Rocking Christmass
Despite the pandemic, the Slippery Rock community really engaged in the Christmas spirit with a plethora of events and activities.
“It's all about togetherness,” said Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo. “People need some Christmas cheer.”
A couple of these events coinscided on Nov. 21, kicking off the Christmas holiday season.
The Slippery Rock Development group contacted Santa Claus for a special visit with the jolly old elf parading around different communities in the borough.“We're just trying to make Santa available for kids to see him,” said Tom McPherson, who helped organize Santa's visit.Residents heard Santa coming by listening for festive music and singing, as he cruised through neighborhoods on a float.The route ended as dusk crept over the borough and Santa hopped into a horse-drawn carriage, which trotted down Main Street to the Gateway Park Gazebo. Santa then helped light up a community Christmas tree, donated for the third year running by Ginger Hill Tavern, for the first time of the season.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Santa kept his distance from the children, but shared with them some Christmas cheer by accepting letter.Santa also asked for donations of nonperishable food items to donate to the Feed My Sheep Food Cupboard, a food pantry that serves the Slippery Rock community.Santa's appearance drew attention to another event organized by Longo, a Christmas Market, that was happening in the parking lot of Gateway Park around the same time.Longo invited restaurants, craft vendors, charities and nonprofits to set up booths in the lot. Slippery Rock Baptist Church provided some carolers to brighten the atmosphere.“People can do some early Christmas shopping,” he said. “We're going to invite children and members of the community to decorate the tree with ornaments.”Longo invited parents to help their children create and place the ornaments that will help personalize the community's tree in Gateway Park, which is one of two community trees.The other is being installed by the students and professors of the Slippery Rock University hospitality program. The artificial tree will be around 35-feet tall and will be lit for the first time later in the month.
“All these things are coming together and are supplementary to one another,” Longo said. “In my mind, I think it's awesome.”Longo's original intent was to replace the former Light Up Night with a new event as Slippery Rock Development adjusted its Light the Rock event to mostly focus on the decoration contest.McPherson said Slippery Rock in Bloom, which functions as part of Slippery Rock Rotary, has taken the lead on the contest this year.Regina Greenwald, president of Slippery Rock in Bloom, said the organizations around Slippery Rock have normalized collaboration.“This is who Slippery Rock is. We work together,” she said. “Collectively, we understand that (these events) bring value to people's lives and (it) just makes them feel better.”Residents can sign up for the contest until the Dec. 12 deadline. All residents who plan to decorate their homes and businesses are encouraged to enter the contest, which will be judged Dec. 16.
The top three will receive prizes for each category of door, business and home.Greenwald said despite the contest, the goal is to have a large network of decorated homes, providing people with another activity of going from home to home to see what their neighbors have done.“It helps add a little joy to everyone's winter evenings,” she said.Longo said as his community continues to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the perfect opportunity for people to fill their minds with something familiar and traditional in a year punctuated by abnormality.“In my mind, what I see is people being more festive than ever,” he said.“I'm just really excited to see the town lit up.”
