Christmas On The Square draws huge gathering

By LENNY C. LEPOLA

News Assis­tant Man­ag­ing Editor

This year’s Vil­lage of Sun­bury 31st Annual Sunbury/Big Wal­nut Area Cham­ber of Com­merce Christ­mas On The Square cel­e­bra­tion is his­tory, and also per­haps made his­tory. While no one was able to get a firm count of the num­bers that showed up for Sat­ur­day evening’s lighted parade, fes­tiv­i­ties and Christ­mas tree light­ing cer­e­mony, many long time Big Wal­nut area res­i­dents said it was the best crowd they had ever seen.

The weather may have helped draw the crowd. It was in the 50’s all after­noon, and the balmy (for Decem­ber) weather held until well after dark.

“This year was awe­some,” said Sun­bury Mayor Tommy Hat­field after trip­ping the switch to light the vil­lage Christ­mas tree. “I think it’s the biggest Christ­mas On The Square ever. I know the weather helped.”

Hat­field said he didn’t have a firm num­ber, but he believed that over 20 float entries were in the parade.

Hat­field said it was sad that Dave Mar­tin was in the hos­pi­tal recov­er­ing from injuries sus­tained in a Novem­ber 18 motor­cy­cle accident.

“Every year, when the mayor lights the vil­lage Christ­mas tree, Dave Mar­tin is here singing along with the car­ol­ers,” Hat­field said. “I know every­one here tonight wishes Dave a speedy recovery.”

Posted by Gary Henery on Dec 5 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.