Thanks to community from Christmas committee

To the editor:

This letter is to express our Christmas Committee’s appreciation to so many in our great community. As mentioned for several years now, we don’t know where we could have worked or had the space for our decorations if it had not been for Maddison Miller, CEO of the Brown County Community Foundation. We were offered continued use of workspace at the Foundation building as well as a shed for storage. She with Jenise Bohbrink and Sean Hildreth continue to make it a joy to work with.

A $2,500 donation from the CVC through the CVB to our Christmas Committee! Thank you! We especially thank Bob Andrew, who so thoughtfully requested the monies. It was well-received and greatly appreciated. Some of the money was spent for new LED lights for the trees placed around the Courthouse. We plan to make other investments this year.

At the Courthouse: As they have continuously provided, Dan and Deborah Gluesenkamp of Designscape generously donated the six trees around our Courthouse. Once again we could depend on Ric Fox to do the light hookups and run the wires to the icicle lights, sometimes working with Andy Rudd. Also always dependable were Todd Barkes and Chris Grimes, who pulled the reindeer from the Courthouse basement and hung the staircase wreath. Kenny Wendling took the deer home to mend as best he could and then with Dan Waldhier mended the ones at the Village Green as well. Even though they could not bring the lights back, we were able to enjoy them.

With the help of Habitat for Humanity volunteers Erin Kirchhofer and Andrea Replogle with son John, Kenny with son Baron and grandson Hawken and Ric Fox secured the trees to the six light posts and strung the lights. We were happy Police Chief Heather Burris and Officer Scott Bowling came to help. We were especially proud to have Brown County Veterans Keith Baker, Brian Martin with his wife Jan and Buddy Mercer with his granddaughter Joscelyn and grandson Garrett decorate the two patriot trees. They also set up all the mended reindeer! Gerhard Weber had come to help on an earlier date which we had to cancel because of the frigid weather. Committee members Mary Ann Cline, Dan Waldhier, Linda and Kenny Wendling, Aileen Wineinger and Dorothy Babcock were there to help and oversee.

For a second year we dedicated two trees on the west side of the Courthouse. They were for two of our Brown County Icons, who made a significant impact on our community. One tree was for Abe Martin, a famous Brown County creation of Frank McKinney (Kin) Hubbard. Our other tree was for native Grandma Barnes. We hope you enjoyed them and could relate the decorations to their stories. We are thankful to Bob Kirlin, who from his own personal collection, provided the shoes for Abe and a number of Kin Hubbard’s other carved characters, including Abe. We also appreciated Historical Society’s Rhonda Dunn, Pauline Hoover and Cathy Kazimier’s help in researching their stories.

Wreaths, Swags and Sleigh: We appreciated that Phyllis Carr again provided the help of Jamie Sichting, Jared Bond, Jacob Byrd, Chuck Stucker, Jeff Terrill, Billy Webb and Robin Wiley. They hung all the town wreaths on the light posts which included Hawthorne and Willow Manor and pulled the town’s sleigh from storage. Jamie had replaced all the lights in the wreaths. Syd Nickels beautifully decorated the town sleigh and made new bows for it, the Courthouse stairs and wreath, as well as for the Village Green Pavilion.

Kenny, Baron and Hawken hung our hand-made swags and wreaths on the side streets as well as at the entrances to town, the town clock and post office. We were especially grateful to have Theresa Zimnawoda make many new glittery bows for them.

At the Village Green: Thanks again to Mark Shields of Parks and Recreation, who provided the reliable help of Marilyn Rudd’s son Andy and Elliott Burnette. They strung the icicle lights at the Courthouse and Village Green corners as well as set up the Village Green mended reindeer. Rotary once again provided and decorated the tree inside the Pavilion.

Thanks again to Phyllis Carr who arranged to have an additional electrical outlet installed. Dan and Ric were able to add lights to three more trees! Andy and Elliott tediously added snowflakes to them. Dan also hung snowflakes in the “stage windows.”

Please note that many of those mentioned continued to make sure all was kept functioning and then worked to take down and store everything for our next year. It was great to have Ric’s son Cameron and Kenny’s son Brad help us at those times. The Christmas Committee works year-round planning, making and repairing decorations and overseeing our undertakings.

We are especially proud of our whole community of faithful volunteers and enjoy having other traditional holiday activities like Stuff a Stocking, Christkindl Market and the Light Parade and Toy Drive.

It is with our Committee’s heartfelt thank you to all for your dedication and continuous support. Even more so, you have once again made it an enjoyable time. It is a wonderful feeling to know we have so many in our community who want to make our town a special and unique place for all to enjoy. We still greatly miss Marilyn Rudd, who loved Brown County, and will always be thankful to her and Brenda Young for their foresight in creating so many of these possibilities which all began in 2015.

Best wishes for 2023. Stay safe and well.

The Christmas Committee: Dorothy Babcock, Mary Ann Cline, Ric Fox, Syd Nickels, Dan Waldhier, Linda and Kenny Wendling, Aileen Wineinger, Brenda Young

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