Santa lights the park, signifying the beginning the holiday season in Onaway
“Hi, Santa Claus. Welcome back to Onaway,” said longtime Onaway City councilman Bernie Schmeltzer as Kris Kringle walked up the hill to the pavilion at Chandler Park. It was the moment families from the area had been waiting for. They listened to Christmas music provided by Joe Brewbaker and stayed warm by the fire under the pavilion while waiting for Santa to arrive. Santa took the microphone and led a countdown, and right on cue, the lights on the more than 40 Christmas trees went on when Santa arrived at “one.”
The lighting of the Christmas trees has become a tradition over the last six years or more at the Onaway city park. Before that, Chandler Park wasn’t much more than a field and this type of holiday event didn’t exist. But the park has developed into a special gathering place for young and old. DURING TUESDAY’S event, the young people played on the new playground equipment, which is a first because it was only installed earlier this year. “That kept the kids busy and entertained,” said city clerk/treasurer Kelli Stockwell, who spearheaded the lighting event.
“Every time you looked over there, the playground equipment was filled with kids. If they were not standing in line to see Santa Claus they were on the playground equipment.” Adults without children walked around the park to see who decorated Christmas trees in honor of loved ones. The children waited in line to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and stayed warm as city manager Joe Hefele added more wood to the fire. SANTA STAYED for more than an hour before heading back to the North Pole.
This is the first year the city organized the Christmas tree lighting event and Stockwell was pleased with the turnout. She only had one worry prior to Santa turning the lights on. “It’s kind of stressful worrying if the lights will go on when Santa Claus has the countdown,” said Stockwell. “It could light an hour before but when you flip that switch, you don’t know if everything is going to come on.” Members of the Onaway Stepping Stones Garden Club, along with the Kiwanis Club, helped prepare lights and decorations to make the event a success.