By Elaine Rassel
Activities for Marcus Hometown Christmas began on Saturday, Dec. 3 and ended on Saturday, December 9. This year those who decorated trees, etc. came in on Saturday to get their exhibit up. This was a great improvement as to coming in on Sunday wasn’t the greatest day for most people.
Along the south wall were two trees that came in after Thursday morning. The first one was the Marcus Community Center tree. It had a gold angel at the top of the tree. There were gold and red balls, gold icicles, red bows and red beads going around the tree for trim. Lighting was multicolored lights. The next tree had a star at the top with “God Bless America” on it. It had little yellow duckies, American flags, and red and blue lights. Red trim was around the tree. On the left side of the tree was Uncle Sam with Farmers State Bank Real Estate on him and on the right side of the tree. This was a Patriotic Tree if there ever was one!
The third tree was Rassel Lawn Care and Snow Removal decorated with John Deere miniature John Deere tractors, lawn mowers, etc. Ball ornaments were all green. A white bow was on the top and continued going all around the tree. Steve got his big John Deere tractor out of storage and put it under the tree. And, it still had a small John Deere skirt because I cut up most of the original one for June Nylen’s masks. (I actually had bought another piece of John Deere material this spring but for the life of me, I can’t find it.)
Steve no longer had use for the Sioux City Journal tree that he delivered papers for the last ten years. This year it became The Marcus News tree! There was a lit up star on top and various decorations on it—mostly animals. Even the dog with just 3 legs was on the tree! Santa was at the bottom of the tree with issues of The Marcus News and letters he had received from kids.
Lisa Peters’ “Simply Sheerz” was a flocked tree with clear balls as well as ornaments that had “Hairspists” on them. They had scissors and other things she uses for doing hair on the tree. Multicolored flashing lights completed her tree.
Details’ tree had a star on the top, blinking lights, and laminated “Christmas hymns” that were hung as ornaments as well as indented colored balls. This was a very different tree and beautiful.
Smith Insurance had a big silver bow on the top and silver and blue balls on the tree. There was also white ribbon circling the tree with “Smith Insurance” on it.
The next tree was a circular “wood” tree. The top of the tree had the name—Mike’s Construction. Ornaments decorating the tree were ‘tools’ of their trade—rulers, screw drivers, etc.
Mahoney Auto had a white ribbon on the top with red vehicles pictured on the ribbon. There were red and blue balls as ornaments as well as red vehicles as ornaments.
Schmillen construction had orange flags at the top, different colored balls, and multi colored lights. Schmillen name was also on some of the branches.
The Pizza Ranch had their advertisement as a top of the tree. There were wrappers tied into bows, cups and other things they use at the Pizza Ranch on the tree. At the bottom of the tree, there were pizza boxes.
Come with me to the stage area. The Ministry Food Pantry’s tree had a big wood star with red in it at the top. White angels had printed on them what the Pantry does. There were white bows, acorns, and a white crochet angel on the tree, also. There were other decorations stating what they offer.
The Methodist Church had some very small ornaments as well as acorns, white balls, and ribbons as decorations. Some white spikes were the top piece. The tree was set in a brown basket.
The Marcus Historic Society’s tree had as ornaments, the cards from a deck of cards featuring the Historic Society, and red and white balls. There was a white lit-up star at the top.
Heartland Care’s tree had silver balls and silver tinsel going around their tree.
The Marcus Public Library’s exhibit was the backside of Santa coming down a chimney. He was surrounded by many, many books. There was a small Christmas tree on the top of this exhibit.
The next tree had no name that I could see but I wonder if it was from Holy Name church. It had a star lit up on the top and was covered with gold balls.
The United Bank of Iowa had a black and white checked star at the top of the flocked tree. The tree had black and white checked ornaments on it.
Faith Lutheran Church tree had a star at the top and red and silver balls as ornaments.
The State Savings Bank was a flocked tree with a white ribbon bow at the top. There were purple and silver balls as ornaments.
Farmers State Bank was set in a wood base. It had an angel at the top. Red trim with silver and white indented balls decorated the tree.
Trinity Lutheran Church had a silver blinking star at the top of their tree that was a CROSS. There were small wood plaques with Bible verses on them. Black balls were some of the other ornaments.
Floyd Valley’s tree had a star at the top with silver and transparent balls and white icicles as ornaments. Family, Grateful, Thankful, Blessed, and Homes were on wood plaques on the tree.
The Marcus Lion’s tree had a gold ribbon bow at the top. Purple, silver, and gold balls were ornaments adorning the tree.
Marcus Lumber had a wood tree display that had a star at the top, the next top board was blue, then a red board with “Wood” on it, then a yellow board with “You” on it; then a blue board with “Like To” on it and next board was brown with “Build A” on it and a red board with “Christmas” on it and then a green board with “Tree?” on it. The final board was red with nothing on it and then the stand this structure stood in. (The entire tree said, “Wood You Like To Build A Christmas Tree?”)
Grandma’s Garden exhibit was a display of Santa’s hats. The very end of the top hat of Santa was “Merry Christmas” hanging. To the left of the display was the chair where Santa would be sitting and hearing what kids wanted for Christmas.
This year there were 26 trees/exhibits for us to admire. There were 4 flocked trees, two wood trees and one white tree. There was 1 tree with flashing lights; 4 trees with multicolored lights and 2 trees with blue lights. There was only 1 white tree—all the rest were green trees and two of these green trees were “slim” trees.
It wasn’t easy to say which tree was better than the next. Each tree had its own individual identity. When one tree is picked as the winner, the other trees were also “winners” as they were all that good!
Saturday arrived and so did some snow but didn’t stay very long! Activities began late afternoon. Ames Auto Body had a 5 p.m. cookie decorating going on sponsored by State Savings Bank. There were Holiday Crafts sponsored by Farmers State Bank. There was a soup supper at the Fire Station. Friends of the Library had a fundraiser at the Fire Station and Heartland Care Center Auxiliary had a bake sale there.
On Main Street there was a Lighted Parade with all kinds of entries. The Sheriff began the parade of 14 entries and was followed by Marcus Fire Truck and later Marcus Ambulance and another Fire Truck with Santa; Marcus Lumber with a go cart; a horse drawn wagon with passengers; Jordan’s Meat Market with a pickup; “Snow Much Fun”; *Pioneer, Titan sprayer, Marcus Fair; *Pizza Ranch; *“Let it Snow” (Those with *’s received $25.) After the parade was over, the tree located south of Smith Insurance building was lit. When the parade was over, you had a choice of going for soup/bake sale goodies at the Fire Station, or going to the Marcus Community Center and waiting until 6:30 p.m. for activities to start there. The horse drawn rides were sponsored by WesTel Systems and were still going on at 7 p.m.
Those people who had kids that wanted to talk to Santa Claus chose to go to the Center early and wait in line to see Santa. I arrived at 5:45 and there was a line from the handicapped doorway to Santa sitting far to the left of where the line began! I left close to 7 p.m. and there was still a long line of kids waiting to talk to Santa! Santa was sponsored by Floyd Valley Healthcare and Santa Gift bags were sponsored by United Bank of Iowa.
On the north side of the Center were a number of tables with items that could be bought for gifts. There was a table with $10 items, one with $1 items and another with $5 items. Business people had placed these items there for this event. There were items for adults as well as for kids. All items could be wrapped for FREE. How much better could you get it when you didn’t have to buy wrapping paper, bows, etc. and have it all ready to give?!
At 6:30 it was time to announce home lighting contest winners. First place went to Bruce Dreckman, second place went to Wyatt Alesch’s entry, and third place went to Matt Dreckman. (If there were “money” amounts for the winners, I didn’t hear them.)
The Turkey Giveaway sponsored by the Marcus Lions Club winners were: Jo Ann Erickson, Gayleen Meyer, Pat Bunt, Jolene Deichmann, and Shirley Kunzweiler.
Sponsored by American Bank, the Children’s Coloring winning contestants were: PK—Teagan Hinesly, Brynlee Schnoor and Charlie Noyes. TK—Hendrix Updike, Kale Ivarson, and Madisen Campe. K—Aubrey Tuttle, Kurtis Peters and Luci Seablom. First Grade—Ava Covatto, Koy Ivarson and Avery Hueser. Second Grade—Aspenn Bezoni, Amelia Tuttle and Carter Smith. Third Grade—Brynleigh Heubrock, Gavin Sand and Jackson Wester. Fourth Grade—Adelyn Hueser, Anna Schneider and Marley Frangione.
Business place lighting went to Ten Corp. Again this year Ten Corp hung lights on your place of business if you had your own lights. Thanks to them, our business places were lit up and added to our Hometown Christmas!
City Hall had “Christmas Memories” but I didn’t get to check in on this one.
Festival of Trees—if there was one chosen over the others, I did not hear it. The last money handed out was “Holiday Dough”. It was $500 and went to Valerie Bryaant who works at Marcus Lumber. She was not present to be pictured.
At the close of this busy Saturday, the 2023 Marcus Hometown Christmas is just another memory.