By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
Some letters ask how to take care of the reindeer and how Mrs. Claus is doing.
Others tell how their parents are out of work and ask whether Santa Claus will remember where their houses are.
But no matter what questions are raised, all Manville children who submit a letter to Santa Claus will receive a response from the man himself before Christmas as part of the borough’s annual holiday celebration.
For the second year in a row, the Recreation Department will be combining the borough’s annual tree lighting and its pictures with Santa Claus in one event Friday to attract as many residents as possible.
”This kicks off the holiday season,” Recreation Director Rich Armstrong said. “We put it all together as a townwide event.”
The one change this year from the past, Mr. Armstrong said, will be the location of the mailbox collecting letters for Santa Claus. Normally, he said, a box is left at the library where children can drop off their letters, which are answered before Christmas.
This year, Mr. Armstrong said, the Recreation Department will be collecting the letters during Friday’s event to allow for enough time for a response to be written and returned to all children.
”All the children get a reply from Santa Claus before Christmas,” he said. “This mailbox (at the event) makes it easier to collect them in one spot. And children can even hand their letters directly to Santa.”
With the rest of the event, prior to last year, Mr. Armstrong said, the borough had held the tree lighting and pictures with Santa Claus on separate days, but finally decided to combine them.
”This is a good distraction to have,” he said. “And it is nice to see the turnout of all the people in one spot.”
Similar to how the event was run in 2008, it will begin as Santa Claus takes his place atop a firetruck, beginning at police headquarters on North Main Street at 6:30 p.m. From there, he will make his way down Main Street to the gazebo on South Main Street where the borough’s 30-foot pine tree stands, ready to be lit around 7 p.m.
According to Mr. Armstrong, there is usually a fair number of people who stand outside on Main Street, watching as Santa Claus makes his way through town.
Once the truck reaches the gazebo, he said, the tree will be lit along with several smaller trees that are lined up around the gazebo and Santa Claus will be taken to a small 6-foot by 6-foot house nearby so children can take pictures with him.
Mr. Armstrong said the pictures will be taken digitally and will be printed out for all those who attend. With the picture, he said, children also will receive a candy cane.
The pictures will be taken until at least 9 p.m., Mr. Armstrong said, but no one will be turned away once that time comes.
”The kids are always excited about this,” he said. “This is one of the things we do in town that especially the younger kids enjoy. And we even sometimes have some seniors taking pictures.”
In total, Mr. Armstrong said, the Recreation Department usually end up taking about 300 pictures at the event. This aspect of celebrating the holiday season, he said, has been done in town for more than nine years since before the Recreation Department took over the preparations from the Manville Municipal Alliance in 2000.
”We have always done the pictures with Santa,” he said. “We are expecting about 300 pictures again this year.”
Aside from the pictures, Mr. Armstrong said, the Manville High School band will be performing Christmas songs, and a DJ will be playing music while the high school Parent Teacher Student Association will be selling hot chocolate and hot pretzels to raise funds.
Other than the food, Mr. Armstrong said, everything at the event will be free. The rain date is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 6.
Overall, Mr. Armstrong said, he is pleased the event is held early in December so the tree is lit for most of the month, and residents can come together as a town for a holiday event at the start of the official season.
”By doing this early in the month, it gets the residents into the holiday season,” he said.
