Christmas on the Yukon: Santa and team arrive with gifts and holiday joy
Each holiday season along the Yukon River, in the riverside village of Rampart, Santa and his elves arrive for a pre-Christmas community celebration.
Alyeska’s annual Christmas on the Yukon tradition has employees and contractors deliver gifts for kids, a big meal for everyone to share, and a day of joy for our pipeline people and Rampart residents, many of whom support Alyeska and our Yukon Response Base (YRB, formerly Pump Station 6) teams on emergency preparedness and response efforts along the river.
“Community is the fabric that binds partnership, together we can accomplish anything,” said Phil Huelskoetter, the YRB’s Civil Maintenance Coordinator. “To celebrate this with our Rampart response teams and their families is truly and honor of mine.”
As always, this year Santa and team traded the signature sleigh and reindeer for two helicopters and pilots, who safely transported our group to Rampart on a cold and clear day. Brian Halley, YRB’s head cook who works for NMS, played a standout Santa, while his helpers included lead elf Lisa Kangas (Alyeska Environmental Coordinator and a longtime event co-organizer), Jennifer Maltos (YRB’s breakfast cook), Phil (who is also the logistical wiz for the annual trip), and Maritime helicopter pilots Carl Terry from Fairbanks and John Slezak from Pump Station 5.
Santa strolled into the Rampart community hall with a sack of loaded full of presents for nine kids, who all submitted their specific wish lists in advance. And they weren’t disappointed – in fact, they were beaming! The team also brought plenty of food, from fresh fruits like pineapples and mangos to goodie bags with an assortment of Christmas treats. Oh, and a big batch of sugar cookies that were decorated by the kids during the day.
Due to those cold temperatures and diminishing daylight, our team was on the ground for less than three hours, but it was certainly quality time for everyone.
The success of this day is set in motion months in advance. It starts in the summer, with the annual Pump 5K fun run kicking off fundraising for gifts and food, along with support from the YRB and Fairbanks staff. This year, the race and donations expanded to all TAPS workers, who could participate and give remotely, too. Ultimately, more than $2,000 was raised.
When the holiday season arrived, Fairbanks staff went shopping to complete those wish lists from the kiddos, followed by some gift-wrapping parties in Fairbanks and YRB! NMS donated some winter gear goodies, too.
Thanks to everyone involved, from donating for the cause to delivering the gifts. It took a TAPS team and some serious holiday spirit.
