Rodriguez uses woodwork to bring winter cheer

By Melissa McCaghren

Slatonite GM

Guests participating in the Small Town Christmas Saturday evening (Dec. 7) will be able to experience a Winter Wonderland that will take them all the way to the Slaton Harvey House.

Along the way, they may get visions of gingerbread and sugarplums — in the form of an actual gingerbread house, Gingerbread men and snowy trees.

Jesse Rodriguez, hardware specialist and IT with the Slaton Independent School District, has built a display that will be shown along Texas Avenue.

He has been woodworking for several years, as a hobby. “I’ve always loved art, and all that it entails. I used to draw some, I used to freehand and I did water painting colors – a lot,” said Rodriguez.

“The woodworking part of it started several years ago with some popsicle sticks and I couldn’t find myself to throw them away,” he added. “In my mind, I thought I could make something out of these, and so one day I just sat down and had all these popsicle sticks and decided I’ll try to make a jewelry box out of these.”

He did succeed, and the interest grew from there.

Rodriguez said he was inspired by the idea of Christmas on the Square. “I think it’s a special thing, and after seeing it last year and the turnout that came of it, I thought it was pretty special,” he said.

For more information, please read the Thursday edition of The Slatonite.