For almost 80 years, Boulder residents have waited for the annual lighting of the Flagstaff Star, the giant star of 350 light bulbs that shines over downtown every holiday season, from Nov. 11 through Jan. 2.
The star was built on Flagstaff Mountain by the Boulder Chamber in 1947, “to lift the community spirits in the wake of World War II,” according to John Tayer, the current President and CEO of the Chamber. “They thought it would be wonderful to have a shining star on one of our mountaintops areas.”
While the star has gone through many iterations over the years — from initially being drawn out on the mountaintop using toilet paper, to having an accompanying cross — it has become a seasonal symbol in Boulder. It’s a sight beloved by many, but perhaps nobody cherishes it more than Ty McCarthy.
“Every night when the star’s due to turn on, we're out there,” said Dan McCarthy, Ty’s father. “I don't care if it's a snowstorm or if it's a hundred-mile-an-hour winds; we're out there checking on the star.”
Ty, who is now 39 years old, used to hike up Flagstaff Mountain with his father every single night in the winter months to see the star. The city recently changed its access rules, however, so now they watch it twinkle from afar. Altogether, their tradition has lasted for over two decades.
“Ty has developmental disabilities plus autism,” Dan said. “Years ago, Ty had a young friend — one of his classmates — who had passed away, and Ty was really grieving the loss. He used to say when the rainbows came out, [his friend] was there. Then one year we saw the star, and Ty was so taken with it… the star reminded Ty of all the good things about his friend who’d passed away.”
Shortly after Ty and Dan began visiting the star, they met Craig Reynolds. Reynolds, or the “star man,” as Ty and Dan affectionately call him, is the owner of a local electrical company. He and his company were hired by the Boulder Chamber in 1998 to maintain and light the star.
It wasn’t long before Ty and Reynolds became friends.
“I was up there getting [the star] ready for the season in one of the first couple of years, and there was this man and young boy up there, and the young boy was kicking around pine cones,” Reynolds said. “Dan told me his story and then I made sure that Ty was involved every time the star turned on.”
What started as a way for Ty to cope with his grief soon turned into his life’s mission: continue the legacy of the Flagstaff Star. At this point, Ty and his father have been the star’s primary watchdogs for more than 20 years. Every night, the two men set up a post — at the end of their street, on top of a nearby hill or in their living room with binoculars — and they look at the star together.
It’s an important job. Despite being a local treasure, the star has been subject to continual threats of vandalism over the years.
Tamper-proofing the star was one of Reynolds’ biggest tasks when he first became its caretaker over 26 years ago. When it was first constructed in 1947, it was built close to the ground, making it susceptible to would-be hooligans. After seeing how frequently the star was vandalized, Reynolds decided to put cages around the lights and hang them from 12-foot poles.
“Sometimes it's in the spirit of merry pranksters,” Tayer said. “Other times it is a political statement — whether the light bulbs were painted red for urging a movement toward communism, other times folks were expressing concern for environmental interests and then sometimes they were just trying to spite our local football team and our school in a rivalry situation.”
The vandalism really upsets Ty.
“For 19 years, [we’ve gone} out every single night and checked the star to make sure it was okay,” Dan said. “Ty now has a number of his friends who look at the star every night with their parents. They look at the star, and if they see something wrong, they'll immediately call Ty and I and say, ‘Oh, the star's not on’ … There'd be less vandalism if they knew how much it meant to Ty.”
But in many ways, Ty and Dan’s role as volunteer watchdogs over the Flagstaff Star has become vital. Last year, the city of Boulder asked Reynolds to step down as “star man,” creating a caretaking gap.
“I don't think [the city] wanted to manage it at night,” Reynolds said. “It was too much of a hassle.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the city closed all hiking trails up to the star “to help minimize gatherings, support social distancing and encourage safe behavior,” according to a statement it released at the time. Those paths have been closed ever since.
“Given natural resource values in the area and the steep hillside the star is on, OSMP staff are keeping the area around the star closed to protect resources and visitors,” a spokesperson with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks told CPR News in a statement “This will prevent social trails and minimize illegal activity, such as littering, vandalism, smoking, fireworks and alcohol use.”
Instead, the city has offered star-goers different locations around Boulder to “view the star from afar.”
“We extend our deep appreciation to Craig Reynolds and the Boulder Chamber for their long-term management of it,” the city said in a statement to CPR News. The city did not directly explain why it wanted to take over maintenance responsibilities from Reynolds.
Still, for Reynolds, the news of his retirement was a “relief” in some ways. Not only was he able to take his first holiday vacation since the Clinton administration, but he also knows that the star is in good hands.
“Ty watches it every night, makes sure it comes on, knows what time it comes on,” Reynolds said “I think that’s the story of the Star. It's not about me… he’s the real star man.”
The Flagstaff Star turns on every evening at dusk, around 4 p.m., and turns off at midnight. Previously, under Reynolds’ watch, the star stayed on all night.
