Salt Lake City International Airport decks the halls for the holidays
Nov 14, 2024, 1:37 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City International Airport welcomes local and worldwide visitors throughout the holidays. One thing they’re sure to notice is how festive it is.
Turns out, there is a whole team dedicated to making the airport come to life. The airport’s goal is to deck the halls, all of them.
One fan-favorite decoration is the famous polar bear where more than 100 selfies are taken a day.
“The grounds, the terminal buildings, just all around,” David Tingey, airport maintenance manager, said.
As the maintenance manager, Tingey gets his steps in, covering every inch of the two million, 800,000 square feet of terminal space.
Before visitors walk into an airport transformed for the holidays, Tingey and his 14-person holiday decorating team work to bring the holiday spirit to life. Behind the scenes, the team thoughtfully placed outlets to hang lights and bring bursts of color.
Tingey and his team are growing 1,600 poinsettias to fill the entire airport with festive colors. The flowers are grown in their own greenhouse.
“The plugs for these show up the end of July. We get ’em in pots right away and start that whole process. The group that takes care of it really takes pride in really bringing out quality,” Tingey said. “These are like their children for the last six months.”
The poinsettias — spanning seven to eight varieties — will be transported to the airport for decor. They will be ready right after Thanksgiving to add to the airport’s wreaths, snowflakes, garlands, and more.
“It’s a big job!” Tingey told KSL TV.
Just down the road from the airport is a warehouse where they store all their holiday decorations.
Bits and pieces of holiday decor go up throughout the season, and all decorations are up on Black Friday.
The hustle never stops, though.
“So, we’re looking at it year-round, you know,” Tingey said. “As soon as the decor comes out around the first of January, we’re looking at ordering our poinsettias for the next year. But even in that time frame, we need to start getting our order in for any decor that needs to be replaced, anything that was damaged, or any additions.”
He said the newest holiday decor addition is a big tree in the newly opened B concourse.
