Holiday
Published by the
December 2021
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2021 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
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386210
2021 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
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The Elkhorn Area High School Marching Band performs in the 39th Annual Christmas Card Town Parade in Elkhorn last year. DAVE DRESDOW Holiday Greetings
Home in time for the holidays Around this time of year, I tend to start overdosing on Christmas music. The radio stations make it easy – right now there are at least By three in the general JENNIFER area that are all EISENBART Christmas music, Elkhorn all the time. Independent This year, Editor though, one particular song has special meaning for me: “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays.” To me, southeast Wisconsin is what I call home and it’s very, very nice to be back. After spending close to two years working in northeast Minnesota – trust me, those Vikings fans are something else – I received a job offer to return to Southern Lakes Newspapers. I left in 2017 to pursue other opportunities after 12 years with the company. Don’t get me wrong – I’m thrilled to have had the time away to grow, both as a journalist and as a person. But when the call came in
late September, I felt pretty quickly that I’d be coming back home. What is it about home, or in this case, southeast Wisconsin? Well, first of all, there is family. Over the last 18 months with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to overestimate the important of family. In particular, my mother is in Burlington, and most of her family and my father’s family also resides here or in the state. After spending 12 years at Southern Lakes Newspapers and another two years in Fort Atkinson, it’s not difficult to see why I’ve become attached. There’s so much within driving distance, whether you like the specialty restaurants of Milwaukee, the university in Madison or the lake in Racine and Kenosha. But shops, entertainment and attractions do not make a home. They’re nice to have, but only if you’ve got friends and family to share them with. Which is why I am back home after a stretch away. It’s also a little bit of something old, something new. I’m working with different newspapers this time around, including the Elkhorn
Independent. So far, the welcome has been fabulous. It’s starting to feel as much a home as Burlington does. Since I’m also now working with Delavan and Whitewater, I’m getting an expanded view – and perhaps a chance to add a little bit of extra “family and friends.” To quote a Christmas song, the welcome has been “so nice and warm.” It’s nice to spend a Sunday knowing I’ll be able to watch my Green Bay Packers, sit down to dinner with my mother and look upon familiar sights out my window. It’s nice to be working among old friends – and making new ones. And it’s nice just to be home, holidays or not.
On the cover Santa and Mrs. Claus ride in style during the 2020 Annual Christmas Card Town Parade in Elkhorn. (Photo by Dave Dresdow)
There’s no place like home for the holidays Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays, ‘Cause no matter how far away you roam, When you pine for the sunshine of a friendly gaze, For the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home. I met a man who lives in Tennessee, He was headin’ for, Pennsylvania, and some home made pumpkin pie. From Pennsylvania, folks are travelin’ Down to Dixie’s sunny shore, From Atlantic to Pacific, Gee, the traffic is terrific. Oh there’s no place like home for the holidays, ‘Cause no matter how far away you roam, If you want to be happy in a million ways, For the holidays, You can’t beat home, sweet home. Take a bus, take a train Go and hop an aeroplane Put the wife and kiddies in the family car For the pleasure that you bring When you make that doorbell ring No trip could be too far I met a man who lives in Tennessee, He was headin’ for, Pennsylvania, and some home made pumpkin pie. From Pennsylvania, folks are travelin’ Down to Dixie’s sunny shore, From Atlantic to Pacific, Gee, the traffic is terrific. Oh there’s no place like home for the holidays, ‘Cause no matter how far away you roam, If you want to be happy in a million ways, For the holidays, You can’t beat home, sweet home. For the holidays, You can’t beat home, sweet home.
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2021 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
“Arriving Home for the Holiday Season,” by T. James Carson, is the title of this year’s 2021 Elkhorn Christmas card. Each year an artist paints a different Elkhorn theme to be highlighted on the annual Christmas card. This year’s choice features the Elkhorn train depot that still stands, about three blocks south of the town square. The depot was built in 1856. SUBMITTED IMAGE Holiday Greetings
Chamber unveils 2021 Christmas Card The City is Elkhorn celebrates the holiday season with style each year and 2021 is no different. From the annual Christmas Card Town Parade to the Let It Glow holiday light display to the annual Christmas card, to the Christmas Day
Dinner, the city and the Elkhorn Area Chamber of Commerce go all out with seasonal spirit. According to the chamber, Elkhorn has been known as the Christmas Card Town since 1952 when the “March of Time”
Holiday Wishes
FOR YOU!
Because we truly appreciate your business, we want to take this time to thank you, and extend our best wishes for a Happy Holiday Season and Wonderful New Year! ~Pete & Jennifer~
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television series chose Elkhorn for one of its shows featured a small American town during the Christmas season. In 1958, the Ford Motor Co. commissioned Cecile Johnson, a New York artist, to paint a series of six watercolor paintings for its company magazine. Johnson, who had spent a recent Christmas in Elkhorn, was inspired by Elkhorn’s small town charm. Later a major publisher chose five of the six paintings as artwork for Christmas cards, starting the annual Elkhorn tradition. T. James Carson is this year’s commissioned artist to create the annual Christmas Care. He has been providing paintings for the Elkhorn Chamber since 2012. This year’s card, by Carson, features the old Elkhorn train depot. The painting titled, “Home for the Holidays at the Train Depot” was an inspired painting from a print Carson received from the Walworth County Historical Society. “With a splash of Christmas magic, Carson has captured another historic and
unique depiction of Elkhorn,” said Kate Abbe of the chamber. The cards are on sale at the Elkhorn chamber, 203 E. Walworth St. The cards can also be found at Friends on the Square, 41 N. Wisconsin St., Stillwater Coffee, 1560 N. Country Club Parkway, and Plaza Pharmacy, 603 E Geneva St. The Christmas cards are $12.50 for a 10-pack or $1 for a single card. Cards from past years are also available at the chamber. In addition to highlighting the newest Christmas Card design, the Elkhorn chamber has 20-plus years of Christmas Card inventory on display. Shoppers are invited to assemble their own variety packs and create unique holiday gifts for Elkhorn natives and distant recipients alike. For more information, visit elkhornchamber.com. To reserve a Christmas Day meal, for pick-up or delivery, call the chamber at 262-723-5788 or email kate@ elkhornchamber.com.
2021 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
Christmas memories
Elkhorn’s 39th Annual Christmas Card Town Parade in 2020 made its way through the downtown from the Walworth County Fairgrounds. Clockwise from top left are: Members of the Hansen, Bass and Ketchpaw families take in parade last year near the U.S. Post Office; the Elkhorn Area Fire Department waves hello; the Lakeland Animal Shelter 2020 parade float; Santa greets guests to last year’s Let It Glow drive-thru holiday event; A+ Power Sports ride in the parade; and the Ridge Riders float heads down Wisconsin Street in the parade. PHOTOS BY DAVE DRESDOW AND HEATHER RUENZ Holiday Greetings
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2021 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
Warm meals and hearts
The 2020 annual Christmas Day meal was served at Elkhorn Area High School and featured a delivery and drive-thru event in an effort to keep volunteers and guests safe. Many people helped out with the event, including the crew above and Jim Boardman (inset) as he makes his way through the food line while helping fill containers. As the meals were packaged they were bagged and then sorted by delivery route. DAVE DRESDOW Holiday Greetings
May the grace of God shine upon you always.
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2021 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
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Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus Editor’s note: Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps. Dear editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? Virginia O’Hanlon 115 West Ninety-Fifth Street
Virginia, Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there
were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they
are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world, which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Members of Girl Scout Troop 7256 participate in the Elkhorn’s Annual Christmas Card Town Parade in 2020. DAVE DRESDOW Holiday Greetings
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Holiday Greetings Wishing you health and peace in your heart, peace in the world
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2021 HOLIDAY GREETINGS
Lakeland Players present ‘Elf – the Musical’ The Lakeland Players Community Theater group of Elkhorn returns to the stage for their second production of the season with “Elf – The Musical” in December. Based on the 2003 holiday film, the comedy follows Buddy the Elf, as he embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Elkhorn native and veteran actor, Stephen Brellenthin portrays Buddy, along with a cast of 10 children and 20 adults from Elkhorn and the surrounding area. The show is directed by Pam BeckDanovich, produced by Nikki Rebernak, choreographed by CeCe Danovich, with musical direction by Sandy Johnson. Performances will be Dec. 17 to 19, at the historic Sprague Theater, 15 W. Walworth St., Elkhorn. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday matinee is at 3 p.m. All tickets are $18 and can be purchased at Lakeland-Players.org, the Elkhorn Chamber of Commerce, or by calling 262-383-0762 to reserve at the door. Only cash or check will be accepted at the door. Mask wearing will be mandatory by all audience members.
Lakeland Players Pamela Jones as Mrs. Claus (from left), Thomas Jones as Santa Claus, Stephen Brellenthin as Elf and Jenny Hundt as Jovie get ready for the theater group’s holiday production of “Elf – The Musical.” The show will run Dec. 17, 18 and 19 at the Sprague Theater in Elkhorn. SUBMITTED PHOTO Holiday Greetings
Wishing Your Family a Safe & Happy Christmas
Thank you, neighbors, for visiting us this year. You’re always welcome at our door.
Six West Street, Elkhorn, Wisconsin (262) 723-7040 • (855) 278-9097
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