Marion woman leads restoration of Cedar Rapids Christmas landmark

Not many Iowans have a nearly 6 foot tall, over 50-year-old camel sitting in their garage waiting to be cleaned. Ken and Laure Schaerr of Marion have been using their garage as a restoration studio for a camel, three kings, a sheep, a shepherd, a mother and a child–eight of a ten-piece plaster nativity set that is nearly life-size.

The set was donated by Smulekoff's Furniture to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Cedar Rapids Stake and will be displayed annually the first weekend of December at The Nativity Celebration, a community nativity exhibit and music program organized by and held at the church on the corner of 42

^nd

St and Blue Jay Dr NE.

Before 2008, the set had been part of the Christmas window display of Smulekoff's Furniture on 3

^rd

Avenue in downtown Cedar Rapids. Smulekoff's obtained the set from Armstrong's Department Store, who also had used it in their holiday window scene, after Armstrong's went out of business in the 1990's. Generations of area families remember putting on their nicest clothes and going to see the downtown stores' window displays during the Christmas season.

The June 2008 flood damaged the set made from plaster, burlap, and horse hair that was carefully stored in the basement of Smulekoff's Furniture.

The restoration is still a work in progress. Five of the pieces are completed. Laure and a team of volunteers have put in over 100 hours so far and are hoping to complete three or four more pieces before the end of July. The statue of Joseph was the most severely damaged and is still in three pieces, but they are hopeful that the set will be complete with Joseph made whole again.

One aspect that is still lacking in the restoration is the set's history-where it came from, who made it, and when it was first displayed in Armstrong's Department store. “When I mention to people what I'm working on, many of them tell me about their memories of going downtown to see it,” Laure says. “You can tell it was a special tradition for them. I hope we can find more information, so we can share that story with the display.”

Anyone who would like to share their memories of the Armstrong/Smulekoff nativity display may email them to

crnativity@gmail.com.