FAIRHOPE — Beth Stowe Fugard and her sister, Peggy Stowe Wiggins, run Stowe's Jewelers in Fairhope, but their family's roots in the area have long influenced the holiday season in Fairhope.

Fugard and her family came to Fairhope when she was 4 years old. Her parents founded Stowe's Jewelers 65 years ago, but her mother, Joyce Stowe, also helped establish what would eventually become an annual holiday tradition in Fairhope.

Fugard's parents traveled across the United States, stopping in several cities during the holidays seeing the lights flicker among the Christmas trees and night sky. When she returned to Fairhope after her travels, Stowe proposed to light Fairhope for the holidays to former Mayor James P. Nix, who in turn challenged her to raise the money for such an event.

Stowe, along with a small committee, asked locals to donate toward her
proposition, leading to trees being lit in Fairhope that year. The trees eventually grew in size, and Nix told Stowe once again to raise the money for the event, which she succeeded in for a second time.

It wasn't perfect to begin with. Fugard said that during the early years they would stand and hope all the lights would come on properly. At times, one part would come on while the other wouldn't, forcing them to rewire the lights. However, once they all came on properly, it was a spectacle.

"Everybody just loved to see the trees lit," Fugard said, recalling the beginnings of Fairhope's holidays lightning. "After that, the city took over lighting the trees and it's just become more beautiful every year. She didn't start the big party, but she did start the lighting of the trees."

Stowe is no longer with us, but her legacy lives on in Fairhope through the lighting of the trees. The city held its annual Christmas tree lighting event on Nov. 21, where Fugard, along with her friends, family and many locals, gathered to watch as the City of Fairhope ignited its lights for the holiday season.

Although Stowe is gone, Beth and her sister, Peggy, still feel her presence when those lights come on in Fairhope, shining down on them and the people of Fairhope, bringing back memories and emotions of the season.

"We live in a real magical place, and I think that night when [the lighting] happens, I realize that I take a lot for granted to be able to live in this town and work in this town and have the customers we have. I think it all comes home to me," Beth said. "We walked down the street after it was over, and it was so beautiful, and we live here, and I'm grateful."

Stowe was a hard worker and wanted to see good things happen in her community of Fairhope.

"I think she, as far as the traditions established and families coming together, she would be in awe," Fugard said. "Just amazed and so proud to think that she just had a little idea of lighting a few Bradford pears during the season. I think she would just be amazed."