October 23, 2002

Crafters gladly decorate auction

Core group has created Gladhander decorations for the past 20 years

By LISA PERKINS
Herald staff writer

      When the 20th annual Gladhander Auction opens under the big top this Saturday night, it will be the culmination of months of work by volunteers to create the Circus Circus! atmosphere.
      While more than 50 volunteers have worked on the elaborate decorations that have become synonymous with the event, a core group of five or six have been meeting every Wednesday night since early spring.
      For that core group, this Wednesday night "therapy" as they call it, is nothing new. Most of them have been volunteering for 15 to 20 years - some since the very first Gladhander.
      "I look back on that first year, we didn't know what we were doing," said this year's co-chairman of decorations, Sheila McIntyre.
      "The first year that twinkle lights were put up was a big deal," said general chairman Carolyn Vaughan. "The bench mark goes up every year. We want to make sure that our event is the best in the area."
      While the group of regulars got involved when they had children - all now grown, some with children of their own - in the Grand Traverse Area Catholic School system, they continue the Wednesday night ritual without plans to give it up.
      "It is always so much fun, I really enjoy it. If you can pin, cut and glue, you're hired - and you can't get fired!" said Rae Berden, decoration co-chair along with McIntyre.
      Berden and McIntyre give Vaughan a lot of credit for coming up with many of the festive creations, including this year's clown table centerpieces.
      "We try to recycle items we have used in the past and come up with something new. Carolyn turned the 13 boxes of vases we didn't want to store any more into these clowns, you would never know," McIntyre said.
      "Carolyn is one of the most creative people I know, she is always looking for ideas and is very detail oriented," volunteer Julie Jenkins said.
      Each year's theme, like this year's Circus Circus!, pose a new set of challenges.
      "We just bounce ideas off each other until we come up with something. Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night with an idea," Vaughan said.
      "People who are making the decorations have to be in love with the theme and ideas to make it work," Berden said.
      While Vaughan loves working with the decoration crew, she continues her efforts so other kids will have the same educational opportunity that her children did.
      "Gladhander started out as a way for the schools to raise money, and while that is still the main goal, there are a lot of added benefits. It gets parents together to talk about kids and it shows kids, while it may be easier to just write a check, giving of one's time is an important message in our day in age," Vaughan said.
      When asked which year's theme was her favorite, Vaughan said, "I'm holding my judgment until after Saturday night."
      The public is invited to view the decorations, enjoy refreshments and bid on selected silent auction items at a free Gladhander Preview from 7 to 9 p.m., Friday at St. Francis High School. For more information on the Gladhander event, call 941-GLAD.