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Cherub returns to old Ayres clock to watch over shoppers during the holidays

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INDIANAPOLIS -- A holiday tradition lives on downtown, where the cherub mysteriously returned to its post overnight.

The bronze sculpture sits on the old L.S. Ayres clock at the corner of Washington and Meridian streets.

The clock was recently restored, thanks to thousands of dollars in donations - just in time for the Cherub's return. 

The cherub's job is to watch over shoppers until Santa takes over Christmas Eve, a tradition that takes back to 1947.

When the May Department Store Co. purchased L.S. Ayres in 1986 and then moved the cherub to its headquarters in St. Louis in 1992, there was public outcry.

May then donated the sculpture to the city.

Indianapolis Downtown Inc. became it's legal guardian in 1994.