On a Tuesday in early December last year, Zach Hansen was easing a cabin into position in the parking lot of the Shelton Civic Center. The Shelton-Mason County Journal photographed the work as a Christmas Camp Grisdale took shape a few steps from city offices. The cabin was a small thing, but it marked a change in what Shelton's December is about.
For most of its run, the illuminated tree maze on West Cota Street was built around a number. Since 2025 it has been built around a specific place from the town's past. Camp Grisdale returns for its opening weekend December 4 through 6, and the logging camp theme has made the maze Shelton's yearly retelling of its own timber history.
A Maze Built to Beat a Number
The maze began as a contest. Hallmark had set the mark for the most lit Christmas trees in one place in 2015, with 559 trees. In December 2019, Shelton and Mason County answered with 797. Guinness World Records lists the largest display of illuminated Christmas trees as Mason County's 797 trees in Shelton on December 7, 2019. It notes that the county, historically known as the Christmas tree capital of the world, attempted the title to reignite community spirit and built a Christmas tree maze as its display. According to KOMO News, the idea came from Rachel Hansen, then the coordinator for Hood Canal Tourism.
After 2019, Christmastown rebuilt the maze in a new shape each year, including two giant Christmas trees, and later an outline of Washington State with a heart marking Christmastown. The Journal placed the maze in the Civic Center parking lot in 2021, when that year's setup paid tribute to the 2019 edition, and again in 2024.
From the start, the maze celebrated the county's evergreen heritage. In 2025 that heritage got a specific address. The Festival of the Firs brochure carried the headline "New in 2025: Camp Grisdale" and promised "all new logging camp events" on Cota Street, with Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox and a "Guinness Tribute Christmas Maze." The record was demoted to a tribute, and the camp became the main event.
The Camp Behind the Name
Grisdale was a real place, and the details explain why it suits a December gathering. In February the Journal ran an account of the camp's beginning and end, adapted from the Mason County Historical Society's book "Grisdale, Last of the Logging Camps" by Dave James.
Simpson Logging Company began planning the camp in 1945. It sat in the hills 47 miles west of Shelton and 35 miles upriver from Montesano. George Lincoln Drake, Simpson's chief forester, didn't want the usual camp of shacks "plunked down between stumps." He wanted a forest community that would attract and hold families, even in a climate the Journal account describes as rainier than anywhere else in the continental United States. His chief carpenter, Charlie Mead, laid out each family home as if he were building houses in town.
Grisdale's 52 homes rented for $20.50 to $29.50 a month. Rent covered a garage, water, electricity, garbage service and full maintenance, and Drake insisted on oil heat in every house. In the early years up to 300 men ate in the cookhouse, paying 90 cents for "all the T-bones they could swallow." The company's first locomotive, nicknamed Dinky, sat on the lawn of Puhn Plaza for 40 years.
The camp also had a social center. Frisken Hall was a recreation building taken down at Camp Adair, Oregon, after World War II and put back together at Grisdale. It held the first bowling alley ever installed in a logging camp, along with a barber chair, billiards, card tables and a stage for concerts, school plays and Christmas programs. So a Christmas gathering under the Grisdale name has a real precedent.
The camp was expected to last until about 1990. A deep downturn in the forest products industry led Simpson to close it in 1986, when it was the last logging camp in the continental United States. The buildings came down and the land was reforested.
Here is how the two versions compare.
| Grisdale, the Simpson camp | Camp Grisdale on Cota Street | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Hills 47 miles west of Shelton | Lot beside the Shelton Civic Center, 525 West Cota Street |
| Who ran it | Simpson Logging Company, planned from 1945 | Hosted by KMAS Radio and Fjord magazine |
| Gathering place | Frisken Hall, with a bowling alley and a stage for Christmas programs | An illuminated tree maze with scheduled snow flurries |
| What it cost | Homes rented for $20.50 to $29.50 a month | Free admission and free parking |
| Keeping warm | Oil heat in every house | Fire pits |
Christmastown sums up its own version in one line:
"It's a little bit Christmas, a little bit logging camp, and completely Mason County."
Opening Weekend, Hour by Hour
The 2026 Camp Grisdale listing promises live music, food, vendors, activities and snow flurries on the Christmas tree maze. Paul Bunyan, Babe the Blue Ox and Santa Claus will be there as hosts. Admission and parking are free, and dogs are welcome. The camp and Railroad Avenue run on the same schedule, so the weekend moves between the two sites.
Friday, December 4, 4 to 8 p.m. Snow falls on the maze at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Between those two flurries, the tree lighting begins at 6 p.m. at Post Office Park on Railroad Avenue. The tree lighting is part of Holiday Magic, hosted by Kristmas Town Kiwanis and the Shelton Downtown Merchants. The Kiwanis listing adds choirs, fire pits, kiddie and wagon rides, and Santa photos to the evening.
Saturday, December 5, noon to 8 p.m. Crafts, food, fire pits and live music at the camp are free. A wreath workshop runs at 1 and 3 p.m. for $35, and snow falls on the tree maze at 2 and 4 p.m. The Santa Claus Parade, hosted by Kristmas Town Kiwanis, starts at 5 p.m. on Railroad Avenue at Post Office Park, with marching bands and floats.
Sunday, December 6, noon to 5 p.m. Free crafts, music, food and fire pits continue. Nicole leads wreath workshops at 1 and 3 p.m. for $35, live music plays from 3 to 5 p.m., and the last flurries of the weekend fall at 2 and 4 p.m.
The listing covers opening weekend only. Last December, Camp Grisdale ran as "12 Days of celebrating," and the maze stayed open daily from 3 to 11 p.m. under cover with heat. Last year's program had a strongly local flavor, with Christmas Bingo hosted by Panhandle Lake Camp, a Gyotaku fish printing workshop, and Xinh's Grilled Oysters & Chicken Curry on the menu. For dates after December 6, check the Christmastown events calendar.
The following Saturday, December 12, the Shelton Downtown Merchants hold their fourth Cookie Stroll from noon to 5 p.m., with merchant stops along downtown. Early-bird tickets are $35 and regular tickets are $45.
The Real Rails Are Next
While Camp Grisdale recreates the company camp in a parking lot, the city is preparing to remove some of what Simpson actually left on Shelton's streets. On October 20, the City Council preliminarily approved $49,752 for added construction services to remove former Simpson Lumber Co. rail lines at three street crossings, clearing the way for a 2.5-mile Cross-Town Trail. Federal grants are expected to reimburse the cost. The Journal reported that the resolution was headed to a council vote the following Tuesday.
The three crossings are on state Route 3 near Park Street, 7th Street near Gateway Fellowship Church, and East Hulbert Road between Railroad Avenue and Franklin Street. In 2023 the city received a $679,000 grant for designing the project and removing the tracks. Perteet, the engineering firm the city hired in June 2025, has finished the design, which is waiting on state Department of Transportation approval. "We have submitted two local programs and waiting for their approval so we can actually get this out to bid," Assistant Public Works Director Brent Armstrong told the council.
The trail has public support behind it. Councilmember Miguel Gutierrez said trails and waterfront access were what residents most strongly supported in the survey for the city's 2026 parks plan. "What the city is focusing on now is the trails," he said.
The East Hulbert Road crossing runs between Railroad Avenue and Franklin Street, the same downtown streets that hold the tree lighting and the Santa Claus Parade. Once the project goes to bid and the tracks come out, that crossing becomes part of the planned 2.5-mile Cross-Town Trail.
A town that remembers where it came from also cares how its stories are told. At Morrison House Sotheby's International Realty, we bring that same care to homes with history across Mason and Pierce counties, and we'd be glad to hear the story behind yours. Request a private consultation.
