QUINCY — A service to celebrate Christmas and the historical heritage of Quincy is scheduled for Dec. 16 and 17 at the Pioneer Church, 415 F St. SW. Services are scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 16 and 5 p.m. Dec. 17.

This is the 10th year the Quincy Valley Historical Society has sponsored the Christmas season service, according to a press release from QVHS.

“I’m trying to remember how this got started,” said Harriet Weber, one of the organizers and a member of the historical society. The organizers wanted to sponsor an event at Christmas that also highlighted Quincy’s history, she said.

The “Old-Fashioned Christmas” service features live music and readings of “The Night Before Christmas” along with other stories for children. It also features carols, Scripture readings and lighting the Christmas tree “in the German tradition,” the press release said.

Central Washington started attracting settlers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Serious settlement began in the Quincy area in 1902. Most of those early settlers were German, Weber said.

The Christmas service includes singing “Silent Night” in German, the carol’s original language. “We light the tree with candles in the German tradition,” Weber said. A German settler in the Quincy Valley in 1904 would’ve decorated the Christmas tree with lit candles, a practice followed for centuries in the old country.

(Because pine trees and burning candles don’t always get along well, precautions are taken before the candles are lit, Weber said.)

Wenatchee musicians Sherry Krebs and Connie Celuetska will be playing before and during the service, joined by other local musicians. Their repertoire includes guitar, harp and hammered dulcimer.

The music begins about a half-hour before the service. The service itself lasts a little more than an hour, Weber said. After the service people are invited to the Reiman-Simmons house next door to the church for refreshments.

The house was built in 1904, when Quincy was new, and has been restored by the historical society. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. The church also dates from 1904, and was moved to its current location in 2007.

Admission is free, but it’s a small church, so advance reservations are required. Tickets are available at the Clifton Larson Allen office in Quincy, the Quincy Valley Post-Register and Barb’s at Shops on Central.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.