Over the past seven decades, Buel Porter’s holiday displays have charmed Estes Park. It began with a display of Santa in a helicopter which he created for his own home in 1955.
The first one created for the Town of Estes Park was Santa and his reindeer which came in 1957. He created several whimsical ones—Christmas in Bugville, the Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe, and Santa’s Xmas Card Studio.
He also created religious ones including an elaborate nativity diorama with a manger shepherds, wise men, and animals in 1958 that was originally displayed in Bond Park.
That was followed in 1960 by larger-than-life images of the shepherds who were 23-feet tall, their sheep that were six-feet tall, along with a star that was five and a half feet from point to point.
The following year he created Three Wise Men on camels, and he also created a 22-foot-tall display of the Risen Jesus crowned with a six-foot wide halo that was originally displayed at Easter but eventually became a part of the Town’s Christmas decorations.
This year, several readers asked why two of the extant yuletide displays—the nativity and the Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe—were not erected.
The Town paid him about $300 per display which roughly covered the cost of the wood and paint.
After nearly 70 years, the plywood substrates on which the displays were painted are showing their age. In many cases the wood has deteriorating. Holes the size of quarters drilled over the years to allow bolts to be attached to bracing frames have allowed water to seep into the wood and weaken it.
Out of an abundance of caution, both the nativity, which is stored and cared for by Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church, and the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe, which is cared for by the Town of Estes, were kept in storage. A spokesperson at Our Lady of the Mountains said the church custodian is planning to build a new backing for the historic display.
Local sign maker Kent Smith, who owns and operates Smith Sign Studios, said he can help to repaint the signs with the proper kind of sign enamel paint, and he can even match the vintage colors, but he is concerned that the wood panels they are painted on are frail and in many cases degrading due to weather and age.
The laminating glues that were used in manufacturing plywood in the 1950s are not proving to hold up over time. When the displays were first created it was expected they would have a lifespan of only 10 years. The last display was created in the mid-1960s.
Porter, a sign painter from Kansas City moved to Estes Park in 1951 and bought Estes Park Signs from Morey Cameron. Before arriving in Estes he had painted billboards, including images of the Coca-Cola Santa.
Although he was an artist, he was not known for being a builder or engineer, said Smith, whose father was also a sign painter who worked with Porter on projects. Many of the frames built for the displays were not engineered to stand the test of time, and the backside of the displays were not sealed with paint when they were first built.
One of the earliest casualties was the original upper right panels of Bugville which blew down in 1964 and had to be rebuilt and repainted.
Over the years, holes the size of quarters were drilled in the wood panels so bolts could be used to fasten the substrates to frames. The holes have allowed water to seep into the wood and snow, wind, and sun have taken their toll.
Several years ago, the Town decided it would no longer display religious themed scenes. One local historian told the Estes Valley Voice there were concerns that someone might sue the town for displaying religious decorations.
The Catholic Church took the nativity, a private citizen took the Jesus panel, and it is unclear what became of the Three Wise Men on camels or the shepherds and their sheep.
The original Jesus panel was displayed on private property overlooking the town from Davis Hill until vandals threw ballons filled with paint at it. Jesus is now in safe storage in a garage. Fifteen years ago, students at the Eagle Rock school created an eastern orthodox-looking icon of Jesus to replace Porter’s Jesus figure, but that work is no longer on display.
In 1986 money was raised to have artist Lynda Vogel restore what were then 30-year-old displays. In 1991, $4,655 was approved by the Town to restore the signs again and to paint the backs in order to seal the wood from the weather. And again in 2016, Jonathan Light, a commercial and fine artist from Loveland, repainted some of the displays.
This year Santa and his reindeer were displayed on their traditional spot on the Knoll-Willows bluff high above the library and Town Hall. Bugville and Santa and the Christmas card studio were displayed in front of the Estes Valley Library.
Buele Porter
Porter was born in Quincy, Ill and grew up in Kansas City. Early in his adult life he worked as an auto mechanic and welder. As a soldier during WWI his hearing was damaged. In compensation, the military helped him to get vocational training as an artist in order to earn a living.
He married Vera Glaze Hilton in 1918 and lived in Broken Bow, Neb before moving back to Kanas City sometime in the 1920s. The couple had three children, Bette, Franklin, and Margaret who died in infancy.
In Kansas City, Porter worked for the Kansas City Slide Company which created illustrated and hand-colored advertisements on glass slides that were projected onto movie theater screens during the silent film era. There he may have worked with Walt Disney who was also an employee at the company before Disney moved on to California in 1923.
By 1930, Porter’s occupation was listed on census records an in city directories as a sign painter. After his first wife died in 1934 he remarried Roberta Dawe the following year and had two more children, Barbara and Robert.
Porter painted billboards including signs for Coca-Cola that included images of Santa before moving to Estes Park. His Christmas displays depicting Santa look a lot like the vintage Coca-Cola Santa Claus. Porter died July 7, 1969, at the age of 73 at his home on Big Horn Drive after a lengthy illness. He is buried in Loveland.
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