Keeping to a decades-long tradition of holiday spirit and goodwill, Paducah Knights of Columbus members hoisted their first Christmas trees of the season into place over Thanksgiving weekend, signaling the annual kickoff to their community philanthropy.

Ranging in size from the family room corner to the grand hall centerpiece, more than 300 fir trees await new homes as they stand regally on display at the Paducah Downtown Farmers Market. The Knights’ charity tree sale began Friday.

“We’re just trying to be good Christian gentlemen and help out our community,” said Pat Lipford, Knights’ tree sale chairman.

Carl McConnell, Council 1055 grand knight, said all of the sale’s profits go toward assembling about 100 food baskets and purchasing children’s Christmas presents for needy families in the local area. The money also helps support food pantries in Metropolis, Ill., Ballard County and Paducah.

Repeat customers recognize the Friday after Thanksgiving Day as the official opening to the sale, and already the organization had sold about 60 trees by Sunday, Lipford said. The tree sale usually generates about $8,000 to help fuel the group’s charitable functions and community food pantries.

Trees will be on sale at the Paducah Downtown Farmers Market from 5 to 8 p.m. through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Shopping begins

on Thanksgiving Day for some

For some of the most die-hard deal seekers this year, Thanksgiving was celebrated in name only as shoppers chose to forgo the turkey and stuffing for pole positions at local retail stores more than 12 hours ahead of Black Friday openings.

With several big-name retail stores opening their Black Friday sales Thursday evening, as opposed to the traditional midnight madness of turkey day, bundled shoppers pitched their tents and claimed their place in line as early as 8 a.m. for 10 p.m. or midnight openings.

Walmart on Hinkville Road erected barricades to help filter the masses of people in and out of the building as the retailer began announcing early bird specials at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Carts loaded to the brim with toys, furniture and sporting goods formed a constant stream of shoppers from the store and into the parking lot by 8:30 p.m. as people rushed out.

Jackie Bray and Tammie Gordon, both of Barlow, were among a crowd of carts loaded to the brim as they left the store.

“We didn’t have to wait long,” Bray said. “We pretty much knew what we were going for when we went inside.”

Across Hinkleville Road at Kentucky Oaks Mall, a line of people stretching around the JC Penney’s side of the building were waiting their turn for a store opening: Best Buy opted to open their Black Friday specials at midnight.

Artists in residence teach,

learn at workshop

It sounds like a collection of items bound for a dumpster — a vinyl boot, a scrap of denim, pieces of string and vintage lace — but it’s a list of objects on the way to becoming art.

California-based sculptors Sondra Schwetman and Patrick Williams introduced eight people to Paverpol, a nontoxic fabric hardener, during a workshop Saturday at A.I.R. Studio, 621 Madison St.

The current artists in residence call the clear-drying, weather-resistant Paverpol a miracle product, but say they’re just as impressed with what the workshop’s attendees managed to do with it.

Brianna Stamper fashioned scraps of vintage lace into jewelry by attaching them to metal and coating them with Paverpol.

“My mom was the head of a costume society, which takes authentic fabrics and dates them,” Stamper said.

“They quit funding it, so all the stuff was going to be trashed,” she said. “And we’re talking about 1920s dresses.”

Schwetman said she wouldn’t have considered using Paverpol in that way in a million years.

She looks forward to bringing some of the ideas from the workshop back to her sculpture students at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif.

Williams and Schwetman will spend the rest of their residency working on a collaborative sculpture installation at A.I.R. Studio.

They expect the installation to be ready by Wednesday, and invite guests to stop by the gallery during the week.

Schwetman and Williams will stay in Paducah through Friday.