Lamar High School Painters Become Santa Helpers

Panel for the Santa Express

These Lamar high school students are on Santa’s ‘nice’ list this year for the work they contributed to upgrading and painting the decorative panels on the sides of Santa’s train.

A New Look for the Train

Art instructor, John Gersick, answered a request to use his painting skills to spruce up the side panels for the train known as Santa’s Express. Over the years, the panels have become faded, scratched and have had to be re-attached each year the train is put into use.

Students and Art Instructor John Gersick

Gersick enlisted the aid of some of the students in his advanced art department, plus other volunteers, and set to work on the improvements the day before the jolly old gent was due to make his traditional appearance during the annual Parade of Lights in Lamar.  Gersick and some of his students were at work this past Friday evening in the Enchanted Forest, measuring and attaching the panels they had painted to the train.

“We ran into some difficulty as the materials we used at first didn’t hold color on the panels, so they had to be redone and the panels themselves needed some refurbishment. We were really working close to the wire to get everything accomplished in time,” he explained.

About 15 students were involved, using materials and equipment from the school’s art department. One other problem developed with the panels, although it wasn’t immediately apparent to the viewers along the parade route.  Gersick said that the panels were falling off the train because not enough time had been allowed for bonding them to the train cars and they started to fall off due to the bumpy ride along Main Street.  That task is being taken care of this week to finish the repairs as more weekend visitors are expected to visit Santa in his workshop at the Enchanted Forest in Lamar.

By Russ Baldwin