December 30, 2025
By Jane Ahrens with Steffen Kucsera
Steffen and Amanda pose with the festively decorated entry.
A Holiday Spectacle on Wheels
As the Christmas holiday approaches on Fishers Island, a new and delightful treat awaits residents and visitors alike. It’s easy to miss if you’re not paying attention, but those who venture outdoors at sunset or other opportune moments might catch sight of a truly spectacular display.
The Magic of Decorated Trucks
Steffen Kucsera and Amanda Triplett have brought their festive spirit to the community since 2017 by adorning their red truck—and now, a second truck—with a beautiful and uplifting array of holiday lights. The glowing trucks have quickly become one of the treats of Fishers Island’s seasonal celebrations.
From Gardens to Engines: Steffen’s Passion
As the busy fall season at Race Rock Garden Co. ends, Steffen turns his attention to his favorite pastime: working on cars, trucks, and any engine on wheels. His enthusiasm is fueled by following Cleetus McFarland, a popular car enthusiast on YouTube who entertains viewers and hosts the Annual Christmas Tree Drags. McFarland owns the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, FL, along with the Freedom Factory next door.
Decorated and Victorious
Steffen was inspired by all the enthusiasm and spirit McFarland brings to his events and decided in 2024 to join the fun. Decorating his Ford F150 truck, complete with the mandatory 6’+ Christmas tree, and driving the 1300 miles down to Bradenton last year marked Steffen’s first entry in the 5th Annual 2024 Christmas Tree Drags Car Show. He took home first place. This year, with a fresh vision and renewed energy, Steffen participated again—this time with two trucks—and once more claimed the top prize, winning first place in the car show for the second year in a row.
So where to begin – let’s start here…on Fishers…with a photo gallery of the 2025 entry. After all, a photo is worth a thousand words.
When his grandfather passed away, Steffen inherited the magical village that his grandfather had collected over a lifetime. A family treasure, Steffen decided to share that with his display this year. He layed out the town on the board that would be fastened to the bed of the 1998 Ford Ranger, painted the landscape, roads, parks, and water’s edge, installed lights in the board to illuminate the buildings on the main streets, and created a story within a story. There is the Christmas tree truck parade, a drag race with the cops watching, a few Mustangs that took flight into buildings, and many other little details worth exploring in 1/64 scale.
Some fun facts: Steffen and Amanda always select local live trees, this year, they used at least 1800 lights per truck, an entire roll of aluminum foil tape for the 2 trucks (best for the truck paint), drove 3,000 miles round trip, and spent $65 in tolls on the NJ Turnpike, alone!
Click any image to see a larger photo or scroll through the gallery.
Photo credit to Steffen and Amanda
After hours of work, the trucks are ready to go. But first they needed to get their ‘glam’ shots with Fishers’ backgrounds.
Steffen said that people were hooting and hollering and videotaping and flashing their lights all the way down I95! Just spreading the Christmas Spirit!
Once in Florida – taking both the 1998 Ford Ranger (left) and the 2018 Ford F150 (right) for a little drive on the Christmas Tree Drags track during testing on Thursday, December 18. How fun is this!
Then in the Winner’s Circle on Saturday, December 20, all decked out with extra presents, bows, and of course, the 2 trophies displayed on the hood!
A closer look at the village.
and gave it to McFarland’s son when he came to see the trucks and the village.
“Never trust a mustang.” These little devils were having too much fun in FL!
“Seeing all those happy and smiling kids as they checked out the trucks and village down at the event, that made it so worth it. The trophies are cool and all, but changing lives is way better. That’s what makes me keep going back down.” ~ Steffen Kucsera
The Christmas Spirit is alive and well!
The Trailer Mishap!
An auxiliary story by Steffen Kucsera
Somewhere on the edge of DC and Alexandria, VA, at 3AM Sunday, December 14, as I’m trying to drive as far as I can in one night, I hear a noise over the radio. I roll the window down, and I just hear grinding. The tire blew off (not just out, off!) the trailer, and it was riding the rim. I take the nearest exit, which brings me to another highway. Next exit again, another highway! Next exit once more, and finally, I’m on the streets of Alexandria. I pull off into a closed gas station and check maps for a tire shop that will be open on Sundays, and I find one within a mile. I grind down to a parking lot across the street from the tire shop, and we doze for a few hours till they open.
9AM rolls around, and they’re finally open. I walk down and ask if they’d have a trailer rim and tire in stock. No, they’d have to order it. I thank them and walk back to the trucks, checking maps again. I find another place two miles down the road that says they’re open. This is J.C. New and Used Tires, with a wonderful man named Walter at the helm.
I called, and he said he should have something in one of his Conex boxes out back and to head over, so I did, grinding the whole way. I get there at about 930.
Walter’s two sons already have a couple clients outside and are working on them, Walter himself comes out of the shop rolling a rim and tire over to the trailer. Jack it up, take the junk rim off, and the new one won’t bolt up. Different bolt pattern. The front axle of the trailer has a different lug bolt pattern than the rear axle, so we couldn’t swap front to rear or put the new one on at all.
He takes the old rim off and brings it into the shop. We heard him banging on it for a good 15 minutes, trying to beat it back into shape so it would hold the bead, but to no avail. It wouldn’t even hold air for a full minute, the rim was absolutely toast. No saving that one.
Walter says to lock the truck up and walk over to three other tire shops that should be open, so we do and none of them had anything at all. No trailer rims, no trailer tires, nothing. Walk back, and Walter starts making some calls. He gives me a few numbers to call as well, most places were closed, one phone line was even disconnected.
He even called all the local parts stores to see if they had an inner tube that would fit, but no one had anything in stock.
By this point, it’s 11AM Sunday. We’ve burned a good amount of time with this holdup, and we’re still making no forward progress. Walter knows we have a deadline to meet; we have to check in to our hotel in Bradenton, FL by 3pm on Tuesday, December 16. This is when Walter makes a call to one of his clients.
He calls Rosemont Landscapes, a company that buys all their truck and trailer tires from Walter. Walter asks if we can take one of the spare trailer rims and in exchange, Walter would buy a brand new rim and tire for said trailer. Rosemont Boss says “Go for it, bud! You hook us up all the time!”
Walter says to me, “Hop in my truck! Let’s go get your tire!” It’s a 2008 Cadillac Escalade Platinum Hybrid. “A lot of people get mad at me when I say this is my work truck, but it truly is!” We drive several miles through traffic and arrive at Rosemont Landscapes. The padlock on the gate is unlocked, so we slide between the fence and get in.
Walter puts his hands on his head and goes OH NO. I ask what’s up, and he says “I can’t believe it. We come all this way, and I forgot the lug wrench!” So now we start rooting through a few of the Rosemont trucks, to no avail. No jacks or lug wrenches or anything. I start perusing the open trailers, and in a jumble of power tools I found a four way tire iron. I stand back to show Walter, and I get a better look at the spare tire mounted on the side. It’s the exact size and exact bolt pattern I needed. Finally, just what I needed to get back on the road.
We cruise back to his tire shop and his two sons put the new-to-me rim and tire on the trailer. As his sons are doing that, he’s telling me that a new rim would be about $70 and the tire would be around $100, which is what he planned on buying for Rosemont. When his sons complete the job, Walter brings me in for payment. He says $150. It’s now 1230PM. This wonderful man has spent three valuable hours trying to help me, and now he’s going to undercut himself? I said at the very least, throw $10 more on that bill. I wish I could give more, but that’s all I really have at the moment. I need to make sure I’m still financially set for the rest of our trip. He silently points up at the wall behind him, where a golden cross sits.
I go back out to the truck and find two $10 bills. I run back in and hand them to him. He immediately takes one $10 each and hands them to his boys. I thank him profusely, and tell him that this trip would not have been able to continue without his extraordinary help. Humble as all getout, he just smiles and says that he just wants to be a good man and be a shining light for his boys. I agree, and thank him again for paying it forward, as I always try to do.
Needless to say, we completed the rest of our trip to Bradenton and back to the island with nary a hiccup. If it wasn’t for Walter and his two sons being open and being the gentlemen they are, we would not have this beautiful Christmas story to tell.
