By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Decorating for Christmas started six months early for one Sitkan – and you can see her work on the Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas Tree Lane” Tuesday morning.
Olivia Wilcox, Sitka High class of 2019, had just finished her freshman year at Utah State University, and was helping her sister Erika with her three kids in Payson, when a kind of a Christmas story happened.
In June, her mom Kris, who was visiting the girls and grandchildren, went downtown to run an errand and came across a strange sight – half of a street covered in Christmas decorations. Naturally curious, she asked some questions and learned that it was a movie set for a new Hallmark feature set to premiere in the fall.
“She asked if they needed help and told them about me, and how I loved decorating,” Olivia said. “That night I got a call and at 7:30 the next morning I was on set.”
Olivia Wilcox. (Photo provided)
It was a week’s worth of work for the novice set-dresser, building Christmas trees and adding bows, ribbon and tulle where it looked right. She said it was hard work, 12-hour days in the 85- to 90-degree desert heat, in a mask, one of many COVID-19 precautions in place.
The work sometimes included moving items from one place to the next to create a new, Christmassy space, but the work for the most part interested her. Her main assignment was decorating a music store, which was the set for a number of pivotal scenes.
“I was so proud of myself,” she said of the experience. “People doing set dressing for years complimented me on my work.”
Another of her assignments, after the movie wrapped, was removing the hundreds of musical instruments from the “music store,” which had been rented for the movie.
The show premiered in late October, and starred a few Hallmark regulars, including Alicia Witt and Andrew Walker. Olivia said her work didn’t involve watching the filming but she caught a glimpse of cast members from time to time.
“Although I’m not studying anything related to the film or movie business, this was the best job I’ve ever had,” she said. “I worked with so many talented people who were all so eager to teach me the reins and help me out.”
She was asked for help by fellow decorators.
Wilcox, 20, was born and raised in Sitka. During her high school years, she competed in drama, debate, forensics, track and cross country. Always interested in the performing arts, Wilcox attended Sitka Fine Arts Camp a few years, she was in school plays and productions at SFAC’s Young Performers Theater, and sang in the Sitka High choir. Her junior year, she was a Rotary exchange student to Sweden. Her parents are Kris and Brett, and she has three siblings: Erika, Brittany and David.
Olivia, the youngest, said her plans call for moving to Logan, Utah, for job opportunities, and gaining residency in order to finish school with lower tuition.
“I hope to be able to go back to Alaska during summers to work,” she said.
“Christmas Tree Lane” premiered October 24, and has played 10 times since then. The final scheduled show is Tuesday morning. Olivia watched it with her sister, Brittany, and Brittany’s husband, Ben Florschutz, at their home in Logan.
“A few spots I made them pause so I could show them everything I had done in that scene,” Olivia said.
