LETTERS TO SANTA: Downtown Madison to feature a special mailbox this Christmas season with delivery to the North Pole
MADISON – Madison children will have direct access to Santa Claus this Christmas thanks to a couple of Santa’s helpers in the Madison Station Historic Preservation Society.
A special mailbox will join the Madison Polar Express Christmas Tree Trail as the newest addition to the Christmas decorations in historic downtown Madison. The tree trail is a yearly display of Christmas trees decorated by local businesses and organizations put on by the Madison Station Historic Preservation Society.
Every year, the society opens the trail with a grand tree lighting by the mayor, Christmas carols performed by the Madison City Community Orchestra, the reading of the Polar Express by a Madison public librarian, hot chocolate and cookies from the Rotary Club of Madison, a glowstick parade, and finally, handwritten letters to Santa with the Madison Chamber of Commerce.
This year, MSHPS President Debbie Overcash had the idea to set up a mailbox at the trail to allow the children to conveniently send off their letters written at the tree lighting.
“For many years, the Chamber has also encouraged our little ones to write letters to Santa. At a recent MSHPS meeting we were talking about what a great addition a Christmas mailbox would be to compliment the letters and a star was born,” said Overcash.
The mailbox was fashioned by MSHPS member Ron Johnson.
“Ron Johnson is an accomplished woodworker and came up with the design, then built our outstanding Christmas Mailbox which will remain at the Christmas Tree Trail throughout the Christmas season for children of all ages to drop their Letter to Santa off,” Overcash Johnson has been woodworking since he was a child and boasts a broad portfolio.
“I used to think that if I could work wood, I could have any toy I ever wanted, and I don’t think that’s ever really left me,” recalled Johnson of his motivation to learn woodworking.
He first learned from his father and furthered his skills and enjoyment of the craft in high school shop class. He has fashioned a variety of items over the years from the practical to the fun. He specializes in carving, repairing antique furniture, and building period furniture, but he’s also crafted rocking horses and fishing rods. The more lighthearted projects like the mailbox sprinkles in whimsy between the more practical projects.
The mailbox took Johnson about two weeks to complete from sketching to drying paint.
Johnson explained his process, “I started by drawing out seriously on some paper and then from there, once I get the design nailed down, I draw it scale and then I go get the stuff at Lowe’s or Home Depot and just start laying it out and cutting it out.”
He was inspired by other North Pole mailboxes he found in online research. He painted this mailbox a festive red and adorned it with a Christmas tree, reindeer, snowflakes, and ‘Letters to Santa’ in script writing. The mailbox stands about four feet tall. To give the littlest children a boost, Johnson added a step stool to the bottom of the mailbox.
The mailbox will be placed in downtown and officially open to accept letters on Thanksgiving Day. It will stay in downtown throughout the Christmas season, helping deliver Madison children’s letters to Santa Claus.
