Deck the Truck with Boughs of Holly

[LOCAL] NEWS by Chasidy Rae Sisk

‘Tis the season for fun and festivity, and most folks enjoy a holiday tradition or two that’s unique to their family. Cloot’s Auto Body in Westfield has a tradition of its own: Decorating the 1954 GMC pickup truck that sits in front of the shop.

“Adding a little company spirit puts a smile on people’s faces,” owner Gary Cloutier said. “I don’t force my team to help my wife and me decorate, but we include them in the fun. One year, I bought elf hats for all my workers, and we took a great Christmas picture of the entire group in front of the truck.”

The Cloot’s Auto Body truck isn’t just a morale booster for employees; it’s also a fun stop for locals and visitors to the area.

“People really look forward to seeing how our truck is decorated, and they even bring their kids by the shop to take pictures,” Cloutier noted. “Some people from the area will even

bring their visiting relatives over to see the truck. They expect it to be decorated. It’s crazy how much people love it.”

Cloutier’s tradition began in the summer of 2013, after his cousin posted a picture on Facebook of an old truck with flowers in the back. He originally thought it was a picture of her husband’s truck, but a year later, he found out that it was merely something she’d liked and posted. Cloutier liked the idea as well, so he “ran with it.”

“I bought a $500 truck in Bridgeport, CT to turn into a flower pot. I painted it white and added decals and lettering to use it as a sort of sign. At first, we put flowers in the truck, just like the picture, but when summer ended, we decorated for the fall. From there, it grew into decorating for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and just about every other holiday.”

Over the years, the truck has been adorned with large styrofoam pearls for Mother’s Day, and it has been transformed into the Easter bunny. For Halloween, the Cloutiers erect a graveyard around the truck with headstones and skeletons.

Dressing the truck up for each holiday is a time-consuming process that takes several days, not to mention the investment. The props needed for ornamentation are huge, and in addition to buying new decor on a regular basis, Cloutier often makes his own decorations.

“We try to come up with something different each year, like when we created a giant rose and box of candy for Valentine’s Day.”

With so much effort going into the process, it’s not surprising that Cloutier grew discouraged several years ago when the truck was vandalized two nights in a row while adorned for Thanksgiving.

“My wife and I were pretty mad, and we didn’t want to do it anymore,” he recalled. “But other people were hugely pissed about it too. Local people donated some decorations as well as money for us to buy new decorations, telling us, ‘We hope this doesn’t deter you from continuing to decorate the truck!’ With that kind of support, we couldn’t disappoint everyone.”

The Cloot’s Auto Body truck is a well-known landmark:

“I often tell new customers, ‘Turn by the decorated truck.’ Even people who are technically visiting the shop for the first time still know where to find the truck. People can’t help but look at it - and then my name is in the back of their head, and hopefully, they think of me the next time they’re in a collision. It was the best marketing idea I’ve ever had, and it’s paid off unbelievably.”