Trudy and Marvin Johnston (centre) were named the first and second place winners of the Sears Ugly Sweater Contest on Saturday. Mayor Sue McKortoff came out to congratulate them only to discover their sweatshirts were ones she recently donated to the United Church Thrift Shop. The Johnstons, however, had embellished them with blinking lights and other decorations. At left is Osoyoos Royalty Princess Bailey Toepfer, the daughter of Sears owners Theresa and Spencer Toepfer. (Richard McGuire photo)
When the Osoyoos Sears store invited Mayor Sue McKortoff to congratulate the first- and second-place winners of the Ugly Sweater Contest this past weekend, she didn’t know what to expect.
Just as one person’s ugly is another’s beautiful, one person’s cast-off is another’s treasure.
Minutes later on Saturday afternoon, the winners, Marvin and Trudy Johnston of Osoyoos returned to the store to pick up their gift basket prizes and get their pictures taken with the mayor.
They wore their bright red sweatshirts, twinkling with Christmas lights sewn onto them, icicles and with kitschy Christmas patterns on front and back.
Marvin pointed out that the bulge on his belly under the shirt was a battery pack to control the blinking lights.
To McKortoff, however, the sweatshirts were familiar.
Recently she donated both to the United Church thrift shop, she confessed. Now they were back and flashing lights in her face.
The sweatshirts were somewhat tacky when McKortoff owned them, but with the handiwork of the Johnstons, they were transformed into ugly works of art.
Sears store owners Theresa and Spencer Toepfer chose not to be in the photo, but their daughter, Bailey Toepfer, an Osoyoos Royalty princess, posed next to the two lucky winners.
As McKortoff shook her head at the small-world coincidence of the returning sweatshirts, she reminded Spencer that she was his Grade 1 teacher years ago.
The proud Johnstons were eager to wear their creations to a party that evening.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
