Multi-Pallet Christmas

Tim Blacklock from Keystone Church in Saline, MO brings us this stage design with pallets prepared in many different ways.

They had put off using pallets for quite awhile, but finally they succumbed. Their pastor wanted them to consider using pallets for their Christmas trees for their set and provided them with a thought-starter photo. They looked over CSDI and Pinterest for ideas and decided to go with a spectrum of designs, rather than settling on repeating just one. Not knowing where this was going to end up, they procured 100 pallets ($2 each) for raw materials.

A great asset to this project was the Pallet Buster tool ($80 on Craigslist), which allowed for easy de-construction of pallets, with minimal damage to the slats and skid rails of the pallets. They sketched, jig-sawed, reconstructed, air-nailed, screwed, painted, antiqued, combined, decorated, lit, hung, and piled pallets wherever they needed, to use up the stage. They skirted the drum cage and stacked pallets for musician risers. The keyboard was set behind a couple ship-lapped pallets with a tree centerpiece, but only when the service program director was assured that the keyboardist would be on a platform such that they would be seen as more than just a head behind a wall.

They ‘baubled’ trees with just a few bulbs for some shimmer and shine. They used skid rails, with the nails still in them, for the main star. They also adapted some string lights from Costco ($40 per strand of 24) by splicing lamp cord for added length so the old-timey 11-watt bulbs would hang down and create a bit of a glow closer to the folks on the stage. They used 4 strands of lights, 4 rolls of 250′ lamp cord ($41 at Home Depot), 400 splices, a couple of rolls of electrical tape and about 4 hours per strand to drop the bulbs 8′, 10′ or 12′. They used two strands on the stage and two in the lobby.

Their team consisted of Berlinda and Clive Harley (volunteers extraordinaire), Adam Jester (Producer) and Tim Blacklock (Facilities Director).