Members of Doug Fickel's family ride along Main Street in a restored sleigh that has been in the family since the early 1900s. The sleigh was part of a float participating Nov. 29 in the Parade

CHANUTE ? A one-horse open sleigh that appeared in a Chanute Tribune photo taken outside the Chanute Public Library in 1938 made an appearance in downtown Chanute during the “Parade of Lights.”

The sleigh has been in Chanute resident Doug Fickel’s family since it was purchased from the Ames-Dean Carriage Co. of Jackson, Mich., by Doug’s great-uncle Archie “Arch” Fickel in the early 1900s.

Fickel believes that his uncle, a carpenter by trade, assembled the sleigh himself from a mail-order kit.

The sleigh has been a popular subject for the Tribune over the past century. In addition to the 1938 photo, which was reprinted in 1988 for a 50-years-ago feature, an article was written in 2005 about Fickel’s plans to have the sleigh, then in considerable disrepair, restored.

Fickel is the latest in a long line of family members who have owned the sleigh in the past century. Fickel got the sleigh in 1999 and set about researching the sleigh in order to restore to a condition as close to original as possible.

Fickel turned to Don Werner, owner of the Werner Wagon Works in Horton, to bring the sleigh back to life. Fickel said his family went with him to drop the sleigh off at Werner’s shop.

Family is the whole reason behind Fickel’s desire to repair the sleigh. Fickel declined to say how much it cost to restore the sled, instead focusing on the sleigh’s status as a family heirloom.

“I feel it’s an accomplishment to get the heirloom (the sleigh) fixed and to keep it in the family, hopefully to be passed down,” Fickel said.

He credits his family’s support for the restoration of the sleigh, as well as Werner’s craftsmanship.

Fickel said he believes the sled is a “blacksmith’s” sled that was manufactured in the early 1900s. He describes it as being a lower-scale utilitarian type of sled that was probably used for transportation during the winter.

“It was just a working man’s sleigh,” Fickel said.

A hundred years later, what was meant to be used for work and transportation has become a family heirloom that Fickel can’t put a value on.

Fickel showed the importance he places on family when he used a family tractor he restored to tow a float featuring the sleigh and his family. Fickel said every member of his immediate family participated in the parade, including his wife, son, two daughters, two sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law and three grandkids.