For 12 years, Suzanne Beck was known by all her neighbors and friends in the Naples area as “the tree lady” for her home business crafting handmade ornaments modeled after the iconic Trees in the Bay floating light displays, which locals look forward to seeing in Long Beach canals and waterways every holiday season.
In that time, Beck happily toiled away on the seasonal project, often enlisting the help of her daughters or friends to meet the growing demand as more locals discovered the miniature-sized tokens emblematic of the city.
“It’s one of the only iconic Long Beach things that people can buy and access and send to family and friends,” Sara Mais, Beck’s daughter, said. “I think that’s why people really love them.”
But in 2020, Mais and her sister Emmy Jacobs stepped in to help run the company with their mother while she underwent surgeries and chemotherapy to treat a rare and aggressive brain cancer. To Beck’s delight, the season was a success.
“We were able to pull it off somehow, with friends and family who came in from all over the place to help us out,” Mais said. “She was super proud of what we were able to accomplish in the 2020 season.”
By 2021, however, Beck’s condition worsened, and she died from the cancer in September.
“We obviously took the year off in 2021. We just kind of couldn’t do it,” Jacobs said. “We’ve given ourselves some time. And now we are kind of back doing it for her, taking over kind of in her honor.”
Now, with the help of their husbands, the sisters have relaunched Trees in the Bay in full force, in the same home where their mother started it all. The business still offers the handmade, 4-inch wooden ornaments that put the company on the map. They also make tabletop light displays, which come in 12 and 18 inches and a 4-foot yard display.
View this post on Instagram
Though all the crafts are still designed as their mother had created, the sisters said that they’ve now been able to fine-tune the process, thanks to a bit of research and development from their husbands, who created 3-D printed molds that help with gluing and the overall durability of the trees.
“We’re doing a lot of little tweaks on my mom’s business that we think she’d have been really stoked on and excited to see that we’ve been able to improve her product,” Mais said.
The sisters said they intend to carry on the tradition for as long as they can, “but life gets busy and crazy,” said Mais, whose daughter just celebrated her first birthday. Still, the sisters agree that carrying on the tradition makes them feel closer to their mother—the greatest reason of all.
“She’s so present in our minds when we’re doing it,” Jacob’s said. “And I think for us this year, and hopefully future years, it’s just another reason to spend more time together for the holidays. And that’s what my mom would love.”
To purchase a Trees in the Bay ornament or light display of your own, visit their website, here.
You can read more about the origins of the Trees in the Bay Company here:
Trees in the Bay legacy handmade and handed down, mother to daughters