Tree-mendous Christmas Experience at Jasper County Museum has a new look every year

There’s no map, no blueprint, no directions to follow when it comes to decorating the Jasper County Historical Museum with holiday ornaments and lighted trees. Volunteers rely solely on their intuition and the several months it takes to turn the facility into the Tree-mendous Christmas Experience.

Since there are no instructions or templates to abide by, the layout and look of the facility is completely different each year. Some of the volunteers lamented to learn folks who had visited it the first year did not return the second year, saying they had already seen it. Not true, says board member Dave Rorabaugh.

“We’ve heard people say they’ve seen it before. Well, you haven’t seen it before. Every year is totally different,” Rorabaugh says. “A couple of years we had military exhibits, but this year we’ve got churches and their trees on display. We have a tunnel. We have the high schools doing their own trees.”

More than 200 trees will be on display inside the museum, 1700 S. 15th Ave. W., at this year’s Tree-mendous Christmas Experience. Rorabaugh says for the amount of time and effort it took for volunteers to prepare the trees, he would be disappointed for the people who do not come out and enjoy the displays.

“We’re providing them with a first-class experience,” he says. “If they don’t come and enjoy it that would be disappointing to me. It’s a celebration of Christmas, and we’ve got lots of people that come and volunteer and love pulling this together to see the smiles on people’s faces as they come through.”

Oftentimes volunteers will hear visitors mutter to themselves, “This is a lot more than I thought this was going to be!”

Rorabaugh smiles confidently. “No one tree is the same.”

Barb Carroll, a museum board member, says what makes the third year so special is that volunteers involved so many more people into the event. Churches from every Jasper County community are represented by their own trees in the museum’s “war room.” Carroll says all of the high schools participated, too.

“We’re getting all ages involved and people from all around the county,” she says. “It isn’t just the Jasper County Museum’s dream or hope to do this Christmas event, it’s now a county thing. The whole county has gotten involved. We hope to grow bigger and bigger. Of course, it’s a fundraiser for the museum.”

Indeed it is. The event is open to the public at no cost, but free will donations are accepted and encouraged. Carroll says the generosity from sponsors to support the event has been overwhelming; many of the sponsors have their own uniquely decorated trees on display, too. The museum really wants to wow folks this year.

Which is partly why the museum applied for the city’s new Hotel-Motel Tourism Grant Program, Carroll says. Eventually, the council approved their application and awarded the museum funds that allowed volunteers to up their production and create more fun offerings for visitors to enjoy, like a children’s tunnel.

For the past three years, Carroll says volunteers have been receiving more and more decorations and trees to add to the museum’s collection, expressly for the Tree-mendous Christmas Experience. Even as board members are decorating the trees as early as August, when they get a new tree they find a home for it.

Which further reinforces the point board members are trying to get across.

“It’s different every year,” Carroll says. “We’ve had comments like, ‘Well, we’ve seen it before.’ No, you haven’t! Because it is so different every year. This year we have more decorations, more trees, the tunnel and lots more new areas. If people don’t come see this they’re really missing out! That’s all I can say!”

Tree-mendous Christmas Experience will be held every Saturday and Sunday from Dec. 2 to Dec. 31, but it will be closed on Dec. 24. Hours are 1 to 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays; and 1 to 4 p.m. on Christmas Day Dec. 25. Group visits can be scheduled by calling the museum at 641-792-9118.