Listen 7 min Christmas trees line the streets of downtown Solvang. Photos by Kathryn Barnes/KCRW.
Jule Hus is the place to go for one more ornament for your Christmas tree. Nestled in the quaint town of Solvang, it’s filled with music boxes, advent calendars, and that last shepherd you’ve been missing for your nativity scene.
“Jule Hus is Danish for Christmas House. The attempt is to recreate a European Christmas with the old world flavor,” says the owner, David Watts. His family has owned the shop for 53 years. Shops get creative with their public health messaging. Photo by Kathryn Barnes/KCRW.
Image: Deputy mayor of Solvang, Claudia Orona As a city we believe that rather than enforcing and implementing fines, we know that businesses are being responsible and following the mandates and the laws and our role is best directed at looking for resources for education and safety.
The city s streets would usually be buzzing with tourists at this time of year.
On Copenhagen Drive, just along from the Hans Christian Andersen Museum, numbers are sparse on a Tuesday afternoon. Image: The so-called Danish capital of America is regularly voted the most festive place in the US
A handful of people sip their coffee and nibble aebleskivers at tables set up in the middle of a road now closed to traffic.
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A small tourist town is refusing to comply with California s shutdown. It may not be the only one.
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Solvang Julefest on December 6, 2020Julie Tremaine
On Sunday at midnight, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order went into effect for the greater Southern California region. The order shuttered all in-person dining, closed hotels to everyone but essential workers, and further reduced capacity in retail establishments. Breweries and wineries were closed to all but retail sales.
But the small tourist town of Solvang is refusing to comply even as the pandemic surges.
On Monday, Solvang Mayor Ryan Toussaint filed an emergency motion in a Solvang City Council meeting that the town would not comply with the order. It passed 5-0.