McKennan Park neighborhood bands together to update holiday decor

It takes a neighborhood to fluff 68 garlands for holiday decorating.

It also takes a neighborhood to fund the $8,000 needed to replace the “old and tired” decorations that had wound around McKennan Park light poles and those on 21st Street’s distinctive boulevard.

But it took hardly any time at all for residents in the historic McKennan Park neighborhood to raise the funds and offer up their time for a garland-fluffing gathering before the lighted greenery went up late last month.

The speed and the enthusiasm didn’t surprise longtime resident John Paulson. He lived in the McKennan Park neighborhood until he was 20. When he returned to Sioux Falls 40 years ago, he moved to a house on Second Avenue three blocks away from his boyhood home.

McKennan Park residents are known for their friendliness and hospitality, Paulson said.

“And recognizing that people from around the community and surrounding area are connected to the park and use it for their enjoyment,” he said. “We appreciate on a daily basis. We have a volunteer spirit.”

Paulson collaborated with his neighbors to found the Friends of McKennan Park Neighborhood Association in 2014 and served as its first president. Decorating the light poles with garlands was the group’s initial effort, expanding on a smaller project that just involved the boulevard, the only one in Sioux Falls.

“It was a way to work together immediately,” Paulson said.

The lighted garlands are placed on all the light poles on the boulevard and on the 14 light poles with electric outlets in McKennan Park, said Anne Mantz, co-president with Rachael Meyerink. That’s a total of 34 poles. Each pole requires two 9-foot lighted garlands.

“Our neighborhood is extremely generous, and we were able to fundraise it quite easily through a Facebook post and email,” Mantz said. “It’s important to the neighbors, but some donors live outside the neighborhood association. Some didn’t even live in Sioux Falls, but their parents used to live here, and they’re a fan of the park.”

Usually, the neighbors hang the garlands as a way to socialize, Mantz said. Since the city offered to hang the lighted garlands this year only, neighbors met to unbox the new garlands and fluff them to their fullest potential.

“I was there, and it was fun,” Meyerink said. “It went pretty fast. They were unboxed and fluffed in two hours. I just think it’s fun to work together. People find joy and purpose bonding together to achieve a common goal.”

Meyerink moved to the McKennan Park neighborhood two years ago after living in the nearby All Saints neighborhood for 10 years. The neighborhoods share much in common: old houses, mature trees and smaller lots so neighbors can make connections easily.

From her house’s front porch at Phillips and 21st, Meyerink can see McKennan Park, which she describes as the neighborhood’s center. The light-pole decorations encourage residents to also decorate for the holidays. Last year, the Meyerinks hung lights on their eaves, and put wreaths and candles in the windows.

“I feel like we’re a Christmas card for the city, and we need to decorate,” she said of the neighborhood’s efforts.

Mantz moved to the McKennan Park neighborhood in 2017 after living in All Saints since 2002. She walks her dog to the park daily. She knows neighbors who will fluff the garlands throughout the holiday season as they go for their own walks.

Early pioneer Helen McKennan, who died in 1906, donated her house and 20 acres to Sioux Falls’ young parks department. It was the scene of the department’s first greenhouses and remains one of only two formal gardens in the city.

Park caretaker Sara Mundt and her team do “an extraordinary job” of tending to the park, Mantz said.

Paulson echoed that.

“We’re grateful for our relationships with the city and what they do to make the park nice,” he said. “I want to lift up the staff who provide the landscaping and gardening services in the park. They’re fantastic.”

Paulson is equally proud of the the neighborhood association’s efforts in other areas. In the 1940s, a floral nameplate that spelled out the words McKennan Park was established; the association has brought it back and keeps it up over the summer. Neighbors also raised funds for a flagpole, tree replacement and a historical project featuring eight past elements of the park.

Neighbors are taking pride in sponsoring the new lighted garlands, Meyerink said. When dusk comes and the lights go on, it brings a bit of magic to the neighborhood.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little extra light in the darkness,” she said. “I think the more light we have the better. And I think it shows that people are proud of our neighborhood. They are happy to share it with the city. We understand that we have an uncommon beauty in our historic homes. We know that even if you don’t live in the neighborhood, you enjoy that.”

The lighted garlands will remain on the light poles until February or March when neighbors reunite to take them down for storage. Matt and Joel Parker, who own Parker Transfer & Storage, have allowed the neighborhood to store the garlands there from the beginning.