Lighting the Gazebo
Lights of the Mall
Placing luminaries on
downtown Crookston
streets
Happy elves
Making crafts
and gift bags
A "live" window display
UMC Students Show Holiday Spirit with Tour of Lights and Winter Wonderland
UMC students showed enormous holiday spirit this December. A peak dose of that spirit came forth on Friday, December 6, when students unveiled the First Annual Holiday Tour of Lights on campus and when even more students helped present the Second Annual Crookston Chamber of Commerce/Retail Merchants Association Winter Wonderland.
Holiday Tour of Lights
The Holiday Tour of Lights featured a display of holiday lights on the campus mall. Throughout the week prior to the "grand lighting" on Friday, December 6, students spent their afternoons stringing approximately 35,000 lights around the mall. Students Trevor Alt and Adam Wink came up with the design plan, and a number of students involved with the Crookston Student Association (CSA) helped string the lights, despite some near zero temperatures. The UMC Horticulture Club decorated the Peterson Gazebo again this year, and the UMC Natural Resources Club provided the tree.
On opening night many student clubs and organizations were involved with the event. Members of the CSA and the Sportsmen’s Club collected a "back seat full" of nonperishable food donations, which went to the Care and Share in Crookston. The UMC Ambassadors sold hot chocolate and raised a total of $60 for Toys for Tots. All totaled that first night, over 200 vehicles went through the Holiday Tour of Lights.
The display of lights will continue to be open to the public December 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15 from 5 to 10 p.m. nightly. Admission is free.
Winter Wonderland
The UMC holiday spirit was also very evident in downtown Crookston that same Friday night. Downtown businesses were open from 5 to 8 p.m. that evening and offered treats, music, and entertainment for shoppers as part of the Second Annual Crookston Winter Wonderland.
Working closely with the Office of Student Activities and Service Learning, UMC students had reserved the first floor of a historic building (the former J.C. Penny's building on Broadway) on the busiest corner in downtown Crookston. This served as the center for a flurry of activity with more than 175 children and 130 adults stopping by.
More than ten UMC student clubs and organizations took part in the event. Members of the Multicultural Club dressed up as elves and handed out candy canes. The UMC VolunTEAM made crafts with children for their parents and took photos of children with Santa Claus. Clovia made gift bags and tags for children to wrap their crafts in. The Early Childhood Club hosted games. Members of the First Year Honor Society wrapped gifts for the public. The Dietetics Club served snacks and cider. The UMC Chapter of The Wildlife Society and members of the UMC Flying Club helped place hundreds of luminaries on downtown streets.
Members of the UMC Choir went caroling from store to store downtown, and later George French, UMC associate professor of music, and the choir led a community carol sing-along at the Main Street Courtyard Park.
Last year, members of the CSA had assisted with the first Winter Wonderland. But this year UMC student involvement with the project was phenomenal. That level of involvement was due, in part, to the efforts of the CSA to build stronger connections between UMC and the city of Crookston, but also to the efforts of Mike Christopherson, assistant director of Service Learning, who wrote a community involvement grant and received funding from the Minnesota Campus Compact to supplement the efforts of UMC's role in this year's Winter Wonderland.
Crookston Chamber of Commerce President Jeannine Windels said that UMC students deserved many thanks for their help and that "It was just super to have them helping out." Windels noted that this year's event elicited much positive feedback from shoppers and merchants alike.
Photos by Cheryl Isder, Mike Christopherson, and Andrew Svec
Posted 12/10/2002
Contact: Andrew Svec,
218-281-8435