Photos courtesy of SASHA PARKER
It seems like there have been a few posts on Facebook lately complaining about the lack of Christmas decorations around town. There is one Roosevelt County resident who you will not find complaining about the lack of decorations, Rose Robbins has transformed her little part of Hwy 70 into a Christmas wonderland for all of us to enjoy during the holiday season. Rose said she started decorating the fence line and had the start of the train with three train cars about 12 years ago, next came the trees made out of tomato cages around the pond. Each year she has added more and more. Rose credits Dave Penry with gifting her with about 30 artificial trees and keeping her in the loop when he spots any large commercial type lighting or decorations that might work for Rose.
Rose said the trick is, “keep it big and bright, if it is not big and bright, it can’t be seen from the road” She said, “ the hard part is the make ready part, I spend about one month in my shop doing assembly and light checks. I have gotten pretty good at extension cord management”. After all the make ready work is completed, it takes her about 7 days if she has good weather to get all the decorations in place and ready to light up.
When asked why she does this year after year, Rose said “It’s Christmas! – Every year I have people telling me how much they enjoy driving out to look at the lights and how much their kids love looking at the Christmas display. Hearing the stories of enjoyment and joy makes my Christmas spirit and fuels the desire to do it again. This year we had about 30 kids out there one evening with Charles Bennett filling in for Santa – that was a memory maker for sure. Every year when it comes down, I am always a little sad.”
The Robbins pond Christmas display has grown every year however is now limited by power. The display is as big as the size of her meter box can handle. Without a new bigger meter box the Robbins pond display will not grow any larger. Thank you to Rose and Gary Robbins for making Christmas a little bigger and brighter for all of us!
