Santa, snow and celebration
Dickens Village Festival ends on a high note
By JAMES C. FALCON
editors@bhgnews.com
SACA Lodge became SANTA Lodge Saturday afternoon.
Jolly Old St. Nick made a stop in Garrison to see all of the wide-eyed boys and girls, to see who has been good or bad, as well as to see what they wanted for Christmas.
After visiting with Santa, the children decorated sugar cookies and enjoyed them with milk.
This was one of the many events that helped mark the close of the third and final weekend of the Dickens Village Festival.
In the eyes of Dick Messerly, president of the festival’s planning committee, everything went great.
“I don’t think it could have been any more successful,” Messerly said, noting that the festival – after a year off – came back with a great response. “A lot of people felt that way, too, from the response we had from the public.”
While he didn’t have exact figures of visitors, Messerly ventured a guess that the first and third weekends had record visits and that over 1,200 people rode Queen Elizabus throughout the festival. The demand also showed during the evening parades, when the snow-dusted streets were lined with festival-goers, as well as the performances.
“We upped the ante on the afternoon entertainment,” he said. “It was good to see the response.”
Businesses also stepped it up, Messerly added.
