More than 32,000 cars travel the Glenn Highway between the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and Anchorage every day. And for the last two decades, a steel Christmas tree in the marshy flats along the Glenn Highway has been a bright spot during the long, dark winter.
The man responsible for maintaining the tree, Jason Tolstrup, died in April in a dirt-biking accident in Nevada. But his twin brother, Dustin Tolstrup, and widow, Kaye Tolstrup, are carrying on the tradition.
About 700 feet of lights are strung around the tree each year. Kaye helped Jason with the tree for the last 10 years, and said she and her daughters spent about a week replacing the lights on the tree last month.
“When you see the tree, when you’re coming around the corner, either way, both directions, you just feel like you’re home,” she said. “It makes you happy.”
Kaye started a Facebook group dedicated to the tree that now has nearly 13,000 members. When news of Jason’s death spread over the summer, Kaye said the community built around their love of the tree showed support for her family.
“It was very heartwarming and it was very emotional,” Tolstrup said. “If we continue to make people happy and smile, and have them support us in this difficult time, it just makes us want to do it more.”
The Tolstrup’s did not begin the Glenn Highway Christmas tree tradition, but Jason volunteered to help out over 20 years ago, and his family has been involved ever since. The lights run off a pair of golf-cart batteries and the tree is made out of pieces of rebar.
In recent years, people have started leaving ornaments on the tree. Some were made by students, and others were made from the wood of the spruce tree that originally stood in that spot. This year, Kaye said, she will hang pictures of Jason from the tree.
Dustin Tolstrup, Jason’s twin brother, recalled one night several years ago when he was carrying the 60-pound batteries through the snow to hook up to the tree with Jason. He said his brother’s back was killing him.
“I carried them down there and I said, ‘Man, why are you doing this Jase? This is hard.’ And someone honked right then,” Dustin said. “He looked at me and smiled, and he said, ‘That’s why.’ And so when we did a test lighting the other night, Kaye and I, you couldn’t believe how many horns were honking as we were standing out there. It’s amazing.”
On a recent road trip in the Lower 48, Dustin said he and his son returned to the location of his brother’s fatal accident, and noticed balloons had been left at the spot.
“They didn’t know we were ever coming back. They didn’t do that for me or anybody else, they did that for Jason, and it just reminds me how amazing people are,” Dustin Tolstrup said.
The Glenn Highway Christmas tree was lit for the first time on Thanksgiving night, and will remain lit until New Year’s Eve.
“I’m doing it for my brother, 100%,” Dustin Tolstrup said. “He did it for the people, I’m doing it for him. I know there’s more to it for the community, but for sure, I’m doing it for my brother.”
Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.
