"Throughout Sweden, the feast day of Lucia is celebrated as the Festival of Light. Before dawn, young girls dress in a white gown with an evergreen leaf crown and glowing candles. They awaken their families with a traditional Lucia son and serve them hot coffee and sweet saffron buns.

The first annual St. Lucia Festival in Sanford, Florida, was held 35 years ago in December 1989. This Sanford event was first dreamed up by Kay Bartholomew, then marketing director at Central Florida Regional Hospital; she thought of using Seminole County's strong Swedish heritage along with St. Lucia traditions as a catalyst to help make Sanford's lakefront into a grand public place. The Sanford Museum and Sanford Chamber of Commerce and festival organizers serving on the St. Lucia Steering Committee and Future of Sanford Committee helped evolve the plans. Newspaper accounts state that in the spring of 1989, the festival committee received $11,000 from the Seminole County Tourism Department Council to promote the festival. At that time, many hoped the festival would become a vehicle for developing land along Lake Monroe, transforming the area into a popular spot, complete with shops, restaurants, and possibly a performing arts center.

Former Mayor Bettye Smith's research on Sanford's Swedish roots was documented in a paper she wrote in the late 1970s during her studies at the University of Central Florida. Smith presented this research on May 4, 1979, at the 77th Annual Meeting of the Florida Historical Society in West Palm Beach. Her research was a historical resource in planning the early Lucia festivities. Smith was quoted as saying she feared the legacy of the immigrants who helped build the city would go undocumented, uncelebrated, and therefore lost forever. She was concerned that the generation she interviewed for her research would be forgotten as they died. Smith thought the St. Lucia Festival would serve two significant purposes: reviving an interest in history that might otherwise be gradually lost and stirring an interest in the histories of other ethnic groups.

Over time, the downtown activities separated from this historical celebration. Then, for several years, the festival rotated its host location between museums and historical societies in Sanford and Lake Mary. In 2000, attendance had faltered to just over a handful.

I started volunteering to help at the event, following my grandfather Sidney Vihlen, Sr.'s encouragement. I have been serving as the volunteer coordinator since 2001.

Today's festival is a unique smorgasbord of activities attended each December by various people. You don't have to be of Scandinavian heritage to enjoy the festivities. Everyone's cordially invited to experience this unique Swedish Christmas celebration of history, music, and food. The host location has been the Museum of Seminole County History for many years. It is held on the second Saturday in December, with this year's date falling on December 14th. The Smith research was published by the Sanford Historical Society in a two-part booklet years ago" (Teri Patterson).