Coming Soon: El Cerrito's Hillside Holiday Display, Needs Help

The locally famous Shadi holiday display – an elaborate Biblical village that appears every December along Moeser Lane in El Cerrito – will go up again Dec. 17, but the chief organizer says she needs help if the popular tradition is to continue.

The sprawling hillside display of dozens of animal and human figures, and more than 100 small buildings, was created by hand by the late Sundar Shadi over a period of many years.

After his death, its maintenance and annual set-up and take-down became a community effort relying on many volunteers, with one person acting as the maestro to make it all come together – Jane Bartke.

Appeal for a co-manager

"I am desperately looking for someone to co-manage with me," said Bartke, a former El Cerrito mayor. "It is getting to be too much, and I may have to abandoned it."

She said she receives a lot of help from her husband Rich Bartke, also a former mayor, and the El Cerrito firefighters and other volunteers who show up to help set it up and remove it each year.

But, she added, she needs another person to pitch in on supervising the earlier tasks that begin around mid-November, such as organizing the volunteer effort, taking care of insurance and overseeing the donations. Some pieces also need repairs or new costumes because of the toll taken by the harsh December weather each year.

History of the display

The Shadi display began in 1950 with a single star next to the Shadi family home on Arlington Boulevard. The creatures and buildings, made largely of stucco over a chicken wire-and-wood frame, increased in number year by year.

When Shadi – who died at age 101 in 2002 – got too old to put up the display in his latter 90s, it stopped appearing. And when he died, no one knew if it would ever return.

Just when it looked as though the collection would be broken up and sold, Jane Bartke and the Soroptimist International of El Cerrito offered to help. Husband Rich, an attorney, negotiated a transfer to a newly established nonprofit, the El Cerrito Community Foundation.

One problem still remained. The two empty lots next to Shadi's home where it had appeared for most of its existence were no longer available. Luckily, PG&E gave permission to use the wide swath of land under power lines next to Moeser near Sea View Drive, and the display was resurrected in 2002.

The display is especially popular at night, when it is lit, and draws many visitors. Many people are surprised to learn that among the sheep, shepherds, camels and caravaneers, there's no manger or baby Jesus. Shadi was not a Christian, but he wanted to accommodate the prevailing tradition. So he created a miniature Bethlehem without the nativity scene.

Call for volunteers at City Council meeting

The display is "truly one of the major features of El Cerrito that makes El Cerrito continue to be known throughout the Bay," resident Al Miller, a board member of the Stege Sanitary District, told the City Council during the public comment period Monday.

He encouraged volunteers, especially of the younger generation, to pitch in:

"My observation in the years of helping up there is that the people – except for the firefighters – seem be getting more and more my age... And it's time that get our sons and daughters and grandsons and (grand)daughters out there working on the hillside, investing some of their energy in the wonderful feeling you get when you see Mr. Shadi's magical town appear out of the mists of El Cerrito."

How to help

Those who wish to volunteer to help set up should show up at the site at 9 a.m. on Dec. 17. Boots or other sturdy footgear are advised in case of mud.

Bartke said she's also seeking people who may be interested in welcoming visitors during the evening shifts, either 5-7:30 or 7:30-10.  Those who are interested can call her at 510-235-1315.

Anyone interested in assisting Bartke with the organizing can reach her at the same number.

The display also welcomes sponsorships to help fund the lighting and the repair,  maintenance and storage of the many display figures. Donations should be sent to El Cerrito Community Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 324, El Cerrito, 94530.

If someone would like to sponsor a particular figure, the donations would be:

• Angel or one of the Three Wise Men (includes the camel) – $500
• Large shepherd, blue star or Bible pages – $350
• Other shepherds or large camels (each) – $250
• One of the two dogs – $150
• Small camel or villager – $100
• Campfire or hookah pipes – $50
• Assorted sheep or rams (each) - $25
• Village buildings (each) $10