December 16, 2007
For an absolutely Bully! holiday season, you can add Michigan’s 2007 official holiday ornament to your tree or collection.
Friends of the Capitol, Inc. is offering the fifth in its series of limited-edition annual ornaments. This year, in addition to featuring the Capitol, the ornament commemorates the 100th anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt’s visit and address to a joint session of the Michigan Legislature.
The historic 1907 visit was re-enacted this past May 31, complete with actor John Peakes as TR and his drive to the Capitol in a vintage auto. It was the first and only visit to the Capitol by a U.S. president during his term of office, until President Bill Clinton repeated the feat in 1997.
The nonprofit Friends started producing and selling an annual holiday ornament in 2003 to raise money for preservation and education projects, according to Edward O. Blews, Jr., president of the 20-member Friends board and full-time president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan. Just as important, he says, the ornaments “in a very elegant and special way call attention to this beautiful historic landmark…It’s an elegant building whose restoration won national awards.”
Only 750 ornaments are produced each year. The 2003 ornament sold out, small quantities of the 2004 and 2005 ornaments remain, and there’s a larger inventory of the 2006 decoration. The 2004 ornament commemorated the 125th anniversary of the Capitol.
The ornaments are available from the Friends’ website, via a print-out-and-mail-in form. Or write directly to the organization at PO Box 30014, Lansing, MI 48909. Each ornament is $21.20, including sales tax, and there’s a $4 shipping charge.
Friends of the Capitol was established as a 501(c)3 organization in 1983 after a task force, appointed by Governor William Milliken to determine the fate of the deteriorating building, recommended thorough renovation and restoration to its original grandeur. Friends works collaboratively with the Michigan Capitol Committee, the official legislative committee that oversees the Capitol, on the ornament project and other activities, Blews said.
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