Patricia Gustafson and Hannah White of Framed On Fifth (Calgary) are donating a horse-drawn sleigh for use in the first ever Santa Claus Parade.
“It’s a nice little sleigh,” said Gustafson. “It’s from the early 1900s, we restored it and have had it for 27 years.”
“A welding friend on mine made channels that the runners fit, and we put wheelbarrow wheels underneath it,” said Gustafson of the restoration.
“It’s an antique,” laughed White.
“I was originally going to sell (the sled) since I was moving, but then a delightful couple came to look at it,” said Gustafson. “The more they looked like they were going to buy it, the more I realized selling it was a mistake.”
After a discussion, a deal was reached.
“I really didn’t want to sell it, and after we talked about what it was for, I said, ‘what if I just let you use it at Christmas time?’” said Gustafson. “It worked out in the end, I’m keeping it, and now I have someone to use it since I don’t use it all that much.”
In exchange for use of the sleigh, Mick Gee of the Santa Claus Parade offered to help give the store more exposure in the community.
“Mick said that (he) should give (the store) advertising of some sort.” Gustafson said.
“So, we’re going to loan it to him for the parade and other events during the month of December, and then again next year.”
This is not the first time that the sleigh has made the news.
“We made it to the front page of a little paper in B.C. a while back. We had free sleigh rides for people in Fort Langley, but never anything like this,” said Gustafson of loaning the sleigh. “It’s the first time for me.”
Framed on Fifth located at 1207, 5th Ave N.W. doubles as a picture framing business and art gallery.
“Hannah has had the store for three years,” said Gustafson. “We feature local artists, and have a new show every month. So far, we are booked up until 2017, we’re a very popular gallery.”
“It gives new artists a chance to show their work,” said White. “We have an upcoming show for Marla Blackwell, a Cochrane artist.”
