Castle Rock is home to a five-pointed octogenarian, and itap all lit up for the holidays.
The Castle Rock is a yuletide tradition that dates back to 1936. The chamber of commerce presented this year’s “” event on Nov. 19. The illumination of the 40- by 40-foot symbol of holiday cheer at the top of the town’s namesake rock — where it will remain lit nightly through Jan. 22 — was accompanied by fireworks and family friendly entertainment.
This season of the star, the Douglas County History Research Center has put out a call to county residents for their photos, news clippings and other materials they may have at home related to the star and starlighting events the last 80 years. The center, a service of the based inside the , is seeking to bolster its collection of star materials and gather memories of the Castle Rock tradition.
“The library is not just a place of learning, itap also a place of history for all Douglas County residents,” said Adam Speirs, an archivist with the center. “We want to build on that history by developing a more robust starlighting collection.”
The effort is part of Douglas County Libraries larger “creating connections” initiative through which the district seeks to support local traditions and celebrations. Earlier this year, the History Research Center collected photos of students at proms past and present and of the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo through the years, Speirs said.
The center makes providing materials easy. A submission form is on the homepage of the its website at . As long as providers give the center permission to use the materials, they can submit as many photos as they like with descriptions attached. Allowing for digital submissions means people can keep their originals, Speirs said. He said that if the center gets a strong response, the call for photos may become an annual event.
“We want to keep this going,” he said. “Maybe it can become part of the tradition itself.”
Last week, 12-year-old Allison Gould and her family stopped in the center to drop off photos of this year’s starlighting.
“Itap just a tradition for my family to go to the starlighting,” the life-long town resident said. “When I was little, I heard it was the way Santa knows to come to Castle Rock.”
Speirs said contemporary photos are just as welcome as decades-old shots, noting that Castle Rock is growing and changing rapidly.
“We’re trying to collect the new too,” he said. “The changes that are happening happen so fast itap important to document whatap here now, in effect for future researchers, which in this case is the general public.”
Speirs said the center’s great hope is that someone has a photo of the night the star was converted to a “V” in August 1945. The transformation, celebrating American victory in World War II, marked the end of a three-year period during which the star was not lit while the country was conserving wartime resources, according to information collected from various archived news articles and other materials on file at the center.
From its first Christmas in 1936, the star has been maintained by local firefighters; first volunteers, then the , according to department officials. Lt. Matt Rettmer has helped maintain the star since joining the department 19 years ago. In past years the starlighting was a charity ball for the fire department that raised money for equipment, he said.
After turning it to celebrate the Denver Broncos playing in and winning the Super Bowl in January and February, Rettmer and other firefighters gave the star a facelift this year, replacing the sockets for the approximately 90 40-watt light bulbs that make it shine. For Rettmer, the star is a reminder that no matter how big it gets, Castle Rock is a small town at heart like the one where he grew up in the Midwest.
“I equate it to the traditional star on top of a Christmas tree,” he said. “Itap the white light, the symbol of peace and hope. Itap that nostalgic feeling of Christmas and the holidays.”
For more information: Contact the Douglas County History Research Center at 303-688-7730.