By By SPIROS GALLOS / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Niles Amtrak Depot is dressed, decorated, and almost ready to be lit at the Four Flag's Garden Club's 13th Annual Hometown Christmas celebration.
The event, which will be held Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m, is one of the many events scheduled for the day-long Niles DDA – Main Street "Holiday Homecoming" celebration.
For over a week, Garden Club members have been busy decorating the depot with wreathes, garland roping, a 12-foot blue spruce tree, which was donated by Durm Farms of Niles, and window topiaries.
The garland roping was purchased from the Niles Garden Club's annual green sale fund raiser and the indoor greens were donated by club member Velma McVicker.
Garden Club president Gail Borland and club member Linda Sather were at work Wednesday morning, setting up and stringing lights around the window topiaries.
Borland said club members were excited about the partnership with the Niles DDA – Main Street office because it offered the club a chance to help promote the downtown holiday celebration as well as train depot celebration.
The Four Flags Garden Club took over the task of making certain the depot is lighted every holiday season in 1991, shortly after the lights were donated to the depot by the producers of the movie, "Only The Lonely."
The movie, which stars Ally Sheedy, Maureen O'Hara and the late John Candy, was filmed in part at the Niles train depot. The movie was filmed on location in Chicago in late 1990.
The lighting of the depot was the dream of former club member Nancy Nimtz, a former principal at Ring Lardner Middle School.
Throughout the years, the Four Flags Garden Club has worked in cooperation with Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation to decorate the depot.
The Amtrak Depot Engineering Department puts up the exterior lights and maintains them over the year, ensuring they are in working order for the holiday celebration, said Hometown Christmas Committee chairman and Garden Club member Karen Persa.
Local dignitaries and pageant royalty will be on hand to welcome guests. Niles Mayor Michael McCauslin will be briefly addressing the crowd. Amtrak officials will also be in attendance.
Cookies made by the club members and punch will be served at the celebration. There will also be a special visit by Santa with treats for the little ones.
The Balos family of Niles will provide musical entertainment throughout the evening.
A special drawing will be held at 6 p.m. for two-round trip tickets, compliments of Amtrak, from Niles to Chicago for two lucky people. Visitors can sign up for the free tickets when they enter the depot and must be present to win.
Borland said the holiday celebration this year will be extra special than previous years because the Garden Club will also be celebrating the renovations made to the exterior of the depot over the summer.