Holiday Spirit Spreading
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
While thoughts of the coronavirus pandemic were never far from their minds, revelers turned out in Slippery Rock Saturday to celebrate the start of the holiday season, walking part of Main Street closed to traffic, visiting kiosks and stands of vendors and local business owners.
Two separate events, a Christmas Market and a socially-distanced Santa visit, coincided for Saturday's cheerful atmosphere.
Streams of people were greeted with live music coming from Ginger Hill Tavern, a restaurant and pub, along with dozens of other attractions and holiday fare.
And for children, a stand was set up by the restaurant where they could write letters to Santa in lieu of sitting on his lap and decorate Christmas tree ornaments.
Around 6 p.m., Santa was spotted riding down Main Street in a horse-drawn carriage to light up the Christmas tree.
“I love it. It's everybody getting together and having fun, even with the virus going on,” said Kristin Pascoe, who moved to the Slippery Rock area along with her daughter, Airianna. “We just moved to Slippery Rock so we're trying to meet new people and this is the perfect place to do it. This is like Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls.”
Nearby, Pascoe's daughter wrote a letter to Santa while Emma Magliocca helped her and other children design ornaments. As a student studying early education at Slippery Rock University, Magliocca enjoyed the opportunity to interact with children and their parents or guardians.
“I love working with kids, and I volunteered to do this,” she said. “It's been a difficult time with all of my classes being online. It's nice to work here just to get out of my dorm,” she said.
Like many others who attended Saturday's events, Magliocca said it was nice to experience a happy event and not think about the virus. But by virtue of how normal the event felt, Magliocca and others couldn't help but think about the virus and just how different the last year has been.But for the night, Magliocca turned her attention to the children.“I love watching their faces when they're thinking about what to write to Santa,” she said. “The kids get so excited.”Further down the block, people observed two alpacas standing in a pen.“I thought it was important to have this on Main Street to help stimulate businesses,” said Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo.He explained that the plan for the night was to have all the attractions corralled in a nearby parking lot, but at the last minute the state's Department of Transportation granted his request to block off a section of Main Street.“Businesses have been hurting this year with thousands of students from Slippery Rock University not here anymore,” Longo said, adding that many business owners in the area have recently called him to explain that their businesses might close soon.“So now we're able to bring the Christmas cheer, especially with the dark news of the virus, and also help businesses make money,” he said. “We need everyone to pitch in.”Amanda Hemphill of Butler made the drive up to the area with her 2-year-old son for the event.“He enjoys looking at all the lights blow up,” she said. “It's nice to see for all of us. It's something happening for the holidays, a bit of normalcy.”
