Somewhere in the woods around Palmer Lake, a pine log will be waiting on Sunday, Dec. 13, notched and tied with a red ribbon. Finding it is the point of the town's Yule Log Hunt, a December custom that has run in Palmer Lake since 1934, and the Palmer Lake Historical Society has put the whole season on its calendar: a history talk this month, a volunteer potluck the Wednesday before the hunt, and the hunt itself.

How the hunt works

Hunters gather at Palmer Lake Town Hall, 28 Valley Crescent St., many of them in red or green capes, and head into the woods near town to search under evergreen boughs and brush for the hidden log. Whoever finds it gets a ride back to Town Hall sitting astride it, while the rest of the party ties on ropes and drags the log, with riders hopping on along the way.

At Town Hall the log is cut in two with the same two-man saw that cut the town's first Yule log in 1933, according to the historical society. Half is set aside to start the following year's fire. The other half goes into the stone fireplace inside Town Hall, which Palmer Lake's volunteer firemen built in 1936 for this celebration alone. This year's hunt runs from 1 to 4 p.m.

Where the custom came from

The Yule log is an old English Christmas custom. The historical society credits two residents, Lucretia Vaile and Evalena Macy, with bringing it to Palmer Lake in 1934, when they sent for a splinter of the Yule log from Lake Placid, New York, and held the first celebration in a local home. Fifty people went looking for the log that first year, all in red or green capes, and a hunter named C. R. Hays found it. His reward was a ride back astride the log, pulled by the other searchers, and about 200 residents and visitors were waiting to greet them.

Then, as now, half the log was burned and half was saved. The first celebration ended with wassail, a spiced cider, drunk by candlelight while the log burned. Over the decades, the society says, hundreds of splinters from Palmer Lake's logs have been mailed around the world to people starting the tradition in their own towns.

Lucretia Vaile's name is still on the town: the historical society runs the Lucretia Vaile Museum at 66 Lower Glenway St., open Wednesdays from 1 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The society has worked to preserve the history of the Palmer Divide since 1956.

Three dates on the calendar

History of the Yule Log, Thursday, Nov. 19, 7 to 9 p.m. Patricia and Gary Atkins give a talk at Palmer Lake Town Hall on the history of the town's Yule log and how it came to Palmer Lake. It is part of the historical society's program series.

Yule Log Potluck, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 6 to 9 p.m. The potluck is held every year on the Wednesday before the hunt, also at Town Hall. Volunteers bring a dish to share and then make the souvenir lapel pins hunters wear: small willow branches, notched, stamped with the year on the bottom and tied with pine sprigs and red ribbon.

Yule Log Hunt, Sunday, Dec. 13, 1 to 4 p.m. The hunt starts and ends at Town Hall. It is organized by the Yule Log Association, with Niall Byrne and Heather Kruger listed as organizers on the historical society's calendar.

Getting there

Palmer Lake is a small town at the top of the Palmer Divide in northern El Paso County, just north of Monument and a short drive from Interstate 25. Town Hall is on Valley Crescent Street near the center of town. The hunt goes into the woods in December, so boots and warm layers make sense, and a red or green cape is the traditional uniform.

Questions about any of the three events go to the Palmer Lake Historical Society at 719-559-0837, and the full calendar is at palmerdividehistory.org.

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