MAKING MEMORIES WITH COMMERCIAL HOLIDAY LIGHTING SINCE 1959
That’s when George Purucker, who specialized in illuminated retail displays, approached the Merchants Association with the idea. A World War II veteran, Purucker had come to the Kansas City area from Pennsylvania in 1946. He was a graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, and he found work as a lamp specialist for the General Electric Supply Company before starting his own display business in 1959. Purucker filled a need for the rapidly expanding retail centers springing up south of the city and in Johnson County, gaining contracts for several J.C. Nichols developments and the new Ward Parkway Shopping Center, and handling outdoor holiday displays for numerous area cities.
Always on the lookout for new ideas, while on a trip to England during the holidays he noticed large, illuminated crowns adorning their retail districts. Purucker thought they would be just the thing to help drive shoppers back to downtown stores in KC.
Perhaps it was the symbolic connection to the American Royal — Purucker served on the organization’s board of governors — or perhaps it was simply the Christmas cheer the crowns seemed to inspire in the shoppers passing below. Whatever his thinking, the Merchants Association loved the idea and promptly ordered a set of nine crowns at a cost of $38,000. The Kansas City Star described the new crowns as each being equipped with 1,621 bulbs, putting out enough illumination to “light 30 homes.”.
A FAMILY EFFORT
Purucker’s daughter Ann helped with the family business for years. “I came home from high school every day for weeks and hand made the streamers to attach each crown to the street corners in the basement of our Prairie Village home. I measured every foot of wire, installed every light bulb socket, and installed every single light bulb into the streamers.”
Ann’s hard work paid off with the crowns being switched on for the first time on Friday, November 23, 1962, the day after Thanksgiving.
She also notes that the images posted in our previous response must have been taken in 1962 when the crowns were first installed according to her father’s meticulous standards. Due to variations in building and street sizes at the nine downtown intersections with a crown, each connecting streamer had to be uniquely sized. She recalls that workers installing the crowns in subsequent years and lacking her father’s supervision were unaware of the specific streamer lengths and never seemed to get them right.
Ann and her mother, Mary Ellen, became more involved with the business over the years, helping it expand to serve clients in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The duo fully took over operations after George passed away in 1979, continuing to help make the holiday season a little more special for Kansas Citians, until finally selling the company in 1984.
BRINGING A FESTIVE PAST TO THE PRESENT
In 1994, Paul Sessel purchased Creative Displays and, over the next 23 years, moved the company from a seasonal focus to year-round sales of LED and incandescent lights and outdoor displays. The company has sold lighting products to many highly visible facilities, from our own Country Club Plaza lights display to the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas and even SeaWorld and Universal. In September of 2017, Angela Primavera purchased the business, becoming owner and president.