It’s nearing that time again; the trees at Norwayne Field will soon be decorated for Christmas, and a deadline of Nov. 8 has been set for those who decorated a tree last year and would like to decorate the same tree again this holiday season. Park board member Kay Reimbold told WKVI that this holiday tradition brings the spirit of Christmas to the North Judson community and serves to commemorate those who have been lost.
“What we’ve done for these last probably eight years or so is someone picks a tree at Norwayne Field and they decorate it whatever way they choose to. Most of them are all done in memory of a family member or a friend that has passed away, but they get to pick any style they want. The only thing we require is that they use the outside lights on the tree and they attach things securely so that the wind or the weather doesn’t blow them off,” Reimbold said.
Last year, Reimbold said roughly 30 people decorated trees. The trees that were not decorated by members of the community are strung with lights by the park board, giving each tree the look and feel of the holidays. Reimbold said this year, 15 people have signed up so far to decorate the same trees again, and new decorators won’t be accepted until after Nov. 8.
She said the park board truly appreciates the community effort to decorate the trees.
“We really appreciate it because it’s beautiful during the holiday season when we have all the lights on there, and then we also have Christmas music playing 24 hours at the park, so if you’re up there walking around, and you can read, on each tree we put a staked sign with who decorated the tree and in whose memory they decorated it, so people can walk through and see all the beautiful trees and then also know that they were done for somebody,” Reimbold explained.
Reimbold said decorations must be taken off by Jan. 31 and there is no cost associated with the effort – it’s just “people pitching in to make something wonderful happen.”
The tree lighting ceremony will take place on Friday, Dec. 6, with the lighting of the trees performed by a child from the crowd who will pull the switch to turn on the lights. Following that, Reimbold said there will be hot cocoa, cookies and refreshments at the old firehouse with an appearance from Santa Claus himself.
