Wreath sales begin as Kimball prepares for another holiday season

Following a one-year hiatus, the St. Hilda’s Episcopal Church parish will once again sell holiday wreaths, according to longtime coordinator, Wilma Gilliland. St. Hilda’s Episcopal Church has raised funds for decades through these annual wreath sales.

Though the small congregation now sells solely to repeat, and very satisfied customers, they once made enough money to furnish the parish hall at the church and complete one very large project – Kimball’s first tennis court.

But, as Wilma said, first things first.

In the beginning, the idea was that of Paul and Louella Mockett. They had seen wreaths made by the wives of United States Forest Service men, who sold them to fund their own projects.

“They had been up to Colorado, a retired person started the project up there, of making the wreath for sale for the families who worked for the government in the forest,” she said.

The Mocketts thought that great idea might just take off in Kimball too, so the church began selling them as a fund raiser.

At that time, the church needed tables, chairs, dishes and utensils for the parish hall, according to Gilliland.

“Then, they built the tennis courts, and they were to be open to anyone who wanted to play,” she said. “It was meant to be used for various projects, after the tennis court got built.”

Gilliland added that selling the wreaths was fun and pretty easy, because people always wanted them. They will be available soon after Thanksgiving, and pre-sales will begin this week with Gilliland visiting downtown businesses.

“It started out to raise funds and later on people just really like the wreaths,” she said.