From campaign trail to snowbanks:
Old signs make new sleds
LOUDON — For students on their second week of snow days, weather plus leftover campaign signs adds up to a fun way to pass the time.
When Loudon County received nearly half a foot of snow this week, County Commissioner Kelly Littleton Brewster and her husband, Tim, decided to make snow sleds.
Working all week in their garage, the couple has made almost 100 sleds and given most of them away to children in the community.
The August election had left a bunch of campaign signs, including some left over from the campaign by Brewster, a Loudon elementary school teacher, who was elected to the county commission.
She heard on the news that local stores were sold out of sleds. She knew not every child can afford a sled.
“I asked my husband Tim if there was any way we could make some sleds. He thought of the old campaign signs in the barn,” she said.
The old signs, which also included leftovers from the campaigns of U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and Gov. Bill Haslam, are made out of a slick core plastic ideal for snow, Brewster said.
“We added a handle and some twine to pull the sled. When my grandson tried one out, it was very fast. It just flew down the hill,” she said.
After posting the availability of the sleds on Facebook, the response was immediate. By mid-week almost all the sleds had been given away, and the supply of old campaign signs was just about gone.