Whatever you call Emma Thatcher, do not call her the woman who saved Christmas Street.
Emma is 37, mother of Harry, George and Willa, wife of Levi — and the proud owner, along with the bank, of a house located on the far end of the 31 houses that make up Glen Arbor Street, aka Christmas Street.
Ever since 1947, the residents of Glen Arbor — located at 1500 East, 1745 South in Sugar House — have banded together to light and decorate their houses in full holiday splendor and hang a sign across the entrance to the cul de sac that proclaims you are now entering Christmas Street.
There’s no telling how many cars have circled the Glen Arbor loop in the past 77 years. Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? What’s not to like? It’s free, it’s always open, it’s all about Christmas. Generations of Wasatch Front Utahns have made it a holiday tradition. People who came as kids now come as grandparents.
But last year, the sign broke.
And with inflation running rampant, no one knew how to cover the costs to get it fixed.