MOUNT PULASKI - It used to be that come August, Phyllis Beccue was done with Christmas.

The Mount Pulaski woman said, as a teacher for 35 years, she knew if she didn't have prepared by August what she intended to include in Christmas on Vinegar Hill, it would never get finished in time for the event.

Now one of the three co-owners of Salt Creek Attic in Mount Pulaski, Beccue is chairing the community group which puts together the Christmas art and craft event, traditionally happening the weekend before Thanksgiving. The other Salt Creek co-owners are Dorothy Mason and Jo Richner.

Christmas on Vinegar Hill marks its 20th year Saturday, with some limited locations open Nov. 23.

But the roots of the event go back farther than those 20 years, Beccue said.

"Over 25 years ago, a group of ladies formed Salt Creek Crafters and did a craft show in Chestnut, in the basement of an elevator," Beccue said.

As the show grew, they moved the sale to Mount Pulaski and into an American Legion facility, she said. Then Mount Pulaski residents asked to join the sale, so the name was changed to Christmas on Vinegar Hill, honoring Mount Pulaski's historical name.

"Everybody (in the show) just kind of does their own thing," said Ron Stoll, one of the Vinegar Hill committee members and participants.

It is controlled in the sense that vendors aren't permitted to just set up on the street and sell, he said.

"You have to know someone in Mount Pulaski," he added.

Some sites, such as the American Legion Home and Mount Pulaski Grade School, have multiple vendors. In those cases, the sites may charge a booth fee, Beccue said. But as far as the community committee is concerned, the only fees charged are for including a name in the printed brochure which includes a map of sites. And the committee sponsors a fundraising event for advertising and expenses that includes mailing about 2,000 postcards.

"It's an opportunity for the community to work together," Beccue said, "churches, clubs, individuals.

"It's a chance to showcase talents."

By the way, the Salt Creek Crafters still participate, Beccue said. The Mount Pulaski Courthouse, a state historic site and the only remaining original courthouse in which Abraham Lincoln practiced law, will be open for free maps, coffee and cider.

amannlein@herald-review.com|421-6976

If you go

WHAT: 20th Christmas on Vinegar Hill

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22; limited locations open noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23.

NOTABLE: Free maps, coffee and cider can be found at the Mount Pulaski Courthouse.

Vinegar Hill history

How did Mount Pulaski come to be known as Vinegar Hill? Here's how members of the Christmas committee tell it:

Prohibition or not, in the mid-1930s, Mount Pulaski stayed "wet" longer than many communities, sporting 13 prosperous saloons and a few bootleggers. It seems the railroad brought customers into Mount Pulaski from varying locations, the conductor announcing arrival in Mount Pulaski as "Vinegar Hill, next stop." Passengers then would take empty flasks into Mount Pulaski, returning with full ones.

Meet some crafters

Karen Ballard, her daughter, Tricia Aylesworth, and Aylesworth's daughter, Shelby Young, like Christmas trees.

Together, they've prepared nearly 100 in varying sizes and designs to be featured during Mount Pulaski's Christmas on Vinegar Hill next weekend.

"They are all lighted," Aylesworth said.

The ones the trio creates come in metal pots, ceramic containers, crocks, buckets. Sometimes they use antiques as background or settings for trees that are as small as a foot.

"Garage sales are good" for sources of containers, Aylesworth said. So are friends and neighbors who are aware that they've done this for years.

And these trees aren't leaving their containers any time soon. If the tree base isn't screwed directly into the container base, then the base is filled with Plaster of Paris to surround the tree and provide weight and stability.

"It kind of depends upon the container," Aylesworth said.

Pricing, Aylesworth said, starts with basing the charge on the tree's height and varies from $12 to $15 and up.

Aylesworth said her mother's share of the tree creations is finished as are her daughter's dozen or so. The working mother plans to take this week off to finish her share for the show.

Like many a seasoned seamstress, Dorothy Mason took a good pattern and made it hers.

The Mount Pulaski woman specializes in seasonal and themed purses and creates appliqued items, all of which will be included in the Christmas on Vinegar Hill event.

"I got the pattern in Hannibal (Mo.)," said Mason, who said she kind of does it the same way as that original but adapted it to her own use.

Mason has the process down to a science; some purses she can create in just over an hour. For the holiday designs, Mason prefers to use ties rather than magnetic snaps as fasteners since the snaps seem to alter the look of the purse's design.

Purse prices, depending on size, start at $24.95.

Mason also appliques designs on kitchen towels, using a blanket stitch on her machine to secure the designs.

Larry Wilham doesn't much care for watching television, unless maybe it's the Super Bowl or another sporting event that might tickle his fancy.

So instead, for the past eight years or so, the 75-year-old heads to his basement most evenings to do wood carving.

A retired farmer who lives about five miles out of Mount Pulaski, Wilham actually created his first wood caring at age 7. His mother kept it for him, and he still has it.

Wilham uses bass wood as the basis for carving.

"It holds the detail, doesn't chip out much," he said.

"I can saw a lot faster than I can carve," he admitted, so he does as much as possible with a double compound saw, and he usually works on two creations at the same time.

Wilham creates standing figures, such as Abraham Lincoln, and Christmas ornaments. But his favorites and most frequently carved are Santa Clauses.

They say that the faces you carve change as you continue the art, he said.

"My faces look the same now as they did eight years ago."

Never mind that she already has a few irons in the fire, but Phyllis Beccue is like many others in Mount Pulaski. She's creating Christmas for the community's annual show.

"I make wreaths," she said.

"I take old things and add to them, old boxes, old chairs. Then I sell the whole thing as one piece."

Those "old things" also include shovels and even corncob forks, painted and decorated.

"Ribbons. They always need adjusting," said Beccue as she and Dorothy Loveall put the finishing Christmas touches on an old sled.

And benches.

In Salt Creek Attic, the shop Beccue and her partners, Dorothy Mason and Jo Richner, own, sits a bench created by her husband, Ralph, from a bed, using the twin headboard and parts and pieces of the rest to hold its seat.

Last year, Phyllis Beccue's granddaughter, Julia Beccue, bought clothing for a child and a toy, all with the $38 she earned from her participation in Christmas on Vinegar Hill.

Julia Beccue, now 11, painted rocks and accepted donations for them to use for the shopping she did.

Phyllis Beccue said she and her grandchildren have a Christmas tradition of taking a Saturday to buy candy for distribution at Vonderlieth Living Center, Mount Pulaski, as well as buy a gift for a needy child and have lunch together.

Christmas on Vinegar Hill is not always about creating. Sometimes it's a life lesson as well.