With tens of thousands of social media followers and a Los Angeles-based background in TV production, Bethlehem Township native Dana Alyss makes her living getting attention. She’s hoping to now harness that to save nostalgia.
“We are trying to do a real-life Hallmark movie and save a Christmas barn in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,” she said on social media.
“We used to be allowed to pick out a Christmas ornament there every year, and one year, we picked out a Santa that looked like he was picking his nose because he was going like this,” she remembered.
Vacant since 2007, the Bethlehem Township property along Easton Road, known as the Christmas Barn, has been for sale since 2023. It’s currently listed as a commercial property for just under $1.9 million.
“A lot of the developers that are coming here are not from the area, and they don’t really see the things that we hold on to here as being as important as we think they are,” she said of long-time area landmarks being knocked down.
Alyss, who returned home during COVID, is hoping to raise $200,000 for a down payment to save the barn.
She has presented an informal business plan to the township, for using it as a retail, cafe and event space.
She’s raised more than $15,000 in less than a week.
“When you say the Christmas Barn anywhere in the Lehigh Valley, if you are someone who has been here for a while, you know exactly what that is, even though it hasn’t been operational for 20 years.
“It is special, and it is important, and it is something that needs to be saved.” She added.