Tree of Life sheds light on holiday season/ Old Colorado City

One month before Christmas, a hearty group of revelers ushered in the holiday season with carols, cocoa and candles.

The crowd gathered in Old Colorado City on a frosty Saturday night to watch the lighting of one of Pikes Peak Hospice Foundation's Trees of Life.

"Behind every light on this tree is a story, a story of remembering," foundation community development officer Jeanne Conder told the crowd.

"Let the lights shine," Conder said after finishing a story about the deaths of her own father and father-in-law that brought tears to the eyes of many in the crowd.

Each light on the tree symbolizes a loved one who has died. Residents can purchase a light, and all funds go to the hospice.

And shine the lights did.

The tree began to glow at the same time the crowd lit the red candles they held in their hands.

Isolde Alsteen, Elke Tidwell and Stephanie Tidwell, 6, each held a candle and listened to the carolers.

Alsteen had no problem braving the cold weather.

"I think they need more events like this (in Colorado Springs) and they need to make them longer, not just one day," Alsteen said.

The tree lighting was the culmination of a daylong celebration in Old Colorado City billed as a Rocky Mountain Country Christmas.

Earlier in the day, there was a children's parade and a Santa's Workshop. Students from the Colorado Springs Conservatory drew shoppers off the streets and into the Clock Tower Plaza on Colorado Avenue with their lyrical voices - singing everything from the Dixie Chicks to Broadway show tunes. The Jerry Brown Trio also performed.

The conservatory helped organize the event, said student Rebekah Geare. As she staffed a bake sale table Saturday afternoon, Geare said students had been invited to perform an opera in New York City next June and were trying to raise funds for their trip.

Ross Schavlis spent four hours at the event, and, like Alsteen, said he would like to see more such events.

"I think it helps build a feeling of community," Schavlis said.

Saturday's tree lighting kicked off the hospice's Tree of Life program for the season. By Christmas, more than 4,000 lights on seven trees will have been lit throughout the community, foundation officials said. Acacia Park, the location of the original Tree of Life, remains the largest lighting with two trees to light up. That event will be at 5 p.m. Saturday.

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