Brother-and-sister rivalry is apparent at this slot car race in the toy department Montgomery Ward Dec. 13, 1965. The two racers are David and Cheryl Davis, the children of Mr. and Mrs. James R. Davis of Prospect R.D.

Bill Douthett, 88, the former owner of the longtime downtown Butler store Douthett and Graham Men's Clothing, remembers Christmas shopping seasons straight out of “It's a Wonderful Life.”

Douthett ran the business, started by his grandfather and his partner in 1893, at four different downtown locations, including one at 108 S. Main St. where he eventually closed shop in 1972.

He remembers past Christmas shopping seasons centered on downtown Butler.

“I remember everybody dressed up to go shopping,” said Douthett. “The women wore hats and white gloves and dresses. The men all wore suits. It was a different world.”

While the shoppers' clothing was different, so was the shopping season itself.

There were no Black Fridays the day after Thanksgiving, no pop-up shops and, according to Douthett, no special sales or promotions to entice people into stores.

He said, “We would start the day after Thanksgiving. The stores stayed open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, but not Sundays.

“It was not an easy time, but stores would make 20 percent of their sales in December and January,” he said.

“There were no sales or promotions. The fact that Christmas was coming was the promotion,” Douthett said. “You had to elbow your way up Main Street, there were so many people out.”

Jim Chiprean Sr., 84, co-owner with his wife Madeline of the 125-year-old Miller's Shoes, 215 S. Main St., also remembers the crowds at Christmas time.

“It was wonderful, and everybody came into town from the outskirts — Parker, Bruin, New Kensington, Natrona, Boyers. It was shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalks,” said Chiprean.

“One year our door closer broke because we had so many people in the store,” he said. “We had to hire extra help, three or four college kids.”Pat McCafferty, 88, of Butler, remembers the vibrancy of the Christmas season in downtown Butler.“It was always bustling,” she said. “It's kind of hard to go downtown today.”McCafferty said when she was a high school student, she worked in the lingerie department at Troutman's.She said, “It was always a nice place to work. People were always in a good mood.“There were so many stores downtown,” she said. “There were five or six women's stores, four men's stores, department stores ...”“It was a great, grand mix,” agreed Chiprean. “You had Montgomery Ward, Penney's, Troutman's. It was a very busy, very exciting place.”And Main Street was decorated for the season, he said.“There would be pine garlands with lights strung from lamppost to lamppost. It made a canopy effect, very lovely.“There were people on every corner selling pine wreaths, holly wreathes,” he said. “There were three or four stations of the Salvation Army ringing bells. It was an exciting time.McCafferty said, “I remember there were a lot more colors in the lights than the whites on the trees today.”Or perhaps people were drawn downtown by the parades that preceded Christmas.“I remember one year they had balloons, big figures made up in balloons that were wheeled up Main Street. They had these tiny wheels that kept getting caught in the trolley tracks,” Douthett said.“I started the Christmas parade,” said Chiprean. “It was run by the downtown business association, it was called the Businessmen's Bureau.“I was a committee member and president and we would bring Santa Claus to town,” said Chiprean.

“Kids would gather with their parents and Santa would hand out candy canes,” he said. “We tried to vary it every year. One year he came by fire truck, one year he was brought in by helicopter.”“Well, this one year, he came in to the corner of Main and Jefferson, ”said Chiprean. “And we were completely surrounded by children.“In fact, it got frightening,” said Chiprean. “We were getting crushed. I saw a police car edging through the crowd. I literally pushed Santa in the back seat, and we got out of there.”Chiprean said it was decided to have an annual daylight Christmas parade on the Friday after Thanksgiving and from then on Santa would arrive on the last float in the parade.He said, “It was a wonderful era as I look back upon it. There were great people and great stores.”

Santa aboard his sleigh was the final float in the annual Spirit of Christmas parade in 1968, and the jolly, white-bearded and red-suited man had a following of eager youngsters who awaited his distribution of goodies.

Butler's Main Street was jammed with shoppers, strollers and crowd watchers Dec. 27, 1971, as springlike weather prevailed. Police were busy keeping traffic moving, and merchants were busy exchanging Christmas presents and selling marked-down items to local bargain-hunters.