America is awash in Christmas in July
Craft Shows, which began in America to round up gifts early enough to deliver
them to church missions around the world.
Like the one in Monongah at 9 a.m.-3
p.m. Saturday, July 31 in the Monongah Town Hall.
Monongah Councilwoman and Angel of
Thomas Street Susan Staron Sanders and Shelly Yankie, who helped me make my
J&J&Lions Get-Together July 17 in the Town Hall such a success, are
heading up this one, too.
In 2 weeks they have worked up TWO
big events in the town.
I wouldn’t expect anything less from
Susan, who founded and heads the Monongah Christmas Street Lights Committee or,
at I call it, The Charge of the Lights Brigade (Sorry, Lord Tennyson, but I
swipe from everyone), the famous Battle of Balaclava by the British Light
Brigade against overwhelming Russian odds (“cannon to the left of them, cannon
to the right of them”).
The Christmas in July theme got its
impetus from the 1940 movie, “Christmas in July,” directed by Preston Sturges
and starring Dick Powell and Ellen Drew.
Calvary Baptist Church celebrated
Christmas in July in 1942 by a pastor who patterned it after what his former
Philadelphia church did to round up Christmas presents in time to send them to
church missions worldwide.
The Greater San Angelo Guild in Texas
had its Craft Show July 10. It’s usually held in May. San Angelo is near the
Goodfellow Air Force Base and pretty much in the center of Texas, north to
south and west to east. Founded in the Land of the Jumano People, long before
Europeans got into the act, San Angelo the city wasn’t born until 1867 after a
string of indigigenous groups took turns occupying the area 225 miles west of
Austin, Texas.
Toledo, Ohio had its Christmas in
July Fair and Marketplace July 17.
Strongsville, Ohio had its Christmas
in July Craft and Vendor Show July 24.
Akron, Ohio is
holding its Christmas in July Snowman String Art Painting today, July 29. Other
Christmas in July events today will be in East Liverpool, Ohio, Summit,
Illinios, Bend, Oregon, Mansfield, Ohio, Clermont, Florida, Suffolk, Virginia,
Fort Smith, Arkansas, North Attleborough, Massachusetts and Kenmore, New York.
There will be
Christmas in July on July 30 in Circleville, Ohio, Leroy, New York, Beulah,
Mississippi, Crossville, Tennessee and Frederick, Maryland.
July 31 will see Christmas in July
craft shows in Harahan, Louisiana; Sanford, Florida; Grayson, Georgia; Keller,
Texas; Cocoa, Florida; Kechi, Kansas; Savannah, Georgia; Uniontown,
Pennsylvania; Brookfield, Wisconsin; Coldspring, Texas; Battle Creek, Michigan;
Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; Pacific Junction, Iowa; Strafford, New
Hampshire; Lee’s Summit, Missouri; Gurnee, Illinois; Atlanta; Martinsville,
Indiana; Fort Payne, Alabama; Pittsburgh; Sarasota, Florida, Davidson,
Maryland; South Windsor, Connecticut; Harahan, Louisiana; even in North
Vancouver, Canada, a beautiful metropolitan area that Paula and I have visited
more than once; and, most important to me, Monongah.
Monongah’s Christmas in July has 40
tables to sell wares and raise money for – no surprise – MORE Christmas street
lights for Monongah. There are 61 so far but the group wants to light up Camden
Avenue more as a welcome to anything driving into Monongah via U.S. 19.
Here’s who you’ll meet at the tables:
INSIDE TABLES
1. JANET GARRISON
2. DON WILLIAMS
3. LINDA WILLIAMS
4. AMANDA AND BREANNA
5. DIETTA GOUSH
6. FRANK AUDIA
7. LUGENE CHRISTNER
8. DONNA KING
9. ELIZABETH LEWIS
10. ERNIE LEWIS
11. ANGELIC MICHEALS
12. RAE ANN CARTER
13. LUNCINDA GIBSON
14. KRISTAL NUZMAN
15. DIANE HUFFMAN PRUNTY
16. THERESA CHISMA
17. MARY KEIGHLEY
18. VALINDA MARIE TAGG
19. PATTY SHEPPARD
20. CARLEY CHICKERELL
21. MARY BAINBRIDGE
OUTSIDE TABLES
1. JUDY CAIN TURNER
2. DEBBI WILT
3. TERESA PALMER
4.DARLENE JACOBIN
5. LARAE ANGEL
6. SARA WEAVER
7. NATALIE SWIGER
8. BILLIE WILSON
9. LAUREN HUFFMAN
10. CONNIE BUCHANNON
11. CHLOE ROSE
12. TIFFANY MCDONOUGH
13. OLIVIA ANN BOILING
14. KIM MULBERRY
15. REBEKAH STAHL
16. MINDI COOPER
17. MARY MONTGOMERY
18. LYN MYHALSKY
Cathy Rush, Melinda Herron, Lucinda Gibson and Kitty Morrison
donated raffle baskets. Sheila Runyan donated cupcakes. Dietta Goush donated
brownies with peanutbutter icing. Breanna Stewart made pepperoni rolls, the
official state food of West Virginia. Shelly Yankie, so helpful to me with my
July 17 J&J&Lions Get-Together in the Monongah Town Hall, is making the
sauce. Teena Field Ailstock is donating homemade mac and cheese and a dessert.
Chuck Tice and wife Carolyn set up the tables. Phil Rush put up
the lights on the poles. Susan Staron Sanders, who runs this show, handled
water, soda, coffee and creamer. Chelsea ?? invading Sam’s Club to add items to
the event.
Josh Scritchfield and Teena are working the kitchen where “no
one is allowed in but the cooks,” Susan reports, with hand sanitizers at the
entrance and in the bathrooms. “I run a tight ship.”
Indeed, I can testify to that with the way she helped me
organize and carry out the July 17 event I co-hosted July 17 in the Monongah
Town Hall that was a resounding success, in large part because of Susan’s
efforts – and at a time when she was dealing with the passing of her husband,
Ron, and funeral arrangements.
Susan deserves her legendary label as The Angel of Thomas
Street!
Susan told me: “I am so grateful to everyone for their hard
work. This is the first year we have not had to buy anything. I am so
thrilled.”
The town of Monongah should be
grateful that Susan landed on Thomas Street in the house next door to my
childhood rental, which had an outdoor and no indoor plumbing. I was SO
grateful when my parents bought the nearest home on Church Street from
Consolidation Coal Company because I could use an INDOOR bathroom. No more
freezing my butt off to do my business!
That’s what I like about America:
Someone comes up with a good idea and other towns and cities from Maine to
Florida and California to New York embrace it eagerly. Inclusivity is one of
the many things that makes this a great country.
