Nov 23, 2019

WaKeeney holiday tradition in its 69th year

Posted Nov 23, 2019 11:55 AM


WaKeeney, "Christmas City of the High Plains," celebrates its 69th annual holiday tradition Nov. 30.


By CATHY ALBERT

WaKeeney Travel & Tourism


WAKEENEY — A cherished tradition continues in WaKeeney, known as “the Christmas City of the High Plains.” WaKeeney lights up the prairie skies with twinkling lights and fresh greenery and garlands during the holidays. This annual tradition began in 1950 and is the longest-running Christmas display between Kansas City and Denver.


Each November WaKeeney is magically transformed into a holiday wonderland.


Highlighting the holiday display is a magnificent handmade, 35-foot tree of fresh pine greenery with over 3,000 lights. The tree rests under a canopy of heavenly blue lights in the middle of the main intersection of Main and Russell Avenue. It is topped with four ivory stars, each 5 ft. in diameter.


To complete this Christmas wonderland, a four-square block area around the tree is draped with more greenery garlands; handcrafted wreaths, bells, stars, and trees; and, of course, more twinkling lights. In all, there are over 6,800 lights in the display. The entire display is made up of approximately 3 miles of electrical wiring, 1400 lbs. of fresh greenery, and 1100 yards of greenery garlands.


The original idea was born in 1948 by two local businessmen, and the first display was lit in 1950. Art Keraus, the owner of the local hardware store and “a man who could build anything,” teamed up with J.H. “Jake” Heckman, the local banker and artist, to design an original Christmas display. Keraus had seen similar but smaller trees in Colorado and came home determined to build a bigger and better tree right in the middle of downtown WaKeeney.


They spent many hours of long hard work in the basement of the hardware store making sure the decorations were just right. Heckman would try out the design on cardboard, paint it, put the light bulbs in it, and then turn out the lights in the basement and sit for great lengths of time, studying it to make sure each detail would be visible and that the colors would remain true. These traditional decorations are still used today.


The first display went up in 1950 and more decorations were added each year until 1956.


Over time there has been only one more addition.


During the 1990s all the downtown buildings were outlined with over 2,000 perimeter lights, which remained lit year-round. Then in 2018, new LED color-changing lights were installed on the perimeter of the downtown buildings. The color of these lights is changed throughout the year to support the local school as well as the different holidays.


City workers get the decorations ready to be put up. Many man hours go into preparing the display for the tree raising. Workers spend approximately two weeks preparing the display and putting it up.


Bucket trucks are used to assemble the tree branches into place in downtown WaKeeney.


Then city workers with help from several local utility companies, such as Midwest Energy, Western Co-op Electric, Nex-Tech, and KDOT, assemble the large tree and put up the final decorations with their bucket trucks.


Through the years many local volunteers have donated hundreds of hours in preparing for this annual event, which has become a source of pride for the community.


The Christmas “tree” is a tribute to the will and cooperation of our local residents. Hundreds of volunteers have worked side by side for over 60 years on a common goal and they have learned about brotherhood – one of the true meanings of Christmas.


The annual Christmas Tree Lighting is always held on the Saturday night following Thanksgiving and the display remains up through New Year’s Day.


The display is free to the public.


Visitors come from miles around to see this impressive light display, which is considered one of the largest Christmas tree and lighting displays between Kansas City and Denver.


WaKeeney has truly earned the title of “Christmas City of the High Plains.”


The 2019 celebration is scheduled for Saturday, November 30.


The day begins with the annual Christmas Bazaar at the Trego County Fairgrounds and Trego Community High School Commons Area beginning at 9:00 a.m.


The Trego County Historical Museum is planning a “Twelve Days of Christmas” display, which begins at 10:00 a.m.


Downtown activities begin at 2:30 p.m. when the free ticket booth opens at the VFW, where everyone can pick up free tickets to see Santa Claus and ride “Santa’s Sleigh,” a Virtual Reality ride.


During the afternoon and evening join in the many activities planned throughout the downtown area, such as “Santa’s Sleigh Ride,” child ID kits by the local police departments, live reindeer, soup supper, and Santa’s Downtown Workshop.


At 6:00 p.m. the lighting ceremony begins around the legendary Christmas tree. Santa Claus will arrive to light the tree and then move to the North Pole to visit with the children and handout treats.


Most of these activities are free to the public.


For more information, contact the WaKeeney Travel & Tourism at (785) 743-8325, www.wakeeney.org, or on Facebook at Get WaKeeney.