Lions Club brings holiday spirit to Plains

The Plains Lions Club put up their Christmas decorations along Main Street a week early, not to spread holiday cheer earlier, but to make sure everything was working. 

After putting them up the lights in 2020, the club found several that weren't working and couldn't get them all fixed until they were well into the season. Nevertheless, Steve Spurr, club president of the Plains Lions Club and member of six years, hopes to make the town more festive and putting out the decorations puts him in an early Christmas spirit.

Spurr said the ornaments hopefully set the Christmas tone for residents, as well as visitors coming into town. It took the six Lions members and Ben Miller of NorthWestern Energy about three hours Sunday to get the 27 lighted ornaments affixed to poles and attached to lines along the mile-long stretch of Railroad Street from Highway 28 to Central Avenue. This was the first time for Miller to aid the club in putting up the holiday adornments. Spurr said that Miller and Justin Martin, also of NorthWest Energy, have been a huge help and the job could not have been done without their help. The operation Sunday began with Miller raising the 24-foot long "Happy Holidays" sign some 20 feet high at the east end of town. Three colorful ornaments were added to the sign in an effort to spruce up the aging decoration.

Club members who helped on Sunday also included Dave Helterline, Marv Tanner, Rich Miller, Kevin Kerr and Rick Powers, the club's newest member. Helterline said this is only the second time since joining the club in 1957 that he could recall the club putting up the decorations before Thanksgiving. It is normally done on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  He said they did it early in 2018 because several members were going to be out of town on the day the club had initially planned on decorating the town. The club chooses to decorate on a Sunday because there's less traffic and most businesses are closed.

Club members tested bulbs last week, but Spurr said they'd check that night to make sure they all came on. The decorations are owned by the club, but are stored in City Hall's garage. The Lions started loading pickup trucks at 11 a.m. and placing an ornament aside each designated pole along Railroad Street until Miller and his truck with the bucket arrived to lift it into position with the help of one of the Lions. The decorations included Christmas trees, snowflakes, candles, wreaths, and candy canes, but they are from the 1950s and 1960s and are frail. One is missing most of its garland. 

Spurr said they received a $5,000 donation last year that was specifically intended for the Christmas decorations and have used a portion of that to replace bulbs. The club has already replaced most of the old glass bulbs with plastic LED lights. The president said they received a lot of positive feedback on the new lights. "After they come down this year, I will be redoing the trees and the candles first, then seeing how it goes from there," said Spurr. "Depending on how long they take, we might be able to have them all redone with new light cords and new garland on them," he added. Anyone who would like to donate funds to help replace bulbs and decorations can do so by sending donations to Plains Lions Club, P.O. Box 721, Plains, MT 59859.

Helterline said the weather was great for hanging the decorations Sunday. "We've had some nasty and windy days. It's Thanksgiving time, so you never know what the weather's going to be," said the 91-year-old. "It was beautiful today, no wind at all," he added. He remembered that years ago the Montana Power Company and Bell Telephone used to help with the project with their bucket trucks. The decorations will stay up until the weekend after New Year's Day.