23, 1990.[57]
With the growth of the whaling industry in the 18th century, spermaceti, an oil that comes from a cavity in the head of the sperm whale, became a widely used substance for candle making. The spermaceti was obtained by crystallizing the oil from the sperm whale and was the first candle substance to become available in mass quantities. Like beeswax, spermaceti wax did not create a repugnant odor when burned, and produced a significantly brighter light. It was also harder than either tallow or beeswax, so it would not soften or bend in the summer heat. The first "standard candles" were made from spermaceti wax.
The Peace Candle of the World, also known as the Scappoose Peace Candle, is an approximately tower-like structure in diameter in Scappoose, Oregon, designed to resemble a candle. It was built in 1971 outside what was then the Brock Candles Inc. factory, which burned down in 1990. The land was formerly a dairy farm; factory owner Darrel Brock created the candle by covering a silo with of red candle wax to advertise the factory.
The story starts before Christmas in the Village of Gladstone 1664 where the first Haddington couple are approached by the angel who by touching a candle in their shop can create miracles who anyone who they give it to and must carry on generation after generation. Centuries later, in 1864, Edward Haddington and his wife Bea are nearing Christmas, and the village people are gossiping already about the Christmas Candle as it is nearing the time. When the village gather for church, Reverend Richmond refuses to mention the Christmas Candle as it is not part of the church ceremony, which everyone is disappointed about. Meanwhile, Edward and Bea are unsure as to who to give the candle to when the angel comes as there are so many who are in need for a miracle. Bea mentions about using the Candle for her and Edward as they might be in need for it. Finally when the angel does come and touches the candle Edward falls and knocks all the candles, including the Christmas Candle, on the floor making it impossible to tell which one.
In 2009, Superior Court Judge Jack Panella won a $770 bid on the auction website eBay to flip the switch and turn on the Peace Candle during the candle-lighting ceremony on November 27, 2009.[68] In November 2010, Easton Holiday Committee Chairwoman Sandy O'Brien-Werner voiced doubts that the current candle structure would last until 2014 as previously projected and might need to be replaced sooner. She expressed concern at the cost of such a venture, claiming the Peace Candle cost $14,640 in 2010 alone for maintenance and operation and that an altogether new structure would cost at least $35,000.[5] In response, six-year-old MaryElizabeth Soffera and eight-year-old Katie Dietrich, two cousins from Williams Township who loved the Peace Candle, opened a snow cone stand during a garage sale to raise money for the candle. They raised $23, which they presented to Mayor Sal Panto Jr. during a November city council meeting.[69]
The Peace Candle of the World was awarded the Guinness World Record for world's largest candle, but the record was later given to the wax candle that was featured at the General Art and Industrial Exhibition of Stockholm in 1897. The Scappoose Peace Candle sits on the east side of U.S. Route 30 and is visible from the highway. Each season the candle was re-coated with different colors to match the time of year, with red for Christmas and multiple colors being used in the fall. The wax around the candle was eventually replaced with more durable wax-like substances.
On October 25, 1968, a fire at the former incinerator plant off Route 611, where the Peace Candle was being stored, destroyed the four smaller candles that surround the base of the larger candle. The fire was believed to have started by someone playing with matches inside the building. Firefighters battled the blaze for more than an hour. Damage was estimated at a cost of $1,200. Initially, city officials announced the fire would not delay the lighting ceremony planned for December 1. However, the Easton Area Christmas Committee had already been debating the construction of a new Peace Candle prior to the fire.[37] On October 29, Henry Schultz, now chairman of the Christmas committee, announced the four smaller candles were damaged beyond repair and no effort would be made to rebuild them. Instead, the committee would build an entirely new candle within a year.[38]
In 1975, the activist citizens group Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern (LEPOCO) formed a "human peace candle" in front of the real structure as a protest against the Vietnam War. Three group members formed a triangle while another man stood on top of their shoulders, holding a lighted candle and a sign that read, "Bring the troops home for Christmas and the rest of the year". The protest marked the 10th anniversary of LEPOCO's first protest against the war when they formed in 1965, which was also held at Center Square.[73] In December 1981, the Polish labor union Solidarity held a late-night peace rally that included a candlelight vigil, singing and prayers for a peaceful resolution to the martial law crisis in Poland.[74] In 1991, the city decided to leave the Peace Candle standing until the Gulf War conflict was resolved in honor of the 500,000 American troops serving in the war. The gesture was approved after a pool of residents indicated a ratio of 10-to-1 supported it. During this time, supporters of the troops tied yellow ribbons around the candle and its surrounding fence, while protesters tied black ribbons to symbolize those who died in the conflict. The candle was taken down that March after the war ended.[75]
In 1990, the city released a china plate with the Peace Candle along with a Christmas tree, which was meant to symbolize the first tree in the nation, which was believed to have been erected in Easton in 1816.[85] During the 2000 holiday season, the Easton Holiday Committee produced and sold commemorative plates marking the 50th anniversary of the Peace Candle, which included a painting of the structure by local artist Preston Hindmarch. They were sold for $32 along with ceramic ornaments of the Easton eatery Colonial Pizza, which sold for $22.[59] Over the years, Christmas cards depicting the Peace Candle have continued to be used as a means of raising funds for the structure.[86]
Ever since the Peace Candle was first erected, some Easton residents have been critical of the structure, arguing it is a tacky symbol of the over-commercialization of Christmas and not a tasteful way to convey a message of peace.[56][87][88] Many have condemned the fact that the Peace Candle covers the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument, which proponents see as a sign of disrespect toward veterans.[89][90] Critics have also argued the candle is too expensive to maintain each year,[87][91] and some have claimed the phallic shape of the symbol is inappropriate.[56] In 1982, a petition was signed by 90 people and submitted to the Easton City Council seeking to discontinue the Peace Candle tradition, calling it a "garish symbol of inner-city decadence". The group wanted to replace it with a decorative display of evergreen tree, in honor of Easton's claim to be the first city in the United States to observe that German custom. The city rejected the petition after conducting a survey of public opinion, which polled 29 city residents in favor of the Peace Candle and four against it.[56]