By Elaine Rassel
Year 2020 is a memory and now it is year 2021 time to bring back Marcus Hometown Christmas!
Saturday (Dec. 4) and Sunday (Dec. 5) people were coming to the Marcus Community Center to set up their trees or other items reminding you that Christmas was coming! This year there were 31 entries.
We were greeted by a fireplace with Snoopy and Woodstock on top of it. To the right of this was the chair Santa Claus would be sitting in. Grandma’s Garden had her version of what Christmas meant to her. (It didn’t always have to be a Christmas tree.) Schmillen Construction let us know what they did for a business.
Holy Name Church had a gold crown on its top. Quilter’s Club used quilt squares as decorations. Marcus Historic Society had items that former businesses used to give out. They also had a list of them printed out under the tree.
Holzhauer from Cherokee had a tree. State Savings Bank’s tree was flocked with a silver bow at the top. Marcus Action Club had a lit up star. Farmers state Bank had play money and money rolls as ornaments complete with bigger blocks with a $ sign at the base of the tree.
Details’ tree had “Our Tree is Shopable”. It had white and black dotted balls as ornaments.
Up on Stage was Nelson Day Care’s tree with articles at the bottom that a child’s day care would use. Marcus Lumber had a tree made of laths and had blue lighting. The Lions Club tree used gold beads to decorate. The Methodist Church had all white ornaments. Friends of the Library used book markers to decorate their tree.
The Hometown Guest House used black and white checked wrap and completed it with red sticks on the top. Faith Lutheran Church had red and silver balls with silver wrap. The Heartland Care Center had a beautiful tree up. Peace Lutheran Church had an angel on top with styrofoam ornaments. Country Creations had several different colored balls as ornaments.
The South Wall had Pizza Ranch with a white tree. The Big Snowman was from Ag Reliant. Frosty had a green lit up tie, carrot for a nose, a black hat and was carrying a broom. Farmers State Agency had Santa standing beside it. They used pens and real estate signs as ornaments.
Simply Sheerz had the smallest tree but had all hair-dresser tools Lisa uses on it.
Smith Inc. Insurance had an all white tree. Mike’s Construction had a “swirling” tree made of wood. He received “Best Tree” by those that voted.
Floyd Valley Healthcare tree was complete with a nurse’s head at the top of the tree. The head was very realistic looking! They used multicolored lights.
MMCRU Skills USA had a white flocked tree complete with construction tools.
Mahoney Auto’s tree had cars and trucks as ornaments. Trinity Lutheran Church used a cross as their tree. Community Ministries, Inc. MMC Food Pantry
Five trees used multicolored lights, there was one white tree, and 4 flocked trees.
Thursday evening the Marcus Public Library had Darrin Crow come to tell us some of his Christmas stories. He is the person who wears a Coat of Many Colors made from neckties given to him by his neighbor. He had several stories but the last one he told was probably the most interesting and had a truth to it.
Friday schools were being closed or getting out early. There was a lot of snow coming! Yes, about 2 p.m., it did arrive slowly but picked up when the wind began to pick up. No one wants to be on the road with this coming down, especially school buses. All through the night, it snowed. By Saturday morning, it was time to clean up the mess and get ready for Hometown Christmas!
The Cherokee County Cattlemens’ grilled in front of the Hawkeye with no charge. They served hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and water. All you had to do was bring a perishable item OR donation for the Food Pantry. They served a lot of people who were satisfied with not going home to cook!
Time to go home and get ready for the Parade at 5 p.m. There weren’t very many places to park and it looked like 1960 on a Saturday night! The Firemen were having a Chili feed and the Ladies Heartland Care Center Auxiliary were having a bake sale at the fire station. We found a place and backed in to wait for the Parade to start. Soon we saw lights and our Police pickup leading an entry. Then there seemed to be no more. I thought, “How embarrassing that there is only one entry.”
There was a few minutes lag and then some MMCRU dancing girls came with lit up sticks and danced their way down the slippery street! There was a boat with kids with lit up fishing lines fishing for you a Merry Christmas! A tractor and manure spreader had kids in it with “Spreading good cheer!”. A motor home was lit up and came next. Then, the Sheriff’s Department had a portable jail with “The Grinch in it!” (I was hoping it would come by again so I could get a picture, but it didn’t!) Ambulances and fire trucks were in the parade also.
The tree was lit up with its many colored lights on it. It wasn’t even 6 p.m., and nothing was suppose to happen at the Community Center until 7:30. We went back to the Center and waited for awhile while Santa was talking to the children. I also visited with some others that were waiting around. Up on the stage were students from the MMCRU music singing carols for us. There were tables on the left side of the trees were businesses were selling items that kids or people in general could find a Christmas gift. There were people that wrapped these for free. How much better could a shopper ask for?!
I always bought Jeanette one of Carla’s dishtowels to hang on the refrigerator door handle. This year I didn’t have to. Carla really has some nice ones. If anyone is interested, I’m sure the Care Center would assist in getting Carla some sales.
We finally left and found a place to park in front of the Community Center. It didn’t seem that the horses with Santa Claus was going to be there_they didn’t come. There were some crafters at the Senior Center selling their crafts. Jeff’s Foods was open, as well as Grandma’s Garden and O’Haira’s. Well, we waited and waited in the car until until almost 7:15. Now people did come to find out who got what. It was already known that out-of-town judges gave first place lighting to Brandon Dreckman, second place went to Matt Dreckman, and third place went to Wyatt Alesch. Honorable mention was given to Ben Letsche’s lighting.
There were letters that were judged from school kids that I didn’t catch names or first, second, or third. The Lion’s gave turkeys to the following: Jill Carver, Donna Bird, Eileen Scholten, Paula Nelson, and Sheila Gunthren.
Cash Calendars were given to Matt Rosener, Kris Irwin, Vickie Rainboth, Larry Garvin, Kate Leavitt, and John Bunkers.
Then it was time to announce the winner of the $500 prize to be given to the lucky winner whose name was drawn. No drum roll was given but just Jeff Frederick’s name! He was not present but didn’t have to be.
People began to leave and those with trees, started to take them down. Marcus Hometown Christmas, 2021 was just a memory.