By Josh Smith
Anchor / WJHL
Published: December 2, 2009

Who knew such a little Christmas ornament would generate such a stir?

On Monday, David Pennington came to 11 Connects at Noon bearing gifts for two lucky viewers: 24K plated brass ornaments - THE official commemorative ornaments for Downtown Johnson City in 2009.  David, as I’ve shared before, is a downtown Johnson City developer who’s heading up next year’s Blue Plum Festival.  He’s also helping with the monthly “First Friday” celebrations to which the annual Johnson City Christmas Parade is a new addition this year.

This year’s ornament is very cool - a depiction of the city’s old Southern Railroad Depot.  Johnson City was built along the railroad, you know.  Many of the old train landmarks are either gone or in a sad state of disrepair - but enough of the negativity already!

David graciously agreed to give away a couple of the ornaments to the first two people who emailed me.  No lie - I had about 40 emails within 5 minutes.

Anna Long of Church Hill and Jim Hyland of Blountville were the first two to email.  They really deserve a prize for speed-emailing.  Thanks to all the rest who took the time to email.

Even if you didn’t win, you can get an ornament for a $10 donation from the Johnson City Development Authority or downtown Johnson City merchants.  I’m sure you’ll be able to find one if you come downtown for the Christmas Parade Friday night.