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Community Corner

Area Teen Renovates City's Nativity Scene

Scott Maconochie updated the city's nativity scene to obtain Eagle Scout Status.

This winter, Clawson residents will see some fresh faces around town – freshly painted faces that is.

In order to earn his Eagle Scout status, 18-year-old Clawson resident Scott Maconochie chose to repaint the city’s nativity scene, which is located outside of every year during the Christmas holiday. Maconochie received the statues shortly after Christmas and began redesigning them about six and a half weeks ago. 

“I thought it would be a wonderful thing to refurbish for the city,” said Maconochie, who has been in Boy Scouts since first grade. “It needed a face lift.”

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His mother, Mary Maconochie, said the city had asked her if she would consider renovating the scene a couple of years ago because she has a background in art, but she never found the time. Scott remembered the city’s request and decided to take the project in his own hands. This way, Scott could orchestrate everything and Mary could professionally craft the faces and lend guidance to her son and his friends.

“It’s pretty exciting to watch the transformation and see the statues come back to life,” Mary said.

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Scott said only a few talented friends were able to take on the task of painting the faces. Most of the pieces had oodles of chips in the paint and needed a whole new paint job, while others just needed a few swift strokes of paint applied.

Scott said the project has taken him more than 25 hours to complete. In order to complete the nativity components he set out with his mother to match the color of the paints, sanded and painted many of the pieces on his own, acted as a leader by passing out duties to friends and family members and has documented the process. He also had to raise money for the project, which he did by holding a can drive.

Scott said he is pleased with the finished product.

The statues "were pretty chipped up before,” Scott said. "Now they look a lot better."

Mayor Penny Luebs said the nativity scene has needed refurbishing for quite some time and she is pleased to see that Scott took on the task.

“People seem to notice things when they’re broken, so if I don’t get any complaints about it after then it will be great," Luebs said. "I have gotten complaints throughout the years, for instance this nose doesn't look like a nose or this piece doesn’t look like the animal's face anymore ... so it's great that Scott took on the project."

Luebs said the city is fortunate because in the past, they haven't had luck finding someone to refurbish the nativity scene. 

Even if residents don’t know that the scene has been renovated, Mary said she is confident those who pass by will give it a second look.

“Many people build patio benches or bird houses for their Scouts project and it seems like the same old thing every year,” Scott said. “I wanted to do something that people would look at and appreciate and that anyone passing through Clawson could enjoy.”

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