Dozens of local children waited with bated, steaming breath in freezing temperatures Saturday night for the appearance of the one and only Santa Claus at the annual Town Center Tree Lighting Ceremony.
And the big man didn’t disappoint. Escorted into the town center by the Glastonbury Fire Department, Santa Claus greeted Glastonbury’s holiday celebrants with hearty waves and kind words.
“Hello again, Glastonbury! My favorite town in Connecticut! All the boys and girls are always so good!” Santa proclaimed to the excited crowd.
Santa’s appearance was the climax of a night that celebrated the holidays in downtown Glastonbury.
Though not every attendee was there to meet Santa, everyone cheered at his arrival.
“Whatever you believe, it’s when the magic arrives,” Emma Cox said. Cox, whose husband was the architect behind the town center fountain, volunteered with her children at the event.
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The annual Tree Lighting Ceremony was put on by the Glastonbury Town Center Initiative, and marked the last time the massive tree in the town center would be lit before it is cut down next spring.
“It was so great of the Parks and Recreation Department to leave it up for us,” Town Center Initiative Chair Anna Spencer said.
The fir has stood at the corner of Main St. and Hebron Ave. since the 1970’s, but is now diseased and must be cut down. It was Parks and Recreation Director Raymond Purtell’s idea to leave the tree up so that it could stay up one last night, Spencer said.
Along with the annual lighting of the tree and the appearance of Santa, the free event had cocoa, cookies and apple juice for the kids, and carols sung by Back Beat City. For the first time, the tree lighting also featured Rob Ferrucci, an ice sculptor who carved an ice Christmas tree and two stockings with a chainsaw live in front of the attendees. Turning to two young girls in the audience, Ferrucci carved their names—“Jen” and “Evie”—into the ice stockings.
This year’s tree lighting festival was easily the largest turnout in the event’s history, Spencer said.
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