By NATE KING
Salina Post
Santa is still checking over the Naughty and Nice List, but Christmas time is here for the "elves" decorating Downtown Salina in holiday cheer.
On Tuesday, with a truck full of tree branches, large gold and red ornaments, and strands containing thousands of lights, UltraShine Holiday Lights owner Chris Rios and three helpers set up the 18-foot-tall Mayor’s Christmas tree in Campbell Plaza.
"Many people may notice that Jose Peppers is moving into that area where the Prickly Pear formally was located, but I don't want anyone to be afraid that we won't have our Christmas tree lighting because we will," said Leslie Bishop Executive Director of Salina Downtown Inc.
The Mayor's Christmas Tree will serve as the Salina community Christmas tree and will be officially lit by Salina Mayor Bill Longbine on Friday, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. in Campbell Plaza, 126 South Santa Fe Avenue. After Longbine lights the tree, the Salina Youth Choir will perform singing a few Christmas carols.
"Salina Downtown Inc. is so excited to have a community Christmas tree in downtown Salina in Campbell Plaza. We are grateful to our community sponsors, the City of Salina and First Bank Kansas, for helping SDI bring the tree downtown again this year," Bishop said.
Despite the chilly breeze, Rios and his team—Josh Rodriguez, Brendan Anderson, Taygen Watson, and Rios—worked with a purpose as they set up the holiday tree, while Hutton Construction crews continued work on the Jose Pepper's outdoor seating area.
The four-man crew consists of two Ellsworth Jr./Sr. High School graduates—Rodriguez and Anderson—Salina firefighter Watson, and former Salina firefighter Rios. Together, they specialize in custom designing and installing holiday displays for customers throughout the year.
"We didn't have any issues working alongside Hutton," Rios said.
Rios has been decorating commercial and residential properties for the holidays for approximately nine years and covers an area stretching from Plainville to Great Bend to Inman to near Abilene.
"I had a call last year on December 22 that we went out and installed," Rios said. "The average house takes us about an hour to install."
The 18 foot tall Mayor's Christmas Tree is topped by a 3 foot tall topper, making it stand at a whopping 21 feet. The tree is decorated with dozens of ornaments and 7,000 LED lights. Rios and his team also decorated the trees that line Santa Fe Avenue.
"It took us between eight or nine hours to get all those trees decorated and lit," Rios said.
Rios said he has always helped put up Christmas lights around the holidays with his family. Rodriguez and Anderson said this is their first year helping Rios with lights.
Anderson said the work is busier than he thought.
"We get calls every day about people wanting lights, so we stay pretty busy, and they [calls for lights] are starting to speed up even more now," Anderson said.
The team began installing lights on homes as early as October 1. According to Rodriguez, Ultrashine offers a solution for those who want to be prepared for the holidays but prefer to hold off on spreading the cheer until after Halloween.
"For early October we don't turn the lights on usually until we go back to the houses and turn their lights on when they're ready for them. So they're not on all of October," Rodriguez said.
Anderson described working for Rios and Ultrashine as both enjoyable and fulfilling. He said the job offers a unique sense of satisfaction, especially seeing homes transform for the holidays.
"We have the best boss," Anderson said.
At the conclusion of the holiday season, they take down the displays and store them for the following holiday season. The crew also does maintenance on the displays as needed.
When they aren't making peoples homes bright for the holidays, Rios does permanent lights on commercial structures and houses, landscape lighting, and wedding and event lighting.
To find out more about UltraShine Holiday Lights, go to kansaschristmaslights.com.