Sunday, November 12, 2017

Old School 911 - Part Two

Steamboat was a unique place in many ways. One was the Webber family who, for may years, was all things electrical to the populace.

One tradition they fostered for years was the 'Roaming Christmas Tree". Along with the Lions Club, every house was visited on New Years Eve and popcorn balls and candy given to the children. The Lions were dressed as Santa. Since it was cold, they needed their antifreeze. More antifreeze was dispensed from some of the houses. Many church goers on Christmas day looked the worse for wear.

My Webber took the tree to neighboring towns on the following nights. Imagine you are a stranger traveling US 40 late at night and a rolling Christmas tree was coming at you. Might sober you up, no?

14 comments:

LL said...

What a delightful tradition!

drjim said...

Couple of pretty big horns on that truck, too..

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Neat for the kids. All the new money moving in killed it. It was kept alive in the small town to the West for awhile but is gone now.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Mr. Webber did all of the PA for every event for many years. I don't remember anyone complaining about not being able to hear.

A kid a year ahead of me was interested in radio and corresponded by radio code with people in Europe. Mr. Webber helped him as the kid's family didn't have a pot to piss in.

Ami said...

Love the stories.
I really miss Colorado.
I'm old enough to remember similar stories from Montrose, where I did a large portion of growing up.

Momma Fargo said...

Hah! Love that. I wish towns would do a little more of embracing these great things about the holidays rather than how many presents we can buy our kids.

Anonymous said...

There was one night when the Tree was going to a neighboring town to the south. A couple of drunks were driving the opposite direction and drove off the road into the ditch. No injuries...just ruined a perfectly good $20 drunk. Our mother was kissed by Santa one year in front of her mother. Grandma was a little shocked and Mom got a little high from Santa's breath.

Sisty

Brig said...

I've so enjoyed reading these stories. What a great tradition.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Small towns had advantages for kids.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Agree.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Santa was lucky Dad was working a shift.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Wish they had kept it up. All the new arrivals with money changed the character of the town.

Old NFO said...

And it wasn't bad 'advertising' for them either... :-D

Well Seasoned Fool said...

No it wasn't. The family were hard working and tireless promoters.