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LIFE in Phelps County
Phelps County Life News
Total Renovation Makes the Sun Theater Better Than Ever
No matter when you grew up in Holdrege or Phelps County, you almost certainly saw some of the most seminal movies of your time at the Sun The...
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Why is Holdrege, NE a Sexy Small Town?
In a new book called Small Town Sexy, various people living in America’s small towns were interviewed including three Holdre...
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Just the Place to Expect the Unexpected...HOLDREGE-The Movie
Click here to see what Holdrege has to...
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Life in Phelps County
Lighting up the holidays
Holdrege’s biggest Christmas tree is holiday tradition on East Avenue
For many who live in and visit Holdrege during the holiday season, one of the most inspirational holiday traditions is carried on by Kent and Sylvia Person in the branches of a 30-foot high blue spruce.
The Person’s son Clark won the tree as a sapling in a Cub Scout drawing in 1985 and they took it home and planted it in the back yard. In 1993, a storm toppled a large evergreen in the Person’s front yard, so they decided to move the now-substantial spruce to its current location on the corner of 11th and East Avenues. Since that Christmas they have lit up the tree with literally thousands of colored lights – so many lights they had to add two extra electrical circuits to the house.
As the years went by and the tree grew, they’ve had to buy more and more lights for it and utilize taller and taller ladders until, in the last four years, they have rented a cherry-picker in order to get lights safely strung all the way around the massive tree.
It’s a lot of effort, but Kent says they’ve had innumerable comments of appreciation from neighbors over the years and at least two letters from people saying how comforting and inspirational they had found the tree at difficult times in their lives.
Although the Persons had decorated for years using strings of large bulbs – and myriad extension cords – they made the switch last year to energy-efficient LED lights. And although they appreciate the convenience and energy savings, they still reminisce about the look of the old bulbs.
“When we had the old ones on and I would come home at night, it just had a glow to it,” Kent said. “Starting about three blocks away, you could just see this glow that wasn’t any color, just a glow of light.”
The look is a little different, but Sylvia said the neighbors seemed to like it and it’s a more practical way to carry into the future.
Traditionally, the Person’s turn the lights on at Thanksgiving, and leave them on until Epiphany early in January. So if you’re in town over the holidays, make it a point to stop by to see a real holiday tradition...and one of Holdrege’s biggest Christmas trees.
Just the place to call home
It’s hard to describe life in a place like Phelps County to someone who’s never sat on a front porch in the gathering dusk, had a hot dish at a church potluck or gazed at a night sky crazy with stars. Phelps County is smack in the middle of high plains farm country. It is archetypically Midwestern, but with a modern edge. So on the one hand you get friendly, hardworking neighbors, but you also get high-speed — even fiber-optic — Internet access, a new YMCA, and a modern performing arts center.
Phelps County has good schools, great churches, up-to-date healthcare, lots of resources for youth and seniors, a whole raft of clubs and organizations, and plenty of things to do.
We have jobs and housing for people who might want to come here, and if you might want to start up a business, we definitely want to talk to you.
To get a better sense of what life is like in Phelps County, read about Phelps County along with the profiles of Holdrege, the county seat, and the villages of Bertrand, Loomis, Funk and Atlanta. Better still, why not come and visit and see for yourself why we say Phelps County is “just the place to call home.”