Mickey & Minnie Mouse!!!

Gladbrooks 22nd annual tree lighting was held on Mon., Nov. 26th. It was a very cold crisp night with light snow falling. Everyone really enjoyed the Disney theme.

The upper level of the City Center was alive with the laughter of children as they visited with Santa Claus and received their Santa Sacks. Sue Koster played Christmas carols and helped everyone get into the spirit of the season. The kids loved getting their pictures taken with Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and, of course, Mickey & Minnie Mouse!!!

Many adults and kids enjoyed the Ornament Hunt. They picked up pieces at the HF, Gladbrook Pharmacy, NAPA, Spankys, Gladbrook Bowl, and the theater to create a Mickey ornament. They then placed the ornaments on a tree in the Festival of Trees and registered for a Mickey & Minnie basket of prizes and an adult basket. The winners were: Adult- Christy Diggins and kids: Casein Sash & Brooklyn Diggins.

Everyone was amazed at the beautifully decorated trees as they walked down the path in the 100 acre woods. Nancy Heises Winnie-the-Pooh collection went right along with the theme. The Commercial Club set up the Beauty & Beast dining area (special thank you to Mandy Ceaser for drawing the Beast face), Snow White & the scary wicked witch in the mirror, and Cinderellas lighted carriage.

Many of the very unique and clever Christmas trees and displays carried out the theme Magical Christmas.

Photo by Betty Dahms Winners of the $25.00 in Gladbrook Dollars were (l-r) Adam Burg, Amy Mooney-Geels, Laura Bru and Jim Utterback.

Mickey & Minnie were bouncing around all over the place getting lots of the hugs and high fives from the little ones.

They even announced the winners outside under the tree of the ornament winners.

Both the young and the old enjoyed riding on the beautifully lighted trolley pulled by a team of Belgians belonging to Dennis Dostal. The trolley rides were sponsored by Great Western Bank and Goos Implement.

Outside hot dogs and hot apple cider were served. Great Western Bank passed out bags of candy.

For the program Mickey and Minnie led the count down to the lighting of the beautiful evergreen tree donated by Triple H Farms.

Followed by members of the Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School chorus singing several traditional Christmas carols. The Gladbrook Commercial Club would like to extend a big thank you to the students for sharing their beautiful music.

Prizes, prizes and more prizes were given away. Every kid received a prize.

Many adults won prizes, as well, all donated by Gladbrook merchants. The lucky winners of the $25 trade dollars were Amy Mooney-Geels, Adam Burg, Laura Bru and Jim Utterback.

We want to especially thank Gladbrook Covenant Clinic, Alliant Energy, MLS Transfer, Gladbrook Theater, HF, Grundy Memorial Hospital, and Anderson Funeral Homes for their very generous donations and financial support besides all of our area businesses.

A special thank you to the Gladbrook Young Women for decorating the Santa stage, doing the shopping for the kids prizes, the man-power during the activities and their financial support. It was greatly appreciated.

The Festival of Trees will be on display in the upstairs of the City Center through December. The times are 1-5 & 6-9 daily except on Thurs., 1-5 only. The City Center will be closed on Dec. 24th & 25th.

You will be very pleasantly surprised when you visit the Festival of Trees, so bring your family, friends and neighbors.

We would like to thank all the businesses, organizations, churches and individuals that participated.

The tree lighting activities are sponsored by the Gladbrook Commercial Club. We hope everyone has a happy holiday season.