When City visitors jingle all the way back to Christmases past, it’s easy to get caught up in the magic of millions of lights without thinking about the hardworking hands that decked those halls.
Just moments after the final Harvest Festival guests board their trams, a team of “elves” transforms the pumpkin paradise into a Christmas wonderland—a magical makeover that happens in just five days.
“We run on coffee and Christmas Cheer, I tell ya!” laughs Kelly Eutsler, Visuals Manager at Silver Dollar City.” The park closed that final night of Harvest at 10 o’clock. By 10:05, we were swooping in to clear the pumpkins. When that final guest is gone, the holiday hustle is on!”
The first wave of the cleanup crew plucks the pumpkins from their place and puts them into giant bins. Within just a few hours, the haybales and gourds are gone to become compost in large piles away from the park. By 3 o’clock that morning, most pumpkins are a thing of the past!
A second wave of workers unplug all the faux pumpkins, wrap the cords and separate them by scene to make next year’s Harvest setup a cinch. As those folks wrap up their overnight shift, they cross paths with the 3 a.m. Christmas crew reporting to work their magic on Town Square, placing fresh Christmas trees all around to be decorated. Shortly after that, the large crane moves in to erect the 8-story tree.
If that sounds like a strict order of events, you’re right. Kelly, though, is the tight keeper of the “Christmas Timeline”—a binder with details about where everything goes and in what order. Down to the hour, she knows whether crews are on track to welcome guests on opening night November 2.
During those frenzied five days, City streets are buzzing with golf carts, tractors, trailers, boxes, to-do lists and good attitudes.
“It takes up to 200 really incredible people to pull this off,” she smiles. “After 36 Christmas seasons, we almost have the timeline down to a science. We tweak it a bit as the festival grows but, for the most part, our entire crew knows the drill on how to deck the halls just in time!”
There’s also a 75-page photo book that helps with setup— picture-proof of how different scenes are designed and where the razzle and dazzle goes. The team does get a jump start each summer. Jessica Loftis leads the Christmas Lights Crew who begins hanging bulbs on July 1. The small but spirited team works early summer mornings and long hot days to make the holidays merry and bright! Like Kelly, Jessica also has a very important binder. It lays out the design zones and details the budget.
“I can tell you that a strand of lights ranges from $7.49 to $12.21,” she smiles. “Each zone of the park is on a five-year replacement rotation. We have to be that exact to preserve their brightness.”
The Maintenance & Construction department houses a holiday secret that could grow any Grinch’s heart three sizes. A well-organized “Christmas room” holds the key to their holiday magic. Color-coded spools of lights are meticulously stored, each tagged and corresponding to the detailed plans laid out in their binders. It’s mind-blowing. It’s magical.
For Kelly and Jessica’s teams, Christmas comes with callouses.
“We push our staple guns about 800,000 times to get the City glowing,” Jessica smiles. “But, when those lights come on for the opening of An Old Time Christmas, every ounce of work we put in is all worth it.”
Kelly, who drives a golf cart of goodies around to her team during setup, thinks about the magic of the season a lot during setup.
“I’ve worked with some of these guys for more than 30 years. I love them. I really love them. From the planning stages to seeing those guests marvel at what we’ve made, that’s the real reward for me—knowing that a crew of a few hundred will bring thousands of smiles to guests.”
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…
