On Saturday December 8th, 2018 at 6pm the Town of Shenandoah held its annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Big Gem Park. It was a very large crowd that showed up for this year’s ceremony. Mayor Clinton Lucas Jr. read the Legend of The Christmas Tree as he always does and then went over and lite the Christmas tree. Afterwards Shenandoah Elementary School music teacher Mrs. Ernest led the school Choir as they sang several Christmas Carols. They timed their performance just right so that by the time Santa arrived, they were singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town! While waiting for Santa Claus to arrive, the children roasted marshmallows over a small bonfire that was attended by members of the Lion’s Club.
Members from the Shenandoah Indians Baseball club were on hand serving hot chocolate with marshmallows, coffee, and homemade baked goods. Cookies were provided by members of Christ and Fields United Methodist Church.
All the children were very excited when Santa arrived! Santa was escorted to the park via fire truck, driven by volunteers from Shenandoah’s Volunteer Fire Department. This year’s ceremony took place under the picnic shelter on the lower level of the park. This was the fourth time this ceremony was held at this location. There was no ceremony last year because of inclement weather conditions. This new location has lots of room for the performers and audience under the covered pavilion. The pavilion and rear parking lot was well lite as members of Shenandoah Public Works Department manned the portable generators & light trailers. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the children waited in line to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and then had their picture taken with him. David Foltz Photography was also on hand to provide optional $5 photos with Santa. The Shenandoah Beautification Committee and town employees did an exceptional job as always in decorating the park with Christmas lights, decorations and the split rail wooden fence was adorned with beautiful Christmas memory bows. All photographs taken by Amos Thomas.
