Posted by POPPY on November 18, 2010, 3:35 pm, in reply to "Santa House "
It looks like this might be the last year for our current Santa House due to much needed repairs.
Posted: Monday, November 15, 2010 Suburban Journals
The green-roofed Granite City structure that has housed countless holiday snapshots and visits with St. Nick might not last another Christmas.
Organizers of the Santa House are considering rebuilding or replacing the one-room wooden structure. The building has a bowed floor and other signs of wear and tear.
"We're trying to come up with something," said Brad Eavenson, a chairman of the Santa's Holiday Avenue Committee. The nonprofit runs the annual Granite City Christmas parade and the Santa House.
The red, cabin-like structure sits atop a wheeled chassis that for years has been posted at Bellemore Village Shopping Center on Nameoki Road every season. Starting in early December, the building hosts Santa Claus and a stream of visitors. It opens this year on Thursday, Dec. 2.
Holiday Avenue Committee Chairwoman Judy Whitaker said there's no record of the building's age.
"The thing has to be at least 70 years old, because my mother used to take me there," she said.
The Santa House was abandoned in the 1980s before community members restarted the holiday feature in the 1990s.
"We found it way in back of the railroad tracks," said Whitaker, who also serves as the Granite City clerk. "Trees were growing out of it."
The building reopened in the 1995 after volunteers rehabbed it. The structure has also been located in Downtown Granite City and Wilson Park.
Whitaker said organizers plan to inspect the building later this month and figure out how much it will cost to repair or replace the wheeled building. They're concerned it won't survive another move to its off-season storage site at the Granite City School District offices on Adams Street.
Whitaker said they will probably ask for donations. Another option is to have Granite City High School Industrial Department students rehab the building as a class project, said Eavenson, the director of building services for the Granite City School District.
He said he's discussed early plans with Superintendent Harry Briggs and teachers.
on November 18, 2010, 3:35 pm, in reply to "