Here is a letter regarding the Cherry Veneer sleigh created for the city of Colorado Springs.
"I have been employed with the United States Olympic Committee for almost thirty-five years now, managing the vehicles that we use at the three Olympic Training Centers. I started doing a float entry for the Colorado Springs Training Center five years ago. The float is for the annual Festival of Lights Parade that has been held here now for twenty-eight years. The parade is really the kickoff of the holiday season here in Colorado Springs. It is held the first Saturday of December each year. Through the relationship with in doing the parade entry for the CSOTC, I ended up on the Board of Directors for Festival of Lights.
The parade consists of anywhere from sixty to eighty entries from the local area businesses or other groups. The last float in the parade is the Santa Float which through 2011 had been provided by a company here known as The North Pole. This is a company located at the base of Pikes Peak and is a year round operation based upon Santa’s village and has amusements and gift shops centered around Christmas. They decided, based on time and logistics, that 2011 was going to be their last year for providing this service.
With this in mind, we at Festival of Lights discussed what we should do for the upcoming years. I had known that the North Pole was bowing out and had started thinking about what could be done. I was not certain what I was going to do but knew I could do something. After the 2011 parade I saw the movie Arthur’s Christmas. The sleigh portrayed in movie was Granddad Santa’s Sleigh and it just really spoke to me that this is what Santa’s sleigh would look like. It is sleek and trim but has an old feel to it. With this idea I started trying to put together all the pieces that I would need for the project. After a couple of months of R&D I presented my project proposal to the BOD of FOL.
Where your company played into this was that I did not want a red sleigh; I wanted a sleigh that has that warmth that only wood can give. I learned more about veneers, and the application and finishing of them, than I could imagine.
I started construction in March of this year and after nine months and 900 hours we presented the finished product to the City of Colorado Springs in the parade. It was well received.
Thanks again for your companies assistance and guidance in working with veneers."
This sleigh was made using Cherry Veneer purchased from Oakwood Veneer and we were happy to help.
