Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
Curry Village Amphitheater
July 2014
“I remember the beauty of the Firefall each evening as seen from the deck of the Indian Room of the Ahwahnee...”
– Kevin Starr, Historian and California State Librarian Emeritus
Here, a park employee dramatizes Yosemite’s legendary “Firefall.” Beginning in 1872, hot embers were spilled each night from the top of Glacier Point into the valley below, giving viewers the impression of a glowing waterfall. As the sun set, visitors would camp out like tailgaters in the meadow below and begin the chant, “Let the Fire Fall!” The spectacle was discontinued in 1968 in an attempt to return the trampled meadows to a more natural state.