"We are always grateful for their sacrifice and everything they've done for us, so it's that little shining light that we can show for them," Weston Oesterreich told KKTV in May. He was speaking as president of the Palmer Lake Firefighters Association before the Memorial Day lighting on Sundance Mountain. The Star had been dark for about five months, and Association members climbed the mountain beforehand to check that all 92 bulbs worked.
Five months later, the town's online staff directory lists Oesterreich as Palmer Lake's interim fire chief. One reason the town named an interim chief from inside the department was to help with talks that could end the department. The 91st Annual Palmer Lake Chili Supper & Star Lighting is set for Saturday, Nov. 28. It falls in the middle of a negotiation over who will own the town's fire service. For as long as anyone has been alive here, that has also meant who looks after the Star.
The Star was a utility man's idea, and the firemen took it over
The Palmer Lake Historical Society dates the Star to June 1935, when B. E. Jack of Mountain Utilities proposed it. Bert Sloan, Richard Wolf, C. E. Rader, Byron Medlock and other residents organized and built it, and Mountain Utilities donated used poles and cable. By mid-December 1935 it was lit. The Star measured roughly 500 feet across and had 91 bulbs.
In 1937, the Palmer Lake Volunteer Fire Department became its custodian. That was the same year the town's fire station opened at Middle Glenway and Valley Crescent, where it still stands. The mountain site was deeded to the Town in 1966. The Historical Society describes the annual Chili Supper as the fundraiser that pays for the Star's upkeep. A 2002 community rebuild added a 92nd bulb and a remote controller.
For close to 90 years, the Star has been a fire department job, and that is still true. The town owns the land. The Firefighters Association does the climbing, and the Chili Supper keeps the bulbs burning.
The Yule Log ends at a fireplace the firemen built
The town's other winter tradition runs through the fire department too. When hunters find the hidden Yule log in the woods, they drag it back to Town Hall and saw it in two with the same two-man saw that cut the town's first Yule log. Half is saved to start next year's fire. The other half burns in the stone fireplace that Palmer Lake's volunteer firemen built in 1936 strictly for the celebration.
The Historical Society credits Lucretia Vaile and Evalena Macy with bringing the old English custom to Palmer Lake. They sent away for a splinter of the Lake Placid, N.Y., Yule log, and 50 hunters in red and green capes went looking for the first log. C. R. Hays found it, and 200 people greeted the hunters as they came back into town. The Yule Log Association runs the hunt today. Its 2026 listing names Niall Byrne and Heather Kruger.
So the Star on the mountain and the fireplace in Town Hall both go back to the same volunteer firemen in the mid-1930s.
This fall, the department behind both is negotiating to dissolve
Palmer Lake has run its own fire department since 1937. On Aug. 13, Monument Fire District came to a Town Hall workshop and told trustees what it would take to change that, according to the Monument Independent. Residents would have to vote to dissolve the department and join the district, which is a special district under state law. On Aug. 27, trustees directed the town administrator, fire chief and town attorney to begin formal merger negotiations and schedule public outreach. Our Community News reported that the goal is an intergovernmental agreement and ballot language for a special election in March 2027.
The department's leadership changed this month. At the Oct. 22 board meeting, the town confirmed that the fire chief's position will not be refilled. Police Chief Glen Smith becomes public safety supervisor over both police and fire, and the town is appointing an interim fire chief from inside the department, in part to help with the merger talks. The person in that interim role is the same Oesterreich who led May's climb to check the Star.
This year's Star lighting, Chili Supper and Yule Log fire will all take place while a department that has cared for them since the 1930s is negotiating how it would be absorbed.
What Monument Fire has said about the traditions
The Star came up directly at the August workshop. Trustee Michael Beeson told the district that Palmer Lake has an unusually close relationship with its firefighters. He said the town does not want to be pushed aside or minimized. Andy Kovacs, who led the district's presentation, answered that the district would keep the traditions. He named the Christmas Star, the chili supper and the pancake breakfast, and he pointed to the Gleneagle events the district took over and continued after its merger with Donald Wescott. Kovacs also named loss of identity as one of the two biggest obstacles to a yes vote. The other was the station's location.
That commitment came from a workshop where no one voted on anything. Kovacs also said his own board had not committed to anything. Another detail from that meeting bears on who climbs the mountain. The district ended its own volunteer program after Tri-Lakes and Donald Wescott combined, and all its stations are staffed around the clock. Palmer Lake's volunteers have no direct equivalent in the district. The closest thing it offers is a paid part-time wildfire mitigation crew.
Residents raised the Star again at the Oct. 4 candidate forum. Trustee Atis Jurka said residents worry about the station's location and about the Palmer Lake Star, which he noted the town's firefighters maintain, according to the Monument Independent's forum coverage.
The money question has some numbers attached. As presented at the workshop:
- Monument Fire District levy: 18.4 mills, set by voters in 2017
- Share of the town's levy that the district understands goes to fire: 10 mills
- Net change to a Palmer Lake tax bill if the town drops those 10 mills: 8.4 mills
- Household dollar estimate: none published as of the workshop
At the forum, candidates disagreed about what those figures mean once the town's general-fund spending on fire is counted. The town is aiming for a special election in March 2027 to put that choice on the ballot. Any promise to keep the Star going would depend on agreements that haven't been written yet.
The season, in order
Most of these dates gather people at one building, Town Hall at 28 Valley Crescent St., a block from the fire station where the Star's custodians have worked since 1937.
- Thursday, Nov. 12, 6 p.m. The trustees' public hearing on the proposed 2027 budget is at Town Hall. Draft copies are available at the Town office, 42 Valley Crescent. The fire department's place in the budget is part of what's on the table. The Monument Independent reported that the draft budget puts fire at about 19% of general-fund department spending.
- Thursday, Nov. 19, 7 to 9 p.m. Patricia and Gary Atkins present "History of the Yule Log" for the Palmer Lake Historical Society at Town Hall.
- Saturday, Nov. 28. The 91st Annual Palmer Lake Chili Supper & Star Lighting, which the Town announced on Oct. 21. The Town's notice doesn't spell out times or prices. For reference, the 2025 listing named the Palmer Lake Firefighter Association as host, at 28 Valley Crescent St., from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Check this year's details with the Town before you go.
- Sunday, Dec. 13, 1 to 4 p.m. The Yule Log Hunt starts and ends at Town Hall. The Monument Independent's calendar notes that wassail is served.
The Chili Supper is the date that matters most for the merger story. The Historical Society describes the supper as the Star's upkeep fundraiser. The Historical Society credits the town's fire department with hosting it, and the 2025 listing named the Firefighter Association as host. If the town holds the special election it is aiming for in March 2027, Nov. 28 would be the last Star lighting before voters decide whether the town department continues.
The tax figures above are reported as presented at public meetings. They're general information, not tax or financial advice, so check with the El Paso County Treasurer or a tax professional about your own bill.
If you have questions about what a fire district change could mean for your home, whether that's your tax bill, your insurance or your plans to sell, Colorado's Choice Homes is a local team that keeps up with Palmer Lake's town business, and we're happy to talk it through. Get a Free Home Valuation or Relocation Plan, and we'll see you at the Chili Supper.
