Manitowoc’s past holiday manufacturing creations are featured again this year in the city’s downtown.
The “Evergleams on Eighth” display of aluminum Christmas trees was officially kicked off Wednesday night for the Lakeshore Holiday Parade.
Barb Bundy-Jost and Jordan Kabat were guests recently on the WCUB Breakfast Club.
Bundy-Jost explained the many different styles, sizes, and colors of the so-called “Space-Aged” trees, which were first made in time for the 1959 Christmas season by Aluminum Specialty of Manitowoc and later by competitors, like the city’s Mirro Company.
“We felt that young people in Manitowoc don’t really know this rich aluminum history,” she said, “We have the tinsel factory, we had Mirro Aluminum, we had Aluminum Specialty, and they each had individual fame, that really helped the middle class in this town earn a good living wage.”
Bundy-Jost went on to explain that when these companies left, “it left a hole. I don’t want that history to be lost.”
Over 30 downtown Manitowoc storefront windows will feature the aluminized trees through January 8th.
Kabat, who along with Bundy-Jost and Cathy Karl, formed a non-profit known as MAKI (Manitowoc Aluminum Kitchens Inc.), said his grandmother worked for Aluminum Specialty.
“We always had a small aluminum tree, but once awareness started to spread through Evergleams on 8th, and the work of Barb and Kathy, and Steve, and Fran, I just became more and more interested and started to collect trees on my own,” he explained.
40 of the trees are on display at the Manitowoc Public Library.
Visitors can view the displays a half hour prior to each of the “Trolley to the Trees” excursions at 4:30 or 5:30 pm on Saturday, December 10th, or at 5:00, 6:00, and 7:00 p.m. the following Saturday, December 17th.
Also, Maps for the aluminum tree locations can be seen at evergleams.org.
