"There's wire that needs to be replaced, there's sockets that need to be replaced. So it's just kind of upkeep on it," Castle Rock firefighter Jay Allen told CBS Colorado about the star on top of the Rock. Allen leads the Keepers of the Star, a team of four Castle Rock firefighters who look after it all year.

On Saturday, Nov. 21, a crowd at Fourth and Wilcox will shout for the star, and it will come on at about 5:30 p.m. The Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce presents the festival around that moment. The star itself has been the fire department's from the start. Firefighters built it, keep it working, and feed the crowd that comes to see it. This year the Chamber auctioned off the chance to flip the switch on the main stage, and the winning bid supports Chamber programs. Up on the Rock, the keepers have the star ready long before that.

Four Firefighters, One Breaker

According to CBS Colorado's report on the Keepers, the star's season goes roughly like this:

1. All year: the keepers replace worn wiring and sockets as needed.
2. About a week and a half before Starlighting: all four hike to the base, climb the Rock and then climb the star frame itself, wearing harnesses.
3. Starlighting day: they do a final check. The bottom half usually isn't finished yet, so they put in the rest of the bulbs.
4. That evening: when the crowd shouts "Light the Star," one of the keepers flips the breaker.
5. Through the season: they take turns going back up and try to replace burned-out bulbs quickly.

CBS Colorado also reported that the keepers had made structural upgrades an engineer recommended and had started replacing some of the incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Most of the work happens in pieces, on a rock face, where few people see it. On Nov. 21 it gets an audience.

Allen grew up in town, and he described what the star meant to him before he ever climbed it. "Coming down the hill into Castle Rock to get to see, the star lit up. That was a symbol that I'm back at home," he told CBS Colorado.

The Firehouse Was There First

The ceremony is younger than the star. As 9News has reported, the star first went up in 1936 as a symbol of hope during the Great Depression. Castle Rock Hose Co. No. 1 built it, a 40-foot frame with 100 bulbs, and Castle Rock Fire and Rescue still maintains it. The Chamber didn't create Starlighting until 1962.

The firefighters' food is older than the ceremony too. This year the Castle Rock Professional Firefighters host the 90th Annual Chili Supper at Castle Rock Fire Station 151, serving beef chili, nachos, hot dogs, drinks and desserts during the afternoon festivities. A 90th edition in 2026 means the supper had been running for decades by the time the Chamber organized a festival around the lighting.

Firefighters also maintained the star through the years it took on other jobs. 9News lists them:

• At the end of World War II, the lights formed a "V" for victory instead of a star.
• It was lit again after Sept. 11, 2001.
• In March 2020, it was relit early in the pandemic, which the Castle Rock Town Council described as "a reminder that Castle Rock is a strong and united community that will persevere."
• It has been relit for Broncos Super Bowl wins, including 1998 and 2015.

CBS Colorado adds that the keepers sometimes add colored bulbs for special years, such as orange and blue when the Broncos made the Super Bowl.

Getting to Fourth and Wilcox on Nov. 21

Starlighting runs from 2 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, in Historic Wilcox Square and Festival Park. Admission is free. Chamber events don't take cash, so bring a credit or debit card.

The fireworks depend on the weather and on any fire restrictions in place.

Street closures, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.:

• Perry Street, Fifth to Second
• North Wilcox Street, Fifth to Third
• Fourth Street, Jerry to Perry
• Third Street, Wilcox to Perry
• Second Street, Wilcox to Perry

Downtown residents and anyone running errands near those blocks will be working around the closures for 14 hours, much longer than the four-hour festival.

Free shuttles run from 1:30 to 8 p.m. from three lots:

• AdventHealth Castle Rock, Alexander Parking Lot, 2350 Meadows Blvd. Drop-off at Fifth and Wilcox.
• Douglas County High School, South Building, 2842 Front St. Drop-off at Fifth and Wilcox.
• Douglas County Fairgrounds, Lot 5, 500 Fairgrounds Drive. Drop-off on the street between South and Phelps streets, by Eternal Rock Lutheran Church and the Folkestad Fazekas buildings.

Return shuttles pick up where they dropped off, and each one loops back only to its own lot, so remember which one you came in on. If you'd rather drive downtown, the Chamber points to the Encore parking garage at Wilcox and Perry and the garage at Third and Jerry. The Town of Castle Rock's downtown parking map shows the rest.

Nine Weeks Under the Star

As 9News reports, it stays on until the National Western Stock Show ends in January. The 2027 Stock Show runs Jan. 9 to 24. That puts about nine weeks between the lighting and Jan. 24, and the keepers keep climbing to replace bulbs the whole time. Downtown's holiday calendar falls inside that window, plus one event the week before:

Carriage rides require advance tickets, so the date that matters is Nov. 18, three days before Starlighting. Details are on the Downtown Castle Rock carriage ride page. The winter trolley is free and runs two weeknights a week, which makes it the easiest of these to fit in after work. The Starlight Market and Reindeer Games overlap on the afternoon of Dec. 5, at Festival Park and Philip S. Miller Park. Details are on the Town's listings for the market and Reindeer Games.

Full Starlighting details, including any schedule updates before Nov. 21, are on the Castle Rock Chamber's Starlighting page.

At Derek Thomas Real Estate, we keep track of the events that make up Castle Rock's calendar, from the firehouse supper to the night the star goes dark after the Stock Show. If you want to talk about life in town, or know someone thinking about a move to Douglas County, let's connect. And while you're downtown on Nov. 21, stop by Fire Station 151 for a bowl of chili.