Dedicated crew handles exterior decorating for holiday season

The exterior of the Conrad Mansion Museum and surrounding grounds are decked out for the holidays, thanks to a corps of volunteers both young and young at heart who showed up last weekend to trim trees, hang lights and create a festive look.

For the past several years Glacier High School Coach Arron Deck has asked Wolfpack football team members to help out, and they have always stepped up to help, along with a few other student volunteers of various ages.

“It is just great to have these kids help us,” said Rita Fitzsimmons, a longtime member of the Conrad Mansion board of directors. “They do it cheerfully and willingly, even in the worst weather.”

Longtime volunteer Nikki Sliter organizes the exterior decorating and has for decades. She pulls a crew together, pays personally for all the lights, and throws a big “thank you” party for all the cold (and usually wet) workers at her home immediately following the decorating blitz, Fitzsimmons said.

Another ardent volunteer is Tisch Haas, who spends a couple of days prior to the decorating event, setting up all of the extension cords, plugs, ladders, poles and other necessities.

It’s been 124 years since Charles E. and Alicia Conrad and their family moved into the mansion around Thanksgiving of 1895. Mrs. Conrad loved Christmas and the Christmas spirit flows through the Conrad Mansion every December, the mansion’s website points out. Staff and volunteers deck the halls in time for the annual Christmas teas and tours and other scheduled events.

More information about upcoming events and the story of Kalispell’s most famous historic home can be found at https://www.conradmansion.com