Just in time for holiday decorating and gift-giving, St. Joseph's Home of Springfield has released its 19th city ornament.
In keeping with the tradition of honoring an important local landmark, the 2011 ornament celebrates the 75th anniversary of Lincoln Memorial Garden. Appropriately, the ornament was unveiled at the garden during its Indian Summer Festival, said Shantel Rotherham, director of development and communications for St. Joseph's Home.
This year's ornament features a simple landscape of Lincoln Memorial Garden. The landscape includes one of the almost three dozen white oak benches found throughout the garden, said Rotherham. The benches are inscribed with Lincoln quotations and many are located along the garden's Lake Springfield shore and are shaded by a white flowering dogwood.
The initial ornament design was a collaboration of several members of the Illinois Prairie Pastel Society (IPPS). Local artist and IPPS member Janice Chan created the design with ongoing input from the garden's design committee and the development staff at St. Joseph's Home.
Each 24-karat gold-plated ornament comes packaged in a green velvet-lined box and includes a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity. The ornaments are produced in a limited addition of 5,000 pieces.
The ornament costs $27 at the St. Joseph's Home office at 3306 S. Sixth St. Road, or it is available on-line ($32 for ornament plus shipping and handling) at www.saintjosephshome.org. To order on-line go to the website's home page, click on "Support our Ministry" and then click again on "Ornament Project" and follow the directions. Or, for more information call (217) 529-5596.
Additionally, the following places have this year's ornament for sale at $29: Lincoln Memorial Garden, St. John's Hospital Gift Shop, Bank of Springfield, Heartland Credit Union, Pease's Candy Shops, Vono Medical Supplies, Wild Birds Unlimited, The Illinois State Museum, Pleasant Nursery, Tinsley Dry Goods, Memorial's Festival of Trees and on-line at www.abelincoln.com.
Although the first several years of ornaments (1993-1997) have been retired or have all been sold, ornaments from 1997 to 2010 are still available, with the exception of the 2009 ornament which depicts the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. "By all accounts, that ornament sold out very quickly," said Rotherham. Ornaments from previous years are available at St. Joseph's Home but not in other locations.
Over the past 18 years, the ornament sales have generated over $600,000, Rotherham said. "Funds raised from the sale of the ornament benefit the ministry and mission of St. Joseph's Home and also help support local charitable organizations," she said.