An online article in “Truth or Fiction” entitled, Unraveling the Link Between Santa Claus and Coca-Cola Company says in part:
“Starting from 1931, Coca Cola commissioned illustrator Haddon Sundblom to design a series of Christmas advertisements featuring a jolly, rotund, red-suited Santa Claus, which adhered closely to the image popularized by Clement Clark Moore’s 1823 poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas”.
Coca Cola has been marketing product memorabilia for much of the time since, and local retired Presbyterian Minister Leo Hughes has been collecting these articles for the past half-century.
Hughes says his “Refreshing Collection” has been refreshed over the years by friends and associates who augmented it with Coca Cola items they had found in their travels- and a little sleuthing he did on his own.
Hughes favourite item is still the original purchase he made while on vacation in California over fifty years ago.
The Reverend’s Coca Cola Collection is being liquidated to raise money for the Arnprior Hospital’s CT Scanner Campaign.
Prior to the initiative that’s underway to donate the proceeds of the Coca Cola memorabilia towards the CT scanner at ARH, the Reverend made certain his kids had no claim on it.
That’s where the Arnprior Lions Club entered the picture.
The whole endeavour has taken over the former Videoflicks location at the Arnprior Mall, and continues until the end of January- or while supplies last.
The Reverend says the imperative of a CT Scanner will be of benefit to the entire community.
For more information or to view items in the collection, check out the Arnprior Lions Facebook Page, @arnpriorlionsclub
By Rick Stow
