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The festivities began with a tree lighting ceremony
in the gazebo on the courthouse lawn as local Christmas carolers
sang “Oh Christmas Tree” before breaking out into other festive
tunes.
Community members were invited to add ornaments to
the town Christmas tree Friday evening.
Here someone has placed an ornament with Micah Wakeman’s picture in
it. Wakeman was killed in a farming accident this summer and his
death leaves a void felt by many in the community.
Members of the Mount Pulaski community were also
invited to decorate the tree with their own personal ornaments and
they did so while the carolers sang “Joy to the World,” “Oh Come All
Ye Faithful,” “Deck the Halls,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,”
and “Jingle Bells.” The carolers ended the singing with “We Wish You
a Merry Christmas” and the crowd then moved the party inside to the
Mount Pulaski Courthouse.
Inside the courthouse, folks were greeted with the usual smiling
faces of Norene Smith, Barbara Stroud-Borth, Jamie Jones, Amanda
Doherty, Renee Martin and Julie Wubben, all who devote a ton of time
and energy into preserving the town’s history and promoting
community involvement.
Food and fun are always at the top of the list for these fine
community members and they did not disappoint Friday evening.
Cookies and drinks were served as folks picked up their bid numbers
and headed upstairs to the courtroom where Abraham Lincoln once
practiced law.
Once everyone was settled upstairs, Renee Martin, one of the
directors of the Courthouse Foundation, welcomed everyone to the
Holly Jolly Christmas Tree Auction.
“As many of you know, our foundation was founded in 2011, after
realizing the need to bring the Courthouse back to its former
glory,” said Martin.
“Since that time, many funds have been raised to renovate the
Courthouse. We have done many little projects, but now we are onto
the bigger ones,” she said.
“Project one, we fixed the broken beam and put on a new roof.
Project two, starting on the east wall, we will be taking all the
old paint off and tuck pointing it. The walls are three layers of
brick thick. The structure is sound. We just need to fix the outside
brick layer and we will wait to see if it solves our moisture
problem. This process will take a couple years to see results before
we start another wall.”
“It’s been a long road, but it’s people like you, here this evening,
that keep us going and give us hope that one day, the Courthouse
will be completely renovated. So, thank you,” said Martin, smiling
at the crowd.
Martin continued, “It’s no lie, that the Courthouse holds a special
place in my heart and in many of yours, but many people look at this
building as just that, a building. But I see our town’s history. I
see Abraham Lincoln trying cases here and we get to walk on the same
floor he did. I see our ancestors, working together to build this
Courthouse and I look around the room today and I see the same
thing. We are all here helping preserve our town’s history.”
Renee Martin also recognized Tom Martin in the crowd. “Tom
originally helped start and has molded the Courthouse Foundation
into the organization it is today. We are saddened that Tom will be
taking a well-deserved break from the board, but he has agreed to
stay on as the liaison between the State of Illinois and the
Foundation and will be at our annual meeting in January to help ease
the transition.”
“Tom has put in so many hours to ensure the success of the
foundation and our town,” Renee Martin continued. “I would like to
thank Tom for not only being a mentor to many of us, but our
friend.”
Renee Martin had a few more thank you’s to announce
before turning auctioneer Mike Maske loose with the eager crowd of
bidders. “On behalf of the Courthouse Foundation, we would thank you
for coming this evening, and we would like to thank all the folks
that decorated the trees,” said Renee Martin. “A big thanks to Jamie
Jones for being our event hostess this evening. Jamie has been on
the board a little over a year. She is ambitious, has great ideas
and is a great fit to our team.”
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With no further ado the bidding began. A total of 41 trees that
had been decorated and donated by local businesses, residents and even students
of Mount Pulaski schools were immediately up for public auction. All ages were
bidding on the beautiful and very creative masterpieces. Little Eva Leonard of
Mount Pulaski was the winning bidder of the Johnson’s True Value tree that was
decorated by Rene Hubal. Leonard’s bid of $80 beat out the competition. Another
young community member paid $110 for the MPGS Student Council tree. Some local
families were very generous in purchasing more than one tree, with the money
going to such a good cause.
The grand finale of the evening featured tree number
41, which also turned out to be voted the Fan Favorite. This
gorgeous tree brought in a whopping $350 and George Allspach was the
winning bidder. Tree number 41 also came with a bit of history that
had everyone intrigued and wanting to take it home.
First, this Fan Favorite tree was donated by the
Mount Pulaski Courthouse Foundation and it was uniquely decorated by
Jane Pharis. Second, the tree had some fascinating history behind it
and Pharis got a little emotional telling the crowd her personal
connection to the tree. “The handmade quilt squares hanging on the
tree were made by my aunt, Kathleen Ketcham,” said Pharis.
The late Kathleen Ketcham of Lincoln was the great-great
granddaughter of Mentor Graham, who once taught Abraham Lincoln,
according to Pharis. “Mentor Graham was Abraham Lincoln’s
instructor. It was when Abraham was 21 years old at New Salem and
they would meet at church or on the corner and that way he would
learn from him, not necessarily the reading and writing in his
earlier years, but as he was older,” explained Pharis. Pharis’ mom
is Jean Connelly of Mount Pulaski and Kathleen was Jean’s sister.
Everything on tree number 41 was handmade. Pharis had even dried
oranges and used them to decorate the tree. In addition, the base of
the tree was actually a carefully crafted wooden replica of the
Mount Pulaski Courthouse. The Allspach family will have something to
treasure for years to come.
Shirley Molt and Tracy Pulliam were also announced as the winners of
the Christmas Tree drawings following the auction.
Renee Martin was pleased to report the Courthouse Foundation raised
around $4,000 from the Holly Jolly Christmas Tree Auction Friday
evening and then the organization posted a #GivingTuesday fundraiser
online earlier in the week that brought in a little over $1,000.
While Martin said the last Christmas tree auction was held four
years ago, the foundation is unsure at this time if the event will
be a yearly event or every other year event. Martin did confirm this
news, however. “We definitely consider this event one of our
favorites and we love having all the trees on display at the
courthouse. It definitely gets folks in the Christmas spirit.”
Indeed it does. Equally as important was the fact that the town was
brought together for the evening and the town square was buzzing
with activity. There was not a parking place to be found on the town
square by 6:30 p.m. and the local eateries all over town were packed
with people.
This event was a great way to kick off the Christmas season in a
small town and the folks of Mount Pulaski are not finished yet.
This coming Saturday the Polar Express event is in town for the
youth and the community will host the 2nd Annual Lighted Christmas
Parade beginning at 6 p.m. The parade will travel around the town
square and will be highlighted with an appearance by Santa Claus at
the Mount Pulaski Courthouse. Children are invited to visit Santa at
the courthouse immediately following the parade and refreshments
will be served.
[Teena Lowery] |
