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Grinch turns 50, ‘Past turns 95, both meeting in West Branch
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · December 01, 2016


You’re going to see the Grinch this weekend — a LOT of him, in fact.


Almost exactly 50 years after Dr. Suess’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” first aired on TV, the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site acquired the rights to show the 25-minute feature twice in its Visitors Center auditorium this weekend during A Christmas Past.

The Grinch will show up in other places as well, including in several downtown businesses taking part in the popular Elf on the Shelf hunt, this year featuring a Grinch theme.

But the Grinch was not the reason for so many changes to this year’s Friday-Saturday event — West Branch Community Development Group put forth good reasons for the additions and relocations to the 95-year-old event. And one event making a comeback: The mayor will read Twas The Night Before Christmas, also in the Visitors Center auditorium.

“The big thing is that the (event) committee didn’t feel that it was family friendly from start to finish — just bits and pieces,” CDG Program Director Kevin Rogers said. “This year we hope to keep downtown filled at all times.”

To start, expect to hear music and/or caroling all weekend, he said.

The West Branch Community Choir is “taking the lead” on that, and the West Branch High School choir will participate. Both groups will walk around the downtown “singing carols and spreading cheer” to the visitors and participants, Rogers said.

The weekend begins 5 p.m. at the Village Green for the tree-lighting ceremony that includes secret “special guests” and local musicians.

Rogers said plenty of businesses, restaurants and drinking establishments will open their doors to invite people in to warm up, offering all kinds of Christmas goodies.

“There will be plenty of opportunities for people to stay warm downtown,” he said, noting that the long-term forecasts predict good weather.

The six-person committee met Nov. 22 and one member noted that they are “just polishing things up,” he said.

“I’m excited about it,” Rogers said, saying Christmas was the highlight of his family traditions and this Christmas Past is shaping up to be similar. “This is a time to get together and enjoy the spirit of the season.”

WBCDG created a 12-page program for the Dec. 2-3 event which can be found in last week’s West Branch Times and at many downtown merchants.

One of the annual favorite, the brick fireplaces, will return, but got a new name: Belgium Towers and Marshmallow Roasting.

Rogers said he found an article from decades before showing these Belgium Towers that look very much like the Lions Club’s streetcorner fireplaces. The Belgians would build these fireplace towers to light up waterways at Christmastime.

“I saw some pictures and it’s kind of cool,” he said.

Older members of the Lions Club know about the towers, he said, and he noted that these towers have a West Branch tie in that Hoover led the effort to save millions from starvation in Belgium during World War I.

The committee also did not like the gap in activities between downtown and the displays and food at West Branch Fire Station, which led to moving two more popular activities: The Boy Scouts homemade doughnuts and the horse-drawn carriage rides.

The Boys Scouts will move from Heritage Square to the front lot of Presidential Motors.

Rogers said the city installed a utility box at Heritage Square that would get in the way of the Scouts’ work that night, pushing them over to block Wetherell Street. Instead, Tony Nopoulos, owner of Presidential Motors, offered his site.

The horse-drawn carriage rides’ pick-up and drop-off moved adjacent to West Branch Fire Department “for various reasons,” he said.

Part of that was to create a new route for the ride that highlights more of the historical parts of the Hoover Complex, giving them “more bang for the buck,” but also to help fill the gap.

“(The two events) connect the fire station activities to the downtown,” Rogers said.

And, the horse-drawn carriage rides saw a new tweak in 2016 — the addition of two vis-à-vis carriages — cozier, eight-person carriages similar to those that give rides in Central Park in New York. One is black, the other white.

One horse-drawn trailer, similar to years past, will return, so three horse-drawn rides will operate Friday and Saturday, he said, with drivers dressed in period clothing.

Nature’s Grace Photography will again host Santa and Mrs. Claus, the Silent Auction will relocate to Town Hall, a vintage snowmobile display sponsored by the Cedar County Winter Warriors will occupy the front lot at the Groom Station, Rev. Richard and Ellyn Paulus loaned nativity scenes to display at West Branch Heritage Museum, rangers will give candlelight tours of the Hoover Complex, the Gibson trains return to the fire station and many more activities and crafts and fundraisers will take place as well.