1961 Barbara Fridrich & Berenice Denton
“Barbara Fridrich and I called on prospective customers to convince them of our idea of Christmas Village. At that time there were no shopping centers, malls, etc. Our idea was hard to present. We were both pregnant at the time, and we had many stores tell us that if we would just leave they would be in our show, as they didn’t want the babies to be born in their shop! We certainly used this to the best of our ability! Our “Christmas Village” babies, Kathy Denton Stumb and Lisa Fridrich Grayson were born just before the first Christmas Village in November.”
1964 Linda Dale & Hennie Morris
“Ok, that was a long time ago & I do not remember lots of details. Linda & I were close friends thru Harpeth Hall & Vanderbilt & I would have not taken it on without her. She had a family connection with Martha White Flour which gave her an in with the country music stars: Minnie Pearl was our honorary chair & Brenda Lee performed . I had a family connection with a bank & consequently did the money for some 9 yrs. Our year took place at the Hippodrome! Bobby Dale nicknamed us "the twitchers" for pulling off the job & refers to us in that way today! During our year, I remember having a sick two year old & being in early pregnancy with my second child & being on the phone all the time! We had a great time, had no disagreements & have been devoted friends ever since!”
1970 Nancy Fawn Diehl & Judy Simmons
“A snowstorm came and the 300 plus box lunches did not get purchases as hoped. There was very little concession stands at that time. We delivered many lunches to the Union Mission and got wonderful PR. The Revlon booth, selling 25-cent lipsticks, positioned near the Pi Phi CV office got long lines of happy customers. Wearing heels and dresses was in – hard on the feet, but very much in style. Blondy Stevens and team decorated gorgeous Christmas trees and a beautiful stage for the entertainment. Children from Bill Wilkerson were crowned king and queen. The queen looked like a little Pi Phi angel with a gold halo. “
September 1976, Mayor Richard Fulton (with Linda McDavitt, Sally Rodgers, Laura Bouldin) declares "Christmas Village Week"
1975 Suzanne Webb Brunson & Robin Owne
‘It was the end of 1974. Robin Owen and I had been asked to chair the 1975 Christmas Village when I kept saying around New Year’s day, "...You know, I really think I might be pregnant" which I was, but not as much as I thought...Jackson Blair Brunson Jr. was born September 22, 1975. Meanwhile, Robin called me the week before Jack was born. She asked me if I was sitting down, so I did. I heard her say quietly, "I'm holding my newborn baby daughter, Robbie, (Robyn Starr)." This was September 15th, 1975. C.A. Edwards, alum club president, announced the arrival of her first child, Christian, in August.
Robin would send me out on ‘asking missions.’ ” Since I was so pregnant, “…how could they say no?” Thus, country music DJ Ralph Emery agreed to be our honorary chair. Barbara Mandrell appeared in the cooking sequence of the noon show, thanks to C.A.’s help, and Lynn Anderson was our entertainment. We were very happy!
Ralph interviewed the two of us the first morning of our village. Toward the end of the interview, Robin casually mentioned that she once beat Elvis Presley in a talent show. Ralph nearly came out of his chair; so did I. The closest I could get to that story was saying I had worked with Pinkney Keel at the Nashville Banner. He coined the phrase, "...Elvis, the Pelvis." So our honorary chairman really liked us. He was so big then and is still the best of the best country DJ’s.
Robin and I got up early one Monday morning to be on the Bozo Show. So, while Bozo interviewed us, he kept beating the side of Robin’s head with his red hair. It was hard for me to understand him because he was so silly. My three year old daughter, Suzie, was standing at my feet, well, under my skirt, pulling on my slip, saying, “…mommy, mommy, mommy!” A child fell out of the stands during the interview; we later learned he was unharmed!
My little Jackie went with me to a radio interview when he was six weeks old. The DJ kept asking me, ‘…are you sure he won't cry?" I kept telling him, "...Oh, sure." Seriously, what mother can predict when a baby is going to cry; but he didn't!
Robin was our detail person who noticed opening morning that one of the ticket booths hadn’t been set up. I’m like, “Really?”
Well, last spring Robin helped me celebrate my 65th birthday - 35 years that flew by! We were most proud that we had polled merchants and instigated adding an additional day for the 1976 Village. Extra day; extra money! We also learned that borrowing shopping carts from the local grocery chain was not as helpful as we’d thought. Our husbands walked the dark parking lots to find all of them.
Our children are grown now and we are grandparents, but I still have the copy of the Arrow with the three of us – Robin, Suzanne and C.A. (Charlotte Ann). - holding our infants. “ - Suzanne Webb Brunson, Georgia Alpha ‘65
Honroary Chairman Amy Grant with Melissa Paty and Laura Bouldin in 1989
1981 Deb Durrett & Elizabeth Greathouse
“It’s a wonderful time for Christmas Village to celebrate fifty years. It’s a sad time for me without Elizabeth. Our contribution to Christmas Village was the addition of Sneak-A-Peak. We thought of it as our preview party. It has continued to be a vital part of the Village.” – Deb Durrett
1985 Barbie Bachmann & Christy Robinson
“1985 marked the 25th anniversary of Christmas Village. Actress and Pi Phi, Patricia Neal, served as honorary Chairman. Our cub celebrated the Village’s 25th anniversary by doing what we do best – fundraising! We chartered Opryland’s brand new riverboat, the General Jackson, for a wonderful evening of cruising, dinner and dancing. This event raised the initial seed money for the brainchild of Suzanne Allen – a center to provide outpatient treatment for traumatic brain injuries. Later to be named the Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute, the center began accepting patients in January, 1988. “
1989 Laura Bouldin and Melissa Paty
“What a great Christmas Village we shared in 1989! Unlike previous co-chairs, Melissa worked full time so the workload was divided to accommodate work hours – meaning we met more often than not on Saturday mornings! However, a lifelong friendship was created throughout those many, many week-ends, and here we are to tell about the months leading up to November 1989:
• With blessings on our side, the incredibly popular singer Amy Grant agreed to be the Honorary Chair for Christmas Village. She was so gracious – she agreed to a professional photo session at CA Edwards’ home where various Pi Phis and Mama Lere students were captured with a vibrant, and very pregnant, Amy.
• Amy Grant, the Honorary Chairman, made a visit to the Bill Wilkerson Hearing and Speech Center on 19th Avenue. One of the highlights was the isoberic chamber in the building.
• The Tennessean canceled our 'program' that year and we had to come up with one in October. Ambrose Printing helped us design a double fold with color pictures, including one with Amy Grant and the Mama Lere Angels. The colors were majestic.
• When we walked outside to see the line of people waiting to get into The Village on Friday morning we were absolutely breathless. The sheer numbers were overwhelming.
• Amy Grant brought hundreds of black and white glossies to The Village on Friday and happily signed autographs for the masses.
• Following the ribbon cutting on Friday morning with Amy Grant and the Mama Lere Christmas Angels, we drove down 4th Avenue to Merchants Restaurant for lunch with Amy.
• Historically, a number of Village Co-Chairs were either pregnant or became pregnant during their Village. After a number of years of no pregnancies, Melissa found out she was pregnant on the Sunday of our Village!
• We enjoyed full coverage in the Arrow with pictures and two articles.”
American General Building, November 5, 1989
1991 Peggy Lawrence & Valeria Ball
Valeria Ball was my co-chair –don’t know if you’ve heard from her. But it was a big, big year. In 1991, having just completed its 30th year, Christmas Village was in serious need of reconstructive surgery, inside and out! Barbara Fridrich was called back to the table to affect the change, and she brought me and Valeria in to be co-chairs. I remember well the day that she called my office at Corrections Corporation of America to ask me – I was surprised and honored, and her position as Chairman of the Board was instrumental in convincing me to take up the challenge.
Change is hard, and I remember angst among many alum club members that we were making significant ones. CV had become such hallowed ground that it was viewed as untouchable, but the changes were necessary and good, evidenced by the fact that many of them are still around in some form today... It was the year that we:
- Took back control of the Village from the merchants –and implemented both the merchant evaluation and merchant relations initiatives. Over the years we inadvertently had become ‘merchant-pleasers’ to the point where they were all doing whatever they wanted to. There was frustration in the merchant ranks as some of them viewed us as ‘playing favorites’, and there was frustration in our ranks as we tried to manage this unwieldy bunch. Setting down rules that we actually made them stick to was hard, but they were treated equally and fairly and they knew it and appreciated it, and the environment was much more respectful and manageable for us. At the same time, we became more organized in our efforts to show them we did, indeed, appreciate their participation by forming a merchant relations committee.
- Refreshed the CV brand with the logo that is still being used today. It was designed for us by DVL.
- Gave the Village a facelift in several ways: (1) By enlisting Norris Hall to design a fabulous and fun entrance scene, which we stored and reused for several years, until it fell apart! (2) By using red curtains for the booths – it’s Christmas, for heaven’s sake! (3) By carpeting the booths
- Introduced the CV t-shirt concept to make our volunteers more of a recognized and valued team and to create visual excitement at the Village. Norris Hall designed the first one… our “Shop ’til you drop” shirt. It is still my favorite!
- Improved the professionalism of our show management by: (1) Hiring CE South as exhibitor, which was later bought by the company we use today. This was a huge step in taking us to a new level, and I’ll never forget the meeting Valeria and I had with the smaller, less equipped company we had used for years (another entrenched practice that some believed we had to adhere to) and to whom we had pledged eternal business. Talk about angst! It was nothing short of God’s grace that allowed us to leave that meeting having wrestled that contract – and our ability to move into the future with greatly increased professionalism – away from them. (2) Moving the ticket money management to a quiet, secure environment. Until that year, we had used the back room of the office to count ticket money. Everyone had to stay out of there, door kept closed and the volunteers checking in and out of the front part of the office were constantly being ‘shushed’ so that the counters could concentrate. It was more like garage sale management than major consumer show management! (3) And while improving the money counting function by moving it to a separate, secured room, it opened space in the office for our volunteer hospitality room. Now those who gave their time had a place to gather and eat (always important!) and enjoy each other – rather than do their shift and leave. (4) Creating the Christmas Village Café in the Vaughan Building to upgrade the concession experience for our patrons.
- Expanded our advertising reach and visibility with some new outlets, such as the addition of bus stop benches and utility pole flags.
- Brought new blood onto the board. I view talking Ann McKinney into being treasurer of CV, when she was very uninvolved in the alum club and Village, as one of my greatest accomplishments! That is how she and Kathy Nevill got to be good friends, and their working relationship has benefited our club greatly in many ways through the years. And Lisa Robbins had just moved to town, and I ‘rushed’ her to get her to do fairgrounds management. She loves to tell the story of that!
There are probably other things that I can’t remember, and this is already more than you wanted to know, perhaps. But I must say, I haven’t thought about all of this in a long, long time, and it is rewarding for me to do so. Christmas Village is a rare phenomenon, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to impact its viability in the Nashville community, and grateful for the impact it has had on my life and relationships. I forged and reinforced many Pi Phi friendships through that experience that I still hold dear. This was a big year of many changes!! From logo design, to having an artist design t-shirts, the front entrance, carpet in the booths and red curtains!! I kept up the Christmas Village Co Chair old coincidence by being pregnant. That had been the case for many past Christmas Village Co Chairs to be pregnant during the Village or during the year of the Village.
It was a wonderful experience for me!! I have so many close friendships with Pi Phis that I would not have had if I had not been a Christmas Village Co Chair.
I am so grateful for the opportunity!!
1993 Ann Mckinney & Kathy Nevill
“The year Ann McKinney and I co-chaired the Village a "hurricane" (or what seemed like one) was centered over the city causing quite a bit of problems. At one point the poles in the awning between the creative arts and agriculture building were flying in the tunnel attacking shoppers!” – Kathy Nevill
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1963 Mary Jane Evers & Ellen Dillon
“Christmas Village was at the Hippodrome Skating Rink. Members brought lights from home (be sure to put your name on each string) to decorate a few trees. With booths and stage, it was quite festive. Brenda Lee was our honorary chairman. She was very generous with her time and talent. The sound system failed but her man came, fixed it and we hired him to stay with us. Everything got packed up and out. In the car on the way home I heard of President Kennedy’s death. A sober ending to an exciting and productive Christmas Village.”
Monk Baird hanging posters in 1964
1969 Sis Halliday & Carolyn Gustafson
“We borrowed grocery carts from the Giant Foods grocery in 100 Oaks. They lent them to us (we picked them up in our pick-up truck) with the admonition we had to pay $50 for any damaged or missing. We had to scour the parking lot for most of them when the Village was over but returned them all. We also had the involvement of 4-H Clubs in neighboring towns. Loretta Lynn made a short film (no videos then) about the Bill Wilkerson Center and we took it to several nearby towns to show the 4-H Clubs. The members came on school buses to the Village. Our Picture was in the Suburban News (forerunner of Green Hills News) with Gov. Buford Ellington as he signed a proclamation for Christmas Village Week. The News also published some recipes we gave them. They left out a key ingredient in my sugar cookies and had to print it again in the next issue! We had lunch boxes that had a base coat of red paint and were painted with angels and the words “Christmas Village” by my daughter’s high school pledge class. These did not sell well.”
1973 C.A. Edwards & Ann Marie McNamara
" Two buildings instead of one – 92 booths • Honorary Chairman Archie Campbell • Shows featuring Jim Ed Brown and Tammy Wynette and George Jones • Door prize of $1,000 Series E Savings Bond • Ticket prices $1.00!"
1979 Candy Snedeker & Ramsey Doran
“Candy Snedeker and I chaired the 1979 Christmas Village. Candy had terrific contacts and was able to get T.G. Sheppard as our honorary chair. He made various appearances and performed at the Village, but, most famously (in our minds), he was the face and voice for our public service announcement . (Back in those days, local stations were required to have so many minutes of public service announcements in order to keep their licenses. Ergo, it was a lot easier to get free publicity.) As he talked about the vendors and beneficiaries of the Village, in the background were four elves busily working away. They were Candy, C.A. Edwards, Evy Kay Ritzen and I. I believe we elves closed the PSA by yelling Merry Christmas". I don't know what happened to those costumes (fortunately just hats and tops, no beard or mustaches) but I still laugh at the memory of us in them.” - Ramsey Doran
Barbara Mandrell, Honorary Chairman 1977 with Laura Bouldin
1982 Beverly Ammarell & Linda Higgins
"1. We changed the Village days to Thursday - S-A-P and Fri., Sat. and Sun. instad of Fri thru Mon.
2. We instituted the C.V. advertising tabloid insert in the Tennessean newspaper. Linda was so successful selling those ads to underwrite this new way of publicizing the event!
3. Initiated Bumper stickers.
4. Replaced the Professional letter with a Patron letter asking for straight donations instead of asking for corporate ticket purchases. (This was a big deal and required club vote to change the C. V. by-laws. I believe the By-laws specifically did not permit asking for donations/underwriting) We also raised the ticket prices to $2.00 with no pre-selling discount, which also required club vote. I think S-A-P ticket was $7.50.
5. We scheduled 5 Special Event Seminars, for example --"holiday decorating" to "using computers in the home" -- who would have guessed we were on the cutting edge with the computer event. I don't think any of these seminars (at $2 each) drew a crowd, but we did get extra publicity talking about them.
I think our Village was the last one prior to obtaining the Christmas Village Trust and our 501c 3 tax status and establishing the formal C.V. Board. I remember working with Evy Kay on some of the Trust details but maybe that was when I was an officer and not past chairman.
I do remember with fondness the fun I had chairing the Village with Linda and the work of our excellent committee members and Pi Phi Sisters! It was an honor and a privilege to serve as chairman and I remember being so thankful to and amazed by the success of the previous C.V. chairmen.
You know it really is special that we were part of the 50 years of Christmas Village History!"
1987 Liz Anne Allen & Nancy Trice
“Nancy and I had never met until we were asked to chair the Village. The powers that be thought we would be a good duo, so, we both said "yes" before we even met! That year started a lifetime of friendship between us. Floyd Cramer was our Honorary Chairman that year and we took him on a personal tour of The Bill Wilkerson Center. The thing we both remember about our year is the hassle that the Fairground manager, Max Salas, gave us about the merchants that provided samples of food for the shoppers. Somehow, he felt that there was too much food being given away and it would affect the fairground concessions. He made demands about packaging and quantity and, ultimately, we lost several booths, The Greek Ladies for one, because of his rules. Aside from that issue, we had a great year and a lot of fun working together.” -Liz Anne Allen
Bill Wilkerson “Evening of Special Recognition” May, 1990, Laura Bouldin, Melissa Paty, Senator Al Gore, Beth Spoden, Nancy Hart Harvey
1990 Nancy Hart Harvey (niece of Bill Wilkerson) & Beth Spoden Preston
The 30th anniversary Christmas Village was a proud year for Pi Beta Phi. First and foremost, by the 30th year, the reputation of our event had spread far and wide. Five buildings were packed with vendors eagerly awaiting the crowds who came each year to welcome the unofficial beginning of the holiday season. This was the year that Pi Beta Phi crested the $1,000,000 mark in funds raised for the Bill Wilkerson Hearing and Speech Center. Our Village alone raised over $100,000.
One highlight of our year was the visit of our honorary chair, Ann Hills, a Pi Beta Phi from California, accompanied by her hearing ear dog, Roody. It was a pleasure to escort her around the Village and have folks learn about service dogs. Another special feature of our Village was the Celebrity Ornament Tree. Many worked hard to enable us to silently auction off ornaments signed by Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Barbara Mandrell, Amy Grant, Al Gore and about 150 other notables. A long-standing, very popular vendor, The Attic, donated many of the ornaments, as did some other booths, which allowed us to maximize the funds raised. There are some lucky folks out there who still hang their Celebrity ornament on their tree each year.
As is probably true for every year, the weekend flew by, many friendships were formed, and once again Pi Beta Phi was able to contribute a significant amount of money to help improve the lives of children and adults helped by the Bill Wilkerson Center and Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Center.
1992 Cassie Edenton and Shanon Kusch
“Shanon Kusch and I co-chaired the 32nd Christmas Village in 1992. The most memorable thing in my mind was that the Fairgrounds were without a concessions contract, as the former concessions provider had gone to jail! We had no one providing food of any sort. We were in a dilemma, and then we remembered that Pi Phi Lisa Robbins’ husband, Mark, owned a restaurant, Granite Falls. We asked him if we would be willing to have a presence in the form of a Café at the Village. He was excited and said “yes”. The Christmas Village Café was born in the back of the Vaughan Building. Mark sold lots of sandwiches and salads and soups those four days and we were ever so grateful to him and to Lisa.
We added to the Village the walkway from the creative Arts Building to the Agricultural Building. Before then there was just the one way to get to the three other buildings and that was Creative Arts to Banquet Hall walkway.”
1995 Simone Acha and Maggie Lucy
“Simone and I racked our brains and the only unique thing that happened or that we did in 1995 was to have a Pi Phi ‘Cookie Shine’ as our Board/Committee thank-you event. We hosted this at the Tennessee Beta Pi Phi house while Dene Donald was the reigning housemother. We all gathered on the floor of the Chapter room, ate lots of cookies, candies and played games. I think great fun was had by all – we definitely acted like a bunch of co-eds that night!” –Maggie Lucy
1997 Leslie Walker & Kimberly Crowe
“This was the Village that the fire marshal came to the show and threatened to shut us down at a peak time if we didn’t remove the entire Norris Hall painted wooden display that had graced the entrance for a number of years. Thankfully our board chair, Kathy Nevill, was able to talk him down until we could get the display removed. But trust me, you’ve never seen a quicker teardown!”
1998 Gail Zika and Suzanne Allen
“1998 was a great year to chair Christmas Village. Thanks to all of the committee chairs everything during the Village went smoothly. We were a little nervous when the Tennessean tried to back out at the last minute and leave us without printed publicity. But persistence paid off and promises were kept. For all of you chocolate covered cherry lovers, the booth with all of the cherry products was admitted that year and remains a favorite today. We made so many new Pi Phi friends and we truly are “best friends forever.”
Lucinda Trabue, Grand Council Member Jane Ernest, C A Edwards, Amy Grant, Honorary Chairman 1989, Grand Council Member Carol Warren, Melissa Paty and Laura Bouldin
2003 Beth Parrish & Claudia Padfield
“My first experience with Christmas village was in the early 1960's when I attended as a child with my mother. It was held at the Hippodrome. I was very young and don't remember a lot, but I do remember it was special and fun!
Little did I know at that time just how special Christmas Village would become in my life. I have served for many years as a volunteer and on the board of Christmas Village.
In 2003, I had the great honor of co-chairing the 43rd Christmas Village with my dear friend Claudia Padfield. When we agreed to co-chair the Village, we wanted to really celebrate our volunteers and have fun while we raised a lot of money for our philanthropies. I believe we accomplished our goals! It was such a fun weekend from beginning to end. The board was fantastic and really worked together as a team. It was such a positive environment! Claudia and I hated to see it end at the closing of the weekend. Each year we have new experiences at Christmas Village, but the one thing that remains constant is the dedication of our club members to carry on this wonderful event.
I am proud to be a member of The Nashville Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club and grateful to be a part of the history of Christmas Village. “ – Beth Parrish
2006 Katie Hedge and Dawn Watson
“Katie Hedge and I co-chaired in 2006. We were two Texas girls.both Pi Phis at Baylor...and were new to both Nashville and CV. We both had been on the board for all of one year when we were asked to chair. Our year was "The Year of the Greyhound." Here's the story... My mom and dad were here from Houston taking care of the boys while I lived at the fairgrounds for the weekend. They came to SAP and had a great time. After they had been shopping for some time, my mom came up to the information booth. She said they were having a wonderful time and thought it was nice that we had an adopt a greyhounds booth. I informed her that indeed we did not have that booth. It turned out that Wild Birds Unlimited in building 6 had several large greyhounds for pets that they had brought with them to the show. They were keeping them behind their booth, inside, in the storage area. Well, Yvonne Ayers and I went to investigate. Once we got there, the situation was so absurd that we could not quit laughing. Poor Beth Parrish, in charge of site management, had to go and confront them. We now state in our merchant regulations that no pets are allowed in the booths...ie. the Greyhound Clause :) “ –Dawn Watson
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