Kelly Eutsler believes in the magic of Christmas trees with her whole heart.
She remembers bundling up as a little girl in Oregon, wandering the woods with her family until they found the one—the tree that just felt like Christmas. That same childhood wonder guided her again this spring, deep into the forests of her home state, as she helped handpick the first-ever live Christmas tree for Silver Dollar City. The Grand Fir will shine in three lighting ceremonies each night during An Old Time Christmas® in The Plaza.
“To help choose the tree that thousands of families will stand in front of, take photos with and make memories around is beyond special,” says Kelly, Visuals Manager for Silver Dollar City. “I just might I’ll cry the first time I see it light up.”
She can hardly imagine the emotion of finally seeing it glow in front of guests. After all, bringing the tree from Oregon to the Ozarks took a whole lot of holiday hunting. Finding a farm with 45-footers for sale is a task as tall as the trees themselves, so Kelly got creative. After failed Google searches, she reached out to the National Christmas Tree Association in St. Louis for guidance. By late April, she was boarding a plane to Portland in search of the perfect fir.
Oddly enough, the road to the farm was named Table Rock Road. She took that as a sign that she was on the right path. She met up with George and Jill Jones, a kind couple who grow cut-your-own Christmas trees for families. Just up the mountain, though, sits 400 acres of their land with priceless views and towering firs.
It was 60 degrees in the valley but only 40 degrees up on the mountain. Kelly changed from a T-shirt into a heavy coat, hat and three pairs of socks before hopping into an off-
road vehicle with the Joneses. They had five trees in mind, but Kelly already had a vision.
“I didn’t want it to be a perfect triangle,” she says with a smile. “That’s not our style. I knew I’d know it when I saw it.”
And she did. They were early in the search when Kelly spotted it. Ten miles into the snowy woods, her eyes landed on the one.
“I knew right away that was her,” she smiles. “She was our tree. Our very first Grand Fir that would make so many families at Silver Dollar City smile.”
She didn’t need to look any further. The breathtaking 30-year-old, 44-foot white Shasta Fir was it. This massive beauty will be cut, hoisted by crane, and carefully loaded onto a trailer for her trip to the Ozarks in October. Once here, she’ll stand proudly in The Plaza on a custom steel base built by Silver Dollar City’s own Maintenance and Construction team, then set aglow with 30,000 lights.
“I made sure she could handle that,” Kelly laughs. “Trees from the mountains are used to holding five feet of snow. They’re built to be strong. I warned the farmer we were going to load her up with thousands of lights. They said she could take it!”
Kelly’s team will tend to the tree with great care, giving her about 36 gallons of water every day during the first few weeks.
“It’ll take a lot of teamwork and new knowledge to keep her looking her best. But, we’re up for the job. It’s Christmas!”
For years, Silver Dollar City’s Christmas festival has wowed guests with animated trees and more than 6.5 million lights, but Kelly says this year’s addition of a real tree marks a return to the simplicity of Christmases past.
“I knew this tree when she was still standing on a snowy mountain in Oregon. I was in awe, thoughtfully touching her branches. She’ll be all grown up and glowing when she’s here. All the hours and heart we’ve poured into this tree... it’s going to be special.”
As Public Relations Manager for the Silver Dollar City Company, she is eager to tap into her journalism background to hunt down “heart tugs” to write about—those stories that celebrate…
