David Street Station Partners with Community for Christmas Tree Lighting

The United States Postal Service may have adopted the “neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night” tagline, but the David Street Station could adopt a similar motto because neither rain, nor snow, nor global pandemic can stop them from ushering in the holiday season with their annual Community Christmas Tree.

For the past three years, David Street Station has partnered with various businesses within the community, as well as community members themselves, to host an enormous pine tree, right in the center of David Street Station. It’s Casper’s version of Rockefeller Center and, for many Casper citizens, it has been a true highlight of the holiday.

This holiday season, with the world in a state of flux, a lot of things are different. But one thing that will remain is the David Street Station Community Christmas Tree.

This year, the tree in question was donated by Lyle and Rhonda Knudson. But their generosity was just the beginning of what is actually a fairly elaborate procedure to bring the tree to the community.

Jackie Landess, the Operations Manager for David Street Station, said that it is a total collaboration within the community to make the community tree happen every year.

“We partner with Rodolph Brothers and they come and cut the tree down,” Landess revealed. “Black Hills Trucking actually crane the tree up and put it onto a truck that’s donated by Total Oilfield Rentals. The tree is then hauled down to David Street Station and then Black Hills Trucking lifts it back up and helps us install it. Ahern Rentals and Galles Greenhouse partnered together to help us decorate it.”

“It’s pretty amazing, the different companies that come together to help us make it possible,” she continued.

In addition to the aforementioned businesses, there are also a handful of local companies that have contributed behind the scenes as well, including: Kustom Koncepts, Play It Again Sports, GW Mechanical, Alliance Electric, Yellowstone Garage and more.

“Kustom Koncepts are two brothers who were born and raised in Casper and they helped us build all the metal that’s at David Street Station. When we set up our skating rink, GW Mechanical comes on site to help us hook up the chiller. Alliance Electric also helps with that and we go to Play it Again Sports to get our ice skates sharpened every year. So, it’s just incredible how many different community partners we have here in town.”

Building community was one of the biggest reasons David Street Station was created in the first place, according to Landess. Like their website says, “This project proved that when the unwavering hard work of several scrappy volunteers is matched with the generosity of our community, anything is possible and the future of David Street Station, down, and Casper is only going to get brighter.”

Casper is sure to be brighter on the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year. The community is invited to bear witness to the official lighting of the Christmas tree, taking place during a special ceremony. The ice-skating rink will also be open at that time, providing a perfect opportunity to distract one’s self from the world around them and just enjoy the magic of Christmas for a little while.

But, as magical as Christmas is, it still cannot distract from responsibilities that the current pandemic has impressed upon those in charge. The David Street Station is no different and it will comply with all city, state, and federal regulations that are in effect.

“We are obviously encouraging people to wear masks and all of our staff will be wearing masks as well,” Landess stated. “We’ll be sanitizing the facility as much as we can and if anybody is experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, we ask that they don’t come to our facility. Basically, we’ll be following the same procedures that we’ve been following all summer.”

Now that Natrona County has issued an actual mask mandate, there will be no getting around the fact that masks will be required at David Street Station. But with winter coming, it might be a good idea to bundle up completely, anyway. It’s a small price to pay in order to see the bright lights, big city atmosphere at the Station.

“I think we’ve had such an interesting year that I think ending it on a happy note is a good thing,” Landess said. “I know we’ve always marketed ourselves as being the place where Casper comes together, and this is an example of that. It’s one of my favorite things that we get to do and I’m so happy that we’re still doing it and that people will hopefully feel safe enough to come down.”

David Street Station has become a beacon in Casper, according to many. The turnout for every event they put on is proof of this. But, for a lot of Casper citizens, it is Christmas time that really brings out the best of what David Street Station has to offer. This year, especially, could use a lot more Christmas cheer. And that’s what David Street Station and its host of community partners are trying to offer, no matter the rain, sleet, snow, or global pandemic.

“My niece told me that she felt like she was in a Hallmark Christmas movie when she was skating at David Street Station,” Landess laughed. “And I just think that’s such a cool thing that we offer here. To be able to ice skate around an enormous Christmas tree- I don’t know where else you could do that. I hope that we’ve become one of the staples of Casper at Christmas time and I hope that we can continue to be that during these difficult times.”

The tree lighting ceremony will take place at David Street Station on Saturday, November 28^th at 6:00 p.m.