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Community Calendar .....................................................B9-11 Downtown Holiday Events ............................................A6-13 High School Band Update ................................................. B8 Holiday Festivities ......................................A5, A14, B1, B14
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November 7, 2014
Christmas tradition by the pound By Garth Snow
By Garth Snow
gsnow@kpcmedia.com
Church halls fill with members and visitors shopping for cookies of every kind. The cookies are shaped like bells or Santas. They taste of lemon or date. They’re covered with frosting or sugar. The cookie walks take on new bakers and add new memories each generation, as they raise money for church charities and send homebaked goods on to other homes. Bakers from several local churches shared their stories with this newspaper. St. Joseph United Methodist Church will see Deb Tubergen and the United Methodist Women holding their 10th cookie walk since the tradition began 11 years ago. This year’s sale will be 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. The church is at 6004 Reed Road, at the corner of St. Joe Center Road. Volunteers will bake more than 5,000 cookies for the fundraiser. Some of the cookies might go to
FILE PHOTO
Karen Bojrab, left, Linda Menshy and Deb Tubergen bake cookies for a Saint Joseph United Methodist Church Cookie Walk. This year’s sale will be from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at the church, 6004 Reed Road
charity. But charity, after all, is the whole reason for the project. “We fund Bible studies,” Tubergen said. “And we help kids go to camp who wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Just any need of the church.” The project begins many days before the sale. “We baked 1,080 cookies
in our church one Monday, and we freeze them, and we take them out the week of the Cookie Walk, and we have the most talented people decorate them,” Tubergen said before last year’s sale. Shoppers will choose from among cookies of various shapes. Selections will be weighed and priced
Fantasy of Lights ready to brighten Franke Park By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
FILE PHOTO
Clubs and invidiuals volunteer to welcome visitors to the Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park. Chris Palmer coordinates volunteers. Call her at 207-5769.
annual light show about 15 years ago, before Linda’s retirement, and stepped up his involvement after his own retirement from Norfolk Southern railroad in 2008. “I set it up, take it down, maintain it, anything that has to be repaired I do that,” he said. “We couldn’t do it without him. We just couldn’t have the show,” said Chris Palmer, the director of volunteers for AWS Foundation. “He’s done all the refurbishing.”
Stuerzenberger, in turn, passed on a large share of the credit to Craig Schmidt, an AWS Foundation employee. Lynne Gilmore is the executive director of the AWS Foundation. “The event raises money to support grant-making, and it also brings awareness about disabilities,” she said. Gilmore said the event has grown tremendously since its debut in 1995. Each arrangement — See LIGHTS, Page A4
3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 46808
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About 15,000 visitors will begin arriving at the 20th annual Fantasy of Lights in Franke Park on Nov. 26. Dan Stuerzenberger has been working on the 32,000-bulb display for a month. Actually, he’s been helping to maintain the 71-feature display for 15 years. “We started this year, Oct. 8, bringing stuff onto the grounds,” the volunteer said. “It’s an everyday procedure. We work really closely with the [Allen County] Community Corrections. They help us set up the displays, and they’re just a really good group.” Stuerzenberger’s wife, Linda, is now retired from AWS Foundation, which sponsors and benefits from the Fantasy of Lights. Dan became interested in the
Church bells join lights to greet holiday season
per pound. Candy also will be available. The weather was not kind to the Emmaus Women’s Guild Cookie Fair in 2013. The Emmaus Women’s Guild didn’t care. “Our principal said we’re putting in on unless it’s a Level 1 emergency,” Barb Kanning said that snowy See TRADITION, Page A3
gsnow@kpcmedia.com
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Downtown Fort Wayne will light up the holiday season on Thanksgiving Eve, and then church bells will ring in the season. The sounding of the bells is new this year, said Amita Homco, the Night of Lights event coordinator for the Downtown Improvement District. The collective sound follows the fireworks at Parkview Field.“It’s several churches — eight or nine churches — with First Presbyterian organizing the ringing of the bells,” Homco said. “The Night of Lights is a staple. It’s the biggest thing for us. We get 10,000-plus people downtown,” Homco said. “We get lots of people in Fort Wayne who want to make sure it’s going to be happening and just checking in, ‘When is the Night of Lights? When is Holly Trolley shopping?’ People are really excited about making time for their holiday tradition.” The Christmas wreath
at the University of Saint Francis Performing Arts Center, 431 W. Berry St., will be illuminated at 5:15 p.m., to the accompaniment of singers. Crowds also gather to see: Aunt Millie’s Northern Lights, Pearl Street; Santa and his Reindeer at PNC, Main and Calhoun streets; and Wells Fargo Holiday Display and Indiana Michigan Power Christmas wreath at Indiana Michigan Power Center, formerly known as One Summit Square. “It’s also a really nice night because the courthouse is open. You’re allowed to bring your camera and your phone in and take pictures inside the courthouse,” Homco said. “The lighting and having cocoa and walking around, the fireworks — that is probably the biggest holiday fest that we have. It really kicks off the season and gets us in the Christmas spirit.” That spirit continues in events that follow.
Holiday list: Page A6