Holiday time is here and your Old Home Town is merrily dressed and waiting. Callaway Park will have its own Festival of Lights. This started last year and has grown impressively this year. Many groups and individuals have given to this project to make our park so beautiful. Something to make us even more proud to be connected to this small town of Elwood.

Our Main Street Committee and the Elwood/Pipecreek Historical Society has given Elwood a very special Christmas present. Your Old Home Town has been entered into the National Register of Historic Places. Yes, it is official. This is an Historic Commercial District and will be so known forever. I am sure that many of the people here do not yet understand the significance of this registry.

Those of you who are near places that are on the National Register know what a draw this is. Those of us who worked on getting the grants to allow this to be done by a professional historian are still walking on air.

Today as I write this to you, I am sitting here looking at the beautiful snow falling outside. This is the kind of snowfall that is shown in pictures. It is the kind of snowfall that takes you back to your childhood. The big flakes that you tried to catch on your tongue and were perfect for making snowballs and snowmen. It is covering the ground now and making everything really look like holiday time. I had not realized how much I missed this experience of watching the snow come down. For those of you who say, I do not like winter and all of that snow, I say to you that the day will come when you will be sitting watching a snowfall like this and remembering the times when all the fun things were happening.

Construction is still moving along on the city building complex and the hospital. The hospital has already had the dedication for the new addition even though it was not quite finished. It is amazing to me that construction on new homes is thriving here. People who have bought older homes in town are making them over and the differences will really surprise you when you come for a visit.

Since I lived away from here for so long, I am seeing this town with eyes that have looked at places in many different areas of this country. One of the biggest challenges is to convince the people that good things can happen  that there are resources available out there to make improvements to our community. I really do hope that the things that are happening to our town right now will help these people see exactly what our groups are accomplishing.

I am very proud to be working in my own small way with the Main Street program and the Historical Society to help bring these changes about for Elwood. I am even more proud to know that the work these groups have done will make all who are connected to ELWOOD PROUD to call this their OLD HOME TOWN.

Happy Holidays to all of you.

Your Old Home Town Reporter,
Sharon Benedict Hurst "53"
Elwood IN, Out on Fairground Road
Where the snow is absolutely beautiful