Santa's helpers at Fremd build sleigh for holiday festivities

When holiday fun-seekers come to this weekend's Holiday Open House in Palatine, they'll find a special treat - a 4-by-8-foot sleigh, sturdy enough for families to climb into for pictures.

The idea for the sleigh came from the village's beautification committee, which had earlier requested the help of woodworking teacher Paul Hardy, then at Palatine High School, to beautify the flower cart at the train station.

When that project worked out so well, they took their idea for the sleigh to Fremd High School, where, what to their wondering eyes should appear but Paul Hardy (though no sign of tiny reindeer).

Hardy, now the applied technology department chairman at Fremd, accepted the project and set about in his workshop to design the full-sized sleigh from scratch on computer software, which would eventually be used to help cut out the curved pieces on special machines.

Students started working on the project in September, and have worked continuously for two months to see it to completion.

"We've been under such a time crunch that it's been just push, push, push and not really (having the time to) sit back and enjoy the process," Hardy said.

The project was a great teaching tool for the woodworking students.

"The kids got to see the process of taking the design from a computer design to a computer-controlled machine that actually cut out a lot of the parts and then to see how it all fits together pretty much seamlessly," he said.

In designing the sleigh, Hardy worked to add in some nice curves and made sure it would function well at the holiday events.

"The front had to be low enough where you could take pictures, where maybe a whole family of five or six could have their pictures taken with Santa," he said. "So we had to have the front seat lower and the back seat up a little bit."

After the students finished their work, the sleigh was taken to the village public works department to get painted.

Activities get under way tonight in downtown Palatine at 5 p.m. Here is the schedule:

FRIDAY

5-9 p.m. Wine tasting

6-7 p.m. Strolling carolers

SATURDAY

11-11:30 a.m. Winter Storytime, Palatine Bank and Trust

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Winter Art Fair, 56 W. Wilson

Noon-3 p.m. Visit With Santa Paws, Slade and Brockway

Noon-2:45 p.m. Horse-drawn carriages

5-6:45 p.m. Horse-drawn carriages

11 a.m.-7 p.m. Holiday market, Slade and Brockway

5 p.m. Tree-lighting ceremony, Towne Square

5:30-7 p.m. Visit With Santa Claus, Slade and Brockway