Festival of Trees displays creativity of community

As of Monday, we have 11 full sized trees, eight table-top trees and a couple of tiny ones, seven wreaths and various other decorative items for Festival of Trees. Main Street volunteers worked long, hard and creatively to put together the trees that are being auctioned for Main Street. Come to see them this Saturday or Thursday through Saturday of next week. You can buy something beautiful for your holiday home or office without doing all the work of putting it together, and at the same time you will benefit organizations such as Magnolia Lions, First Baptist Church, Freedom Way Pentecostal Church, Sunrise Manor Volunteers, Springhaven, the Conservation District and the Santa fund. Several businesses will sponsor trees or wreaths with proceeds going to non-profit causes. Some of those are The LaRue County Herald News, Fort Knox Credit Union, West Point Bank, Morris Advertising and Nationwide.

Main Street

Michael Morgan, left, was the winner of the Hodgenville holiday retail promotion basket from participating businesses. At right is Main Street board member Wally Sparks.

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We hope to see you bidding or voting for your favorite tree. Don’t forget the Woman’s Club chili and sandwich supper Nov. 20. The Woman’s Club will also have items in the silent auction.

Special thanks to Phyllis Blakeman, Susie Litteral, Dana Williams, W.D. Burden, LaHoma Dean Mather and Iris LaRue for working on the trees, and to Jack LaRue and Kenny Rambo for setting up all the trees for us. A team of the Museum’s hard workers brought a ton of stuff up from the basement so the decorators could concentrate on making things pretty.

Weekend events

Hodgenville was buzzing with people over the weekend, taking advantage of the holiday open house local merchants and restaurants participated in with Main Street.

Conference

I recently attended a three-day conference in Frankfort for Main Street and other people interested in preservation. We learned some new ways to bring in money in the tight economy and that our state coordinator’s office is also working on obtaining grant funds from new sources. Despite hard times, enthusiasm has not flagged and we were told once again how important it is for us to maximize dollars through volunteer work as businesses and government agencies cannot. There was a large crowd from Main Street/Renaissance groups across the country, and everybody was eager to learn. The level of support from other Main Streeters is wonderful – all of us want success for each other, as well as for ourselves.  One speaker said he had found himself driving back roads in some other states and realized that Kentucky’s small towns have more to offer than most. Main Street folks want to keep it that way.