The annual lighting ceremony for the 50-foot-tall Christmas Tree in Chaska’s Fireman’s Park in downtown Chaska will be held at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8. The tree’s history is as colorful as the lights and bulbs that adorn its cheerful branches.
The tree can trace its roots back to the late 1980s (no one remembers the exact date) when a small group of Chaska business and community leaders gathered to solve a problem. The City of Chaska had recently been scolded on the separation of church and state and decided not to adorn city streets with Christmas decorations. This small group of men and women felt that Christmas decorations were important, so they elected to do it themselves.
They printed 100 tickets for a Christmas party and sold them for $100 each, calling it the Chaska 100 Club. The money raised was used to buy and put up Christmas decorations on light poles and in City Square Park.
The annual 100 Club Christmas party soon became a cherished tradition for many. Eventually, increasing costs led to 150 tickets being sold for $150 each, but the name remains the same.
After the 2016 Fireman’s Park redevelopment, the 100 Club Board of Directors developed a plan for a major attraction in the heart of downtown. The centerpiece was to be a 50-foot-high Christmas tree.
The late John Lenzen of Lenzen Chevrolet-Buick made a major contribution to help make this dream a reality.
One overcast day in November 2016, a semi-trailer delivered pallet loads of metal panels and artificial tree branches to Fireman’s Park. The 100 Club Board and a host of volunteers huddled around a one-page instruction sheet with a series of drawings and the simple instruction: “Assemble from the top down.”
Assembling from the top down made no sense (obviously), so they assembled the bottom section first and then climbed up to start on the next layer. It wasn’t long before there were three sections (24 feet) up in the air and not even half done. Yikes! Finishing the job required the help of borrowed boom trucks and experienced linemen.
As it turns out, the proper way to assemble the massive tree is from the top down. After the top section is assembled, it is lifted with a crane, and each subsequent layer is assembled at ground level.
The 100 Club continues to invest in improving the lights each year. Twinkle lights on the trees outside Crooked Pint are a recent enhancement. This year, they are moving the lights from City Square Park to Fireman’s Park and branching out with new ground-level “photo op” attractions. The future looks bright!
