Many helping hands put up Christmas spirit

From the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce

The holidays are fast approaching and with that come many community activities and events that require many to give of their time and talent unselfishly. And this can’t be more true than right now as the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce readies for this wonderful time of year.

The community holiday decoration project and tree has had many partners and community members volunteering each year for more than 36 years to make the needed repairs and to get everything ready for the holidays. This history goes back to the purchase of several of the current day pole decorations by local business leaders; to the partnership between the Chamber and the Montana Power Company to get power to each ornament; to funds being raised by the Chamber and businesses to refurbish those original decorations and purchase additional decorations; to the addition of the 21 candy canes that adorn the First Street decorative light poles; to the new LED lights on the community tree at the Town Square.

The maintenance of pole decorations requires the help volunteers each year to wash and repair along with replacing the many broken light bulbs before they are hung for the holidays.

The past couple of weeks some great behind-the-scenes work has been done. Thanks to three members of the Montana State University-Northern Light’s Basketball Team, Tyler Chandler, Adam Huse and Justin Dunsmore, for helping Chamber Board member Debbie Callahan and Chamber Executive Director Debbie Vandeberg with the cleaning of the decorations. And a big thank you to Chamber board members Shawn Holden and Kendall, Joe Ross and Debbie Callahan, who lent a helpful hand replacing bulbs and making the needed repairs this past weekend.

A NorthWestern Energy crew made up of Josh Keller and Carson Sweeney covered the community tree in 1,000 colored lights for all to enjoy the night of the community tree lighting, Nov. 26.

People become involved with volunteering for a range of reasons — for some, serving their community is an honor, for some, it is part of the mission of the club or organization for which they belong, for some, volunteering is just a way of life. Thank you to all that give to make our community better.

“We thank all of the helping hands and expertise we have had over the years with the community holiday decoration project,” Vandeberg said.