By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Get your piece of Niles history on a Christmas ornament.
The Niles Service League has unveiled its 2005 Christmas ornament which features the Santa Claus and Christmas tree raft on the St. Joseph River.
The raft is a holiday decoration displayed every Christmas season in the St. Joseph River in downtown Niles.
Four Niles residents - Roy Peters, Willie Huss, Pete Williams and Hank Hanson - first put the raft in the river in 1962.
At that time the riverfront Lakeland Hospital ( which was then Pawating Hospital) had its children's ward on the east side of the hospital facing the river.
During the unveiling, Mike Peters recalled that his dad and his dad's three friends knew that they could get supplies to build the raft, since Pete Williams' parents owned Williams Hardware at the time. However, they were unsure about how they would get electricity out to the raft in the middle of the river. At the time Hank Hanson worked for the city of Niles; he was confident that he could somehow figure out how to get the raft some juice.
Roy Peters and his friends worked on the construction and installation of the 24 foot by 8 foot raft each year but they were unable to maintain and display the raft over many many years. In the late 1970s, the Jaycees took the job over for a few years. In the 1980s, Mike Peters and his friends Tom Bonner, Dale Peebles, Larry Pickles, Gary Bates and Bill Messner took up the project.
The Peters family tradition taking care of the raft has spread down to Peters' oldest son, Michael Peters, 21, who helps out with the project each year.
The group tries to get the raft into the river each year by the weekend after Thanksgiving. Niles residents know when they see the decorations go into the river that it's the start of the Christmas season.
The Niles Service League chose to offer this ornament as the sixth in their series of ornaments because "everyone would go crazy for it."
The Niles Service League Christmas ornaments, which are $25, will be available at the Service League's Apple Festival booth, at East Main Gardens – Florist, Rana's New Generation Hair Salon, The Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce, and Williams Hardware. The ornaments will not be offered at the Riverfront Cafe as in years past. For more information on the ornaments contact Bizo at 687-0576.
Also at the Service League's Apple Festival booth, community residents will be able to purchase the Hometown Heroes calendar. The calendar will also be available at the Stop-In Restaurant, Wisner Drug Store in Buchanan, and the Buchanan Police Department. For more information on the Hometown Heroes calendar contact Kellie Montgomery at 663-2210.
Another upcoming Niles Service League event is the annual Fall rummage sale. The sale will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Michiana Christian Embassy, 1922 E. Main St., Niles.
The sale will feature a large selection of cookbooks. A bag sale will follow from noon to 1 p.m. Proceeds earned from the ornament, calendar and rummage sale will help provide for the needs of local school children.
Rummage donations can be made to the Niles Service League by calling Melody Stentstrom at (269) 684-5279.
The Niles Service League and Martin's Super Market in Niles will be sponsoring the $1 "Bundle a Buddy" donations from Oct. 17 – 28, to help the Niles Service League ensure children have warm clothes for the chilly winter months.
On Saturday, Oct. 22, the ladies of the Niles Service League will be in the parking lot of Martin's Supermarket collecting new or gently used coats, winter boots, mittens, hats, scarves, sweatshirts, sweat pants and all other cold weather gear for their annual coat drive.
All donations made that day will be distributed to area children through the Niles Service League's School Liaison Program.