Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - Those who attend this year's "Images of the Holidays" will get a chance to view holiday art from a child's perspective.
More than 300 holiday drawings created by local kindergarten classes are on display at the Billy Sunday Visitors Center and Museum for visitor's viewing pleasure.
The museum is holding its second annual "Images of the Holidays" exhibit, which features holiday chalk, marker and crayon drawings.
Drawings resemble pictures of snowmen and angels with student's names and schools on the drawings.
"The exhibit allows students to visually display their impression of the holidays and for the public to view these displays," museum curator Bill Firstenberger said.
This year's exhibit opened Nov. 17 and will be open until Jan. 14. Exhibit hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the exhibit will be closed Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Admission is free.
The museum held the event for its first time last year and Jefferson Elementary was the first school to participate, according to Firstenberger.
This year's exhibit grew to feature artwork created by six elementary schools, including Sacred Heart School, Monarch Academy, Leesburg, Jefferson, Washington and Eisenhower elementary schools.
Firstenberger said the museum wants other schools to participate in next year's exhibit.
He said one of the most unique things about one of the drawings is that a Leesburg student signed their name in braille.
He said he collected the drawings from the schools, and he and the museum's intern and Grace College student Jeff Bornes put up the drawings.
The drawings are displayed around a 9-foot Christmas tree that the Village at Winona sponsored during the 1999 Festival of Trees.
The tree is decorated with ornaments representing past and current businesses in Winona Lake.
The tree also is decorated with six Christmas cards from Rodeheaver Boys Ranch, a school for disadvantaged youth in Florida started in the 1950s by Homer Rodeheaver.
Firstenberger said those who spend $20 or more at the Village Shops can stop by the museum and pick up a pewter ornament until Dec. 31.
