Santa made an appearance at the Ada Village Christmas party recently. Here he is with Mayor Dave Retterer. Connie Fleming provided this photo to the Icon.
By Amy Eddings Though northwestern Ohio’s winters aren’t nearly as bitter as those at the North Pole, Ada’s resident Santa Claus has moved to Florida.
“I was making a Top Ten list of the things I won’t miss, and snow was No. 1, ice was No. 2 and wind was No. 3,” said Claus.
MORE PHOTOS AT BOTTOM OF STORY
Santa — who goes by Richard Gainey during the off-season — was driving to his and wife Becky’s new home near Jacksonville, Florida when the Ada Icon caught up with the jolly old elf.
Ginger McConnell of Ada knows where to find seashells and knows what to do with them.
Although many Florida beaches are now nearly void of shells, she gathers many various kinds and colors of shells along the beach of Sanibel Island when visiting there a month every year.
Instead of putting the shells in a glass container for display, she makes wreaths which are for sale at Ruth Roider's Art Gallery on Main. She said that making a wreath of shells is like putting a puzzle together. (Monty Siekerman)
Makenna Conaway fills a fruit basket as a volunteer for ReStore on Monday morning at the United Methodist Church.
ReStore prepared and delivered 100 baskets on Monday. Much of the fruit was donated by the Ada High School FFA, others donated cookies, baskets given to ReStore throughout the year were saved for this purpose.
ReStore brings happiness to many local residents with this annual project
In the other two photos, at the bottom of this year are Brett Walters and Barb Hayter.
The Hardin County Chamber & Business Alliance announced the winners of the Buy Local First Holiday Contest, which ran from Nov. 23 – Dec. 17. The Alliance partnered with the Buy Ada First Committee and 37 local businesses on the event.
There were over $1,700 in prizes given away thanks to the participating businesses.
The 25 Days of Christmas Buy Local Contest was a way to educate the community on the benefits of buying local and to encourage shoppers to buy local this holiday season.
The $500 Grand Prize winner was Tom Anderson, the $200 winner was Michelle Ray, and the $100 winner was Christy Clark.
By Monty Siekerman
Local photographer Karen Ward has produced a book of 50 photographs of the village titled "Scenes of Ada, Ohio."
It is for sale at the Art Gallery on Main. Karen has taken pictures of town ever since she arrived here 25 years ago.
The 10" by 10" book includes familiar places (ONU, Wilson's, the parks, churches, grain elevator) and the unfamiliar, only what a creative artist might see (weathered siding, weeds blooming along a roadside, snow scenes).
