The towns of Garland and Salemburg kicked off the upcoming Christmas season with events Saturday, bringing merriment and holiday cheer despite the cold, often drizzly conditions.
Salemberg held an event called “Small Town Christmas” at town hall. Kids were able to take photos with not just Santa, but also Frosty and the Grinch. Food was provided thanks to the Zoar PFWB Church and vendors lined up in tents on a cold, drizzle-filled Saturday afternoon. The event began at 11 a.m. and lasted until 3 p.m. Some vendors showed up aa early at 8:30 a.m. to set up for the small crowds that would make their way through the grounds during the day.
“We had a good crowd; the weather didn’t cooperate real good, but we really had a good crowd, lot of vendors, lot of people — Santa Claus here, the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, and we had some really good foo, too,” noted Salemburg Mayor Joe Warren at the event.
Warren said he appreciated the community coming out throughout the day despite the inconsistent weather.
“It’s great. We had a lot of people come from our new homes today. People are starving for something to do and people have been coming continuously all day today, more than others might have realized,” he stressed
“A lot of our vendors reached out to us, starting in October, ones that have been here before, and we’ve had bigger crowds before, that ask “Are y’all doing the event again this year?”
“We usually have about 40 vendors and we try to not crowd them; we allow one, the first one (to a spot). We don’t charge them a dime, whatever they make is what they make. We’ve got characters, Santa and food. Zoar PFWB Church, the first time we had a Small Town Christmas, we had someone who said they would do the thing. At the last minute they said they wouldn’t be able to do it so I reached out to Zoar, and they said absolutely. So as long as they want to be the food vendor, we’ll just have that one, and we just want one. They use this as their fundraiser for the year,” Salemburg Town Clerk Teresa Smith said.
Small Town Christmas has become so popular among townspeople that Salemburg will hold its fourth annual Heart Drop event Wednesday, Dec. 31 starting at 7 p.m. Food and music will be provided. It is, town officials said, just another way to give back to the community.
Garland lights tree
Although the rainy weather stopped one event in Garland, the town moved forward with its tree-lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. at 21 West Front St. in downtown Garland. A small crowd gathered as newly sworn in Mayor Ralph Smith Jr. addressed the crowd alongside his wife, Rhonda, and newly sworn in Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn Melvin. Smith thanked everyone in attendance, including the Helping Hands Change Makers Inc., who were in attendance as well, warmly referring to them as “my voluteers.”
From there, Melvin announced a special surprise was on the way. After a few minutes had passed, a fire truck came around the building, surprising the crowd as Santa emerged from the vehicle next to his little helpers, Kyleigh and Larry Anderson. Anderson has served for 40 years as a town firefighter. Children in attendance were excited to see Santa as he walked over to the tree to light it. The jolly elf then asked if there was anyone who wanted to help him light the tree. A resident from Ingold, Miguel Deleon, ran up to volunteer. Together, with his help, Deleon and Santa lit the tree, earning a cheer from the crowd. Children then went up to Santa to take pictures with him as Melvin invited the crowd inside to enjoy food and refreshments.
The tree is the first real tree Garland has had for its tree lighting.
“This was presented to us by some of the townspeople,e that we should get a live tree, that way we don’t have to worry about any problems with the tree. Most of these great ideas have come from the town’s citizens.We took it to the board and the board voted on it, and we went from there. We decided where we were going to get a tree from and that’s what we did. We’ve put it in the ground and now we have to take care of it,” stressed Melvin.
The Mayor Pro Tem said she appreciated the fact that the community came out to support the town’s tree lighting despite the weather.
“It means everything to us,” she attested. “People don’t have to do this, and I really do appreciate that they do. It means a lot to us, really it does because I feel like the people have been asking for more, and now we are stepping up our game, and we’re going to give them more. So this is just a small part of events that we’re going to have. You may have noticed we did have a small crowd tonight, but I think it’s just going to take time to get back into the swing of things. We had a few hiccups, but like I said, this is kind of us starting over and getting us where we need to be, back to where we need to be.”