CLV Holds Annual Village-Wide Garage Sale

The exercise equipment that has become a coat rack, clothes that have been outgrown and other odds and ends that have collected over the years can earn extra cash on September 22.

Christmas Lake Village is holding its village-wide garage sale Saturday, September 22 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone wishing to participate in the sale must complete the registration form and pay a $5 fee no later than September 11. The registration forms can be found on the website or in the gatehouse. The fee covers advertising and other expenses. Late registrations and payments will not be included on the map.

A map showing directions to all participating homes will be given to anyone who asks. The CLV gate opens to the general public at 8 a.m. on September 22.

A Message From Property Manager, Mark Kroeger

Concerts in the Park? Have you heard of them? Have you attended one?
If so, did you enjoy it? Our goal has been to provide quality entertainment, free of charge, for our members. We would love to see bigger crowds at these events…the performers would appreciate this as well as it is easier to perform for a crowd.

By the time you read this there will only be one night of park entertainment for the 2007 season. Bob Ahlemeier will bring his Magic with Style show to Holly Park on September 27th at 6:30 PM. Bob was big hit last year with young and old alike. Who knows…you could even end up on stage. Bob is always looking for an assistant to be a part of his illusions.

It would be great to see more people attend these concerts throughout the summer. It is a good way to meet some of your neighbors and be entertained on a summer’s evening. A wide range of programs have been offered including puppets, jazz standards, classic rock, magic, and even a Buddy Holly tribute.

Bring the kids along so they can enjoy the new play equipment as well. With the new roof on the shelter, and two new preschool children’s playground areas, Holly Park has many new improvements.

The Garden Club will be selling drinks and snacks and CLV will have free popsicles available during the night of the concert. Plan to attend this FREE, FAMILY event!

CLV Garden Club Holds Fall Mum Sale

Are you looking for ways to brighten your landscape?

On September 14 the garden club will hold its Fall Mum sale and for $7 you can purchase a gallon container from a variety of colored mums. To order in advance, contact Ann Vogel at 544-2033.

Local Naturalist Peggy Brooks will speak to the group in September about the “Pioneers use of flowers in plants for fabric, dyes and décor.”

Master Gardner Julie Mallory will inform the members how to do flower arranging using natural materials in October. October 18 will be the group’s card party to raise necessary funds for gardening projects. Contact Ann Vogel for more information.

Santa’s Elves will visit the group in December to recruit members in fulfilling its mission of sending out letters from Santa. For several years, CLV Garden Club has helped in this endeavor by volunteering time to reply to children’s letters.

Garden Club member Janet Shelton will also show the group how to make a Christmas Ice Sculpture using traditional Holly during their December meeting.

The group’s Buffalo Run primitive garden is nearing completion. “We thought we had it finished,” said club president Sue Fuhrman. “Then a master gardener gave us some suggestions on how to fill it out more and that we should take out the peonies because they weren’t here during Lincoln’s time.” Stop in Buffalo Run and observe the garden around the cabin area. CLV Garden Club planted the garden using only plants and flowers that would have inhabited this area during Lincoln’s lifetime.

The Christmas Lake Village Garden club meets the third Monday of each month. For more information, please contact Sue Fuhrman at 544-3365.

CLV Red Hat Society Groups

Santa’s Red Hat Ladies will be lunching at the Gasthof Restaurant and Bakery in Montgomery, Indiana on September 20. After lunch the ladies will tour the Amish Village and shops.

On October 18 the ladies will be celebrating an early Halloween party at Santa’s Lodge. Peg Fairbanks is hosting this event but the evening’s activities are a surprise.

Santa’s Red Hat Ladies is open to newcomers. Anyone wanting to know more information regarding this chapter should call organizer, Lois Martin at 544-2879.

The Santa Claus Reigning Dears will be enjoying Sing Hallelujah! at the Derby Dinner Theater on September 12. Sing Hallelujah! describes the life of a new pastor as he takes over his first church and has to deal with “old” ways. Hosting the groups evening will be Martha Hemmer.
On October 17 the Dears will travel to Spring Mill Park for lunch and a day of antiquing. Sue Furhman will host the day’s adventure to the park in Mitchell, Indiana.

Several of the Dears will be spending the day on the Ohio River on the Belle of Louisville on October 19. Queen Merry Riggle hosts the river trip.

In November the Dears will be lunching and shopping in Nashville, Indiana. Sue Schmidt hosts this event.

Christmas Lake Village Association’s New Directors

Gene Allen

“You need participation,” Gene Allen stressed about including more association members. “I would hope that more people would get involved.”

New Director, Allen and his wife Myra moved to CLV from Highland, Indiana last March. Allen wanted more time to acclimate himself to CLV and how things run but with some prodding of board president, Don Vogel, he agreed to serve.

“Somebody’s got to do it,” Allen laughed. “It’s better than doing nothing.”

“Hopefully Myra and I are here for a while and we want to do good,” Allen said.

Allen served for 10 years on the couple’s previous condo association and dealt with many of the same issues that the CLV board faces. He is retired from working in automobile collision centers.

“I look forward to serving on the board,” Allen said. A goal that Allen has is more people becoming involved, working to make the village better. “We need more dedicated people.”

When not traveling, Allen enjoys shopping, fishing and golfing.

Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson not only brings a financial and an engineering background as a newly elected director, he also brings the experience of serving on a past CLV board.

“I served in the past as president and treasurer,” said Davidson. “I served before and always had the interest in serving.”

Davidson has lived in CLV for 14 years. During those years many changes have taken place but Davidson thinks CLV continues to move forward.

“I liked it the way it was. I like it the way it is,” Davidson said. “The increased population has created some problems but it hasn’t caused the village to deteriorate.”

A retired engineer, Davidson has the time to devote to the CLV board. “I don’t have things that call me away. I plan to be there for meetings,” Davidson said.

“The most important issue at this time is centering some of our attention on infrastructure,” Davidson commented. “I think we are going to have to bite the bullet and spend more money on our streets.”

“Some of the world’s best bass fishing,” can be found in CLV lakes Davidson says about one of his hobbies. He also enjoys working in the yard and creating segmented woodturnings.

Jeff Stillman

Jeff Stillman believes in being proactive. Moving here in February 2007, Stillman wasted no time joining the board to offer his time and expertise.

“I plan on living the rest of my life here,” Stillman said. “I want to make this the best possible place to live.”

Currently working as a project manager for an international company and having lived in different communities with associations Stillman brings an experienced voice to CLV board.

“In 5 years I see that the village is built up a bit more,” Stillman commented. “The property values will go up mainly because it is being discovered by the whole country.”

Of course one of the challenges will be mending the split between subdivision one and the remainder of the village. Part of bringing the subdivisions together means going through the covenants which expire in 2012. Stillman is encouraged that “the board is concentrating on putting a committee together” of board and association members to begin work on the current covenants and making changes that will help unify the village.

Angela Vanover

When asked why she wanted to sell things, Angela Vanover was quick to answer. “I blame it on my daddy! I was raised real strict and we played games a lot, especially Monopoly” So the little girl who always tried to buy Park Place and Boardwalk Avenue has grown up buying and selling real properties.

Vanover moved to Christmas Lake Village May 2006 after living 34 years in Evansville, IN. Her mom was raised in Spencer County and she has numerous family members in the area. She also has a daughter who lives in Louisville and a son living in Evansville and CLV was a great midway point between the two.

“This is the best hidden secret in the USA,” Vanover said about CLV. “Only place you can get what we have. If you go to Florida and live in a gated community, you are going to be paying $2000 to $3000 a year for the amenities we have.”

Vanover decided to put her 27 years of real estate experience to use on the CLV property owner’s association board. “The main reason I became interested was I didn’t want to see property values go down,” Vanover commented.

Having been involved in rules and regulations in developing other subdivisions in the past, Vanover brings a working perspective of how best to move forward with some problems that have plagued CLV.

Vanover opened a ReMax franchise in Santa Claus February 1, 2007. Moving to CLV was a no brainer for Vanover after she had visited the area. Vanover’s office is located at 37 N Kringle Place in the Holiday Foods strip mall.

Christmas Lake Golf Course

Upcoming Outings
Dale Fall Fest Scramble — Sept. 8
Evanston Hog Roast Scramble — Sept. 15
North Spencer Scholarship Scramble — October 14
Nightmare Before Christmas — December 9

Golf course grounds crew have completed several major improvement projects this summer.

“We put in all new drainage on 12 fairway,” said course owner Russ Winkler. “We put in a new cart path from tee to green. We built a new tee box that will be used for the white tees, which will open next year.”

Several other improvements were made from adding sprinkler heads to lining the lake by Hole 12 with rip-rap, to building a new tee box on Hole 3.

“The old cart path was falling into the lake,” Winkler commented. “Lining the lake with the rip-rap will control erosion plus it looks much better.”

Christmas Lake Golf Course will host several outings over the next few months. Some of the upcoming scrambles are the Dale Fall Fest Scramble on September 8; the North Spencer Scholarship Scramble on October 14; and the Nightmare Before Christmas Scramble on December 9.

If interested in playing in any of the upcoming events, please contact the pro shop at Christmas Lake Golf Course at 544-2255, ext. 2 or check out the website at
www.christmaslake.com.

CLV Geese Rounded Up And Relocated

Over a hundred geese were rounded up from CLV lakes and relocated to another location in July. None of the birds were injured or killed during the transport.

“We (CLV Maintenance Department) went to a training class provided by the DNR and we had to fill out some forms,” said Property Manager Mark Kroeger. “We then took the geese to Sugar Ridge over in Pike County. All of this was done with the DNR’s blessing.”

Lake Noel residents expressed their gratitude by sending a thank you note signed by all those affected.

“Most people I’ve talked to are really happy,” said Kroeger. “Everything has been positive.”

Thanks to CLV maintenance who took part in the Great Christmas Lake Goose Roundup of 2007!

Places to Go: Silent Night Café

Silent Night Cafe
Open Tuesday through Thursday 7 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Open Fridays 7 a.m. — 9 p.m.
Located at 57 N. Holiday Boulevard in between Expressions Photography and Schauss Realty

Walking into newly opened Silent Night Café is like walking into a coffee shop in a metropolitan area. Decorated with warm colors, handmade tile tabletops and board games such as Mad Gab for customers to enjoy, folks are drawn to sit and enjoy a few cups of their favorite drink.

Silent Night Café serves fresh baked muffins, bagels, lattes, mochas, cappuccinos and a large variety of coffee.

“The support of the community has been huge!” Casey Jenkins, owner of the newly opened café said.

“We are playing around with the lunch thing. We do a chicken or tuna salad on a croissant and we want to do Panini sandwiches in the future,” Jenkins said of adjustments to the menu.

On Friday nights the café stays open until 9 p.m. and they serve snack items along with several desserts such as ice cream sundaes and floats.

Jenkins says starting the café has been a family affair with everyone from her youngest siblings helping paint to her parents delivering samples of goodies to local businesses. Jenkins has plenty of help in her family as she is the oldest of seven daughters.

The Jenkins’ family moved here from Warrick County five years ago. Jenkins notes that her travels to France and visiting numerous coffee shops there and in the states was her inspiration for the cafe.

After her parents moved to Santa Claus, Jenkins thought “this would be such a great place” to open a café. Jenkins wanted to create an environment where people could drink their favorite lattes or cappuccinos and relax as well.

“There are lots of things I’m having to learn,” Jenkins said. “It has been hard at first, but it will be worth it.” Casey and her sister Kelly did the majority of the remodeling. “We spent day after day working in here. It was exciting when we finally got to do the painting part!”

There have been several surprises for Jenkins during the first few weeks of being in business. “It’s so random when people come in. I thought breakfast would be bigger, and we haven’t sold as much coffee as I would like.”

Silent Night Café is open Tuesday through Thursday 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. On Friday the hours are 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. It is located at 57 N. Holiday Boulevard, between newly renovated Expressions Photography and Schauss Realty.