Take a sleigh ride with me back in time when I first encountered Christmas in Griffith, some 50 years ago.
Written by Karen Kulinski
On an early date with my husband, Alan, he took me for a ride down Broad Street, then the major shopping center of the town, to see the Christmas lights. I thought it a sweet gesture, never imaging what a show this little town put on in December.
Holiday garlands of greenery, interspersed with oversized Christmas lights and huge ornaments and bows, were strung over Broad Street, one after the other for almost two blocks. Plus special light-up holiday messages — SEASONS GREETINGS, HO HO HO and NOEL.
Below the lights, every shop on those Broad Street blocks were lit up, too. It was a sight right out of the movies — It’s A Wonderful Life — only way prettier because it was in color.
My first Christmas in Griffith, I discovered who made that holiday magic happen. An organization called Community Spirit. And a whole lot of townspeople.
To find more information, I turned to a 2004 publication — a young people’s history of Griffith, written by Griffith young people. My thanks go out to Beiriger 4th-graders, Jill Fitzgerald and Rebecca Frank, whose article on Community Spirit provided a treasure trove of information.
Community Spirit was organized about 1969 by Griffith resident Gale Riggle and the Griffith Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees.) The reason, say the girls in their article, was “the group felt that downtown Griffith should be more festive at Christmas time.”
Festivity takes money, so the group immediately went to work raising funds to purchase a nativity scene. It was put up in front of Franklin School for many years, eventually finding a second home on St. Mary’s Church property.
The Christmas garlands came next, purchased piece meal over the years. Summer and fall, Community Spirit members spent hours making sure all the lights worked and the bows and ornaments were sparkly and tightly attached to the garland.
All had to be ready for Thanksgiving Saturday when Griffith got festive.
The day began with the volunteers enjoying a traditional early breakfast together at a local restaurant. Then they set about hanging the decorations, with the help of the Griffith Fire Department and their cherry-picker truck.
By that evening, with lights all aglow, Griffith was exceedingly merry and bright!
Community Spirit did more than just light up the holiday for Griffith, the girls wrote in their article. “Community Spirit also put up flags along Broad Street for the 4th of July and helped with the parade. In the spring, they hung flower baskets downtown.”
And, most importantly, the girls wrote one more thing Community Spirit did. “In the late 1970’s, they worked with other town organizations to save the last remaining depot in Griffith. And over the following two years, helped renovate the depot for use as a town museum.”
Unfortunately, the holiday light extravaganza did not continue to today. Rumor has it that as traffic increased on Broad Street, drivers found the lights a distraction, especially nearing stoplights. And taller trucks often hit and damaged the garlands as they barreled through town. But the memories live on in those who saw those amazing decorations. And now I get to tell a new generations of Griffith folks the story of when Griffith got festive in a very big way!
