There’s just something about Christmas. The twinkly lights, the beautiful decorations, the scent of pine needles wafting through the air, the smiles on the faces of those you see about town, and the all-around good cheer that this time of year brings – it’s a whole vibe. And Linda Sparks is all in on the Christmas vibe. Linda’s love of all things Christmas led her to spearhead the effort to create a magical experience for our community called, “12 Nights in Awesomeville.”
Linda and her husband, Cecil, combined have volunteered for the Festival of Angels for over 30 years. Linda is also a member of St. Paul’s Evangelism & Mission Team whose efforts focus on community outreach. The group participates in events like Goblins on Grand, the Great Day of Service and also hosts an Easter Egg hunt each year at their church. Linda has a great appreciation for things hosted for the community like Festival of Angels and the drive-through nativity hosted by Northeast Baptist Church. After last season, Linda began thinking about how she and her church community could do something for the Ponca City community during Christmas time.
Always a bargain hunter, Linda took note of the after-Christmas sales and all the lovely decorations that were being marked down week after week with prices getting lower and lower. An idea sparked and she began collecting materials. Any Christmas décor she could find on sale, Linda began to gather with the help of her husband. She said at one point her living room looked like the Christmas section of Dollar General. In January, she took her idea to her Evangelism group. Linda shared that she wanted to build Christmas arbors. Linda wanted to create an awesome Christmas experience to share with Ponca City. Seeing her vision and dedication to the idea, the Evangelism Team voted to go ahead with the project.
Linda enlisted Cecil to build the arbors. The arbors are wood frames with chicken wire attached. Christmas decorations, twinkly lights and colorful cellophane are then attached to the chicken wire. There are four arbors set to be displayed this year. They are brightly colored and covered in all things Christmas and sure to bring joy to anyone who sees them. The arbors will be installed on wooden stands that are 9 feet high, allowing viewers to walk underneath them and enjoy the festive atmosphere.
The project began in January and continued to grow from there. Once the arbors were built and themes chosen, it was time to decorate. Linda and three friends spent the summer working on attaching items to the arbors. Combined, the group spent hundreds of hours fastening lights, decorations and cellophane to each arbor creating Christmas magic to share with our community. Other members of the Evangelism Team worked on other aspects of the event like the children’s craft, event signage, a photo-op area, and designing and building the structures.
Each arbor has its own theme, and they range in color and style. The first arbor is called “Welcome to Awesomeville” and features traditional red and green Christmas décor. The second theme is primarily purple and gold and called “Happy Birthday, Jesus.” The third theme is “Snowflake Land” and features snowflakes and other items in a lovely blue and white color scheme. The final theme for the 2023 season is entitled “Santa’s Vacation.” It’s brightly colored (hot pink and orange) and features all sorts of fun surprises. The volunteers already have additional theme ideas for next season and may expand on the project if all goes well this year.
The arbors will be on display each Thursday, Friday and Saturday night in December beginning on the first of the month and going through December 23. Nightly hours will be 6-8 p.m. St. Paul’s is located at the corner of Hartford and Pecan. Event parking will be in the parking lot west of the church off Hartford. After parking, attendees will head northeast and walk up the hill to the parking lot on the north side of the property. For those with mobility issues, golf carts will be manned by church members to give rides up the small hill.
The Awesomeville Arbors will be outside the church’s bus barn for everyone to enjoy. Inside the bus barn, Mrs. Claus and her helpers will be giving away hot cocoa and Christmas tree shaped waffles on a stick. Each Thursday night of the season, church member Rachel Blakeburn will host a children’s Christmas craft. The craft will change each week and can easily be taken home to do later if it’s too cold to assemble on-site. There will be Christmas music playing over the speakers and a photo-op area with a 9-foot Christmas tree.
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church and the Evangelism and Mission Team are thrilled to be able to gift this experience to our community for free this Christmas season. Make plans now to visit Awesomeville and bask in its Christmas magic.
