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University Daily Kansan, December 12. 1984
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Santa Claus, alias Chuck McWilliams, Lawrence sophomore, waves to pedestrians as they shop downtown. McWilliams plays Santa Claus about 30 hours a week, wandering between 10th and Seventh streets on Massachusetts Street.
Student keeps Santa tradition
By JOHN HANNA Staff Reporter
Dressed in the familiar red suit, black boots and white beard, Chuck McWilliams is easily recognized as he walks down Massachusetts Street during the afternoon and evening.
Passers-by stop to talk with him, and he offers them colorful stickers. Small children, pointing and laughing, parents along as they run toward him.
Since Nov. 23, McWilliams, 32,
Lawrence sophomore, has been playing
Saint Claus downtown. For about
30 hours a week, he walks between
10th and Seventh streets or sits in the hearth of a makeshift
shelf of the First National Bank of Lawrence, 900 Massachusetts St.
"EVERYONE YOU SEE has something to say to you," he said recently. "It's always nice. Someone who he's been frowning will smile."
In October, Lee interviewed prospective Santas for the job, which pays $ 4 an hour. McWilliams said he had learned of the open position from
Santas are a downtown Lawrence tradition. Mary Lee, secretary-treasurer for the Downtown Lawrence Association, said that the DLA had been sponsoring a Santa downtown for at least 12 years.
a notice on the bulletin board near the office of financial aid in Strong Hall.
This is not McWilliams' first Santa job. In 1980 and 1981, he worked as a Santa in a Topeka mall.
"TVE ALWAYS LIKED being Santa Claus," he said. "My grandfather used to play Santa Claus, and my own suit. That kind of inspired me."
"I'm a big fan of 'Miracle on 34th Street.'"
Although she could not say how many Santas work in Lawrence, Lee said most large department stores had one in front of or inside the store.
The discount or the store Gibson's Discount Center, 2525 Iowa St., has had Santa greet customers at the front door during afternoons and evenings for about 15 years, said Art Cromer, store manager. Customers have come to expect the white-beared man to be there.
"It's fun, it's nice, and the kids like it," he said. "It adds a little flavor and atmosphere to the store."
On Massachusetts Street,
6-year-old geoffrey Stroble and his
mother, Linda, 208 Woodgate Place,
stopped to talk to McWilliams.
AS SANTA. McWilliams sees as many as 300 children in five hours on Saturday, he said, and as many as 100 on weekends.
Cabbage Patch Kids and Masters of the Universe play sets top many wish lists, he said. Geoffrey wanted a
tool set and some toy race cars for Christmas.
"You've got to be a really good boy to get one of those," McWilliams said, chuckling.
SANTAS ARE POPULAR, but the red suits that they wear also are good sellers.
The Remo Corp, based in South Vineland, N.J., sells about 50,000 suits during a season, which lasts from May until the end of November, said Clarence Pierce, personnel director.
Each complete Santa outfit — from boots to beard — costs between $250 and $300. Jackets are made of imitation velvet fabric, and the white trim is made of imitation mink. Pierce said each suit was designed to withstand 10,000 trips down a chimney.
Woman's craft flowers on farm
"We like to think that we're all Santa's helpers," Pierce said.
And, after a few minutes, McWilliams leaves his makehift chimney — his home base, as he calls it — to roam the sidewalks again. His stint as Santa ends on Christmas Eve.
Back on Massachusetts Street; people stop to talk with McWilliams and college students smile as he asks them if they would like a sticker.
"I'm the kind that gets up and walks around." he said. "You see a lot more kids, and you really get people into the Christmas surrt."
By HOLLIE B. MARKLAND Staff Reporter
Milkweed silk drifts through Pam Carvalho's garage.
Bunches of baby's breath hang from the ceiling, and clippings of wild rose hips and bittersweet litter on wooden work table.
I consciously try to make different, creative things — things people have never seen before,” said Carvalho. Route 3, Baldwin.
Carvalho, 41, works at home
using dried Kansas grasses,
seeds, flowers, grains and pots into
arrangements and wreathes.
People say they have never seen colors like they see in my wreaths," she said. "That comes from picking the flowers at the right time."
CARVAMIL WREATIS are held together with wire, and large arrangements are mounted on pieces of old tobacco, she said.
Carvallo uses about 200 different kinds of dried flowers and grasses in the arrangements she makes. Each arrangement contains from 40 to 50 flowers, plants, but sunflowers and roses are her favorite plants to include.
"I like using lots of textures and contrasts." she said
Although she did not make special arrangements for the holiday season, pinecone wreaths, herb wreaths and cockcomb wreaths are often given as gifts because they contained traditional holiday colors, she said.
THE WORK SITE does with church plants is not just a hobby but a full-time job. Carvalho said.
In addition to the time she spends growing plants and creating dried arrangements, Carvalho markets her craft.
She sells wreaths and arrangements at a Lawrence craft cooperative Hund & I, 801 Massachusetts St.
with creating arrangements,
Carvallo also conducts workshops on her farm and teaches a class at the Lawrence Arts Center, 9th and Vermont streets. Participants are invited to spend a day on the farm where they gather dried plants and learn to arrange them
"It's exciting to show people that they can make something really beautiful," she said.
Carrallo travels to fairs in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri to sell her arrangements and to learn about events in regions outside of Lawrence.
"I WENT TO WESTERN Kansas and used sagebrush, which is seen as a real problem, and made some beautiful things." "Carvallo said
Most of the domestic flowers she uses — including statice, cockcomb, everlasting and fancy — she grows on the Carvallo farm, she said.
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