LeClaire celebrates Christmas with festivities this weekend
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By Mary Louise Speer | Saturday, December 08, 2007 |
Trucks and cars driving through downtown LeClaire are slowed behind a carriage from Armstrong Riding Stables & Carriages of East Moline during Christmas in LeClaire. (Talya C. Arbisser/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo
LeCLAIRE, Iowa — People who appreciate the holiday side of life will find their cup of cheer filled to overflowing this weekend at Christmas in LeClaire festivities.
The river town is showing off its dazzling new appearance with lit up trees and old-fashioned light fixtures, plenty of shops offering home wares and antiques, collectibles, Christmas goodies and food, carriage rides, carolers and Santa Claus. The Buffalo Bill Museum also has displays of miniature decorated trees and free tours this weekend.
“My mother was a big tea drinker and I said what can I do with these cups,” said museum volunteer Janet Daughterty, who created the “My Mother’s Cups of Tea” tree. “Mom would have liked that.”
The tiny tree is decorated with tea cups, sugar cubes and triangular bags of sweet smelling strawberry tea. Daughterty is a former tree decorator for the Quad-City Arts Festival of Trees so decking the miniature allowed her to get her hand back into a favorite pastime.
Her favorite cup hangs in the middle with December printed on the inside. That cup was a birthday present for her mother and it worked perfectly for the tree, Daugherty said. The tree is anchored in Spanish moss and set in a giant coffee cup.
Other trees in the collection include a tree decorated with buttons of Quad-City Flames hockey players such as Warren Peters and Dan Ryder. A stuffed lion with red Santa hat guards the LeClaire Lions Club tree.
Nutcrackers are displayed on top of a glass case that holds a Civil War artillery scene handcrafted by resident Rich McNurlen.
People can get their fill of cookies at the Cookie Tin Sales and lunch at the Masonic Lodge, crafts, bake sale and silent auction at the LeClaire Civic Center and a church bazaar and bake sale at Calvary Foursquare Church.
Visitors can also enjoy a view of the newly enhanced downtown from the seat of a carriage all three days and listen to carolers today. Musician Roy Lilligren will perform on the keyboard at the museum.
D.R. Peterson, owner of the Green Tree Emporium, is delighted to open his shop again in time for the Christmas season after a 4½ month renovation project and plenty of productive stress.
The shop carries porcelain dishes, books, linens, Christmas ornaments and other interesting collectibles.
Green Tree Emporium is lodged in a building constructed in 1848 and part of the work included putting a hard surfaced floor on the basement to add more retail space and new flooring in the shop. A wall was removed to give the first floor a more open feel.
“I find people want to go to the back and view the river,” she said. Being open “is wonderful. I was in pain not being open in November but the inspector came yesterday and said we could be open.”
The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.
IF YOU GO
What: Christmas in LeClaire.
Where: Downtown LeClaire along Cody Road (U.S. 67)
When: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday
Special events on Saturday: Carolers, Cookie Tin Sales and lunch at the Masonic Lodge and a church bazaar and bake sale at Calvary Foursquare Church.
Children can have breakfast with Santa at Happy Joe’s Pizza and Ice Cream Parlor from 8-10 a.m. or catch up with the jolly elf at Santa’s Playhouse, above the LeClaire Police station, from 12-3 p.m.
Special events both days: The Buffalo Bill Museum is hosting a display of decorated miniature Christmas trees along with free tours. Shopping opportunities range from visiting the shops along Cody Road to crafts, bake sale and silent auction at the LeClaire Civic Center and free carriage rides.
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