In the midst of a pandemic, Gerald’s Christmas celebration deemed one of the best ever

Posted 12/10/20

The Gerald Area Chamber of Commerce has been planning their annual Parade of Lights and visits with Santa for months. They were plagued with several questions. Could they pull off the event while …

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In the midst of a pandemic, Gerald’s Christmas celebration deemed one of the best ever

Posted

The Gerald Area Chamber of Commerce has been planning their annual Parade of Lights and visits with Santa for months. They were plagued with several questions. Could they pull off the event while still following COVID-19 safety precautions? Would people be willing to participate in the parade? Could they make the visits with Santa safe, yet still enjoyable for the children?

The answers were yes, yes and yes.

Chamber President Marsha Adams says this year’s event was one of the best the Chamber has ever held.

“On behalf of the Chamber, I want to thank the Chamber members, the community and the organizations for coming out to make this event the success it was,” Adams said.

The parade was definitely the longest and brightest ever. The actual number of entries is unclear due to the cheerful chaos of lining up last minute entries, animals and kids. The best estimate is there were a LOT of entries in the parade, including fire equipment from five districts leading the procession.

As the parade ended at Legion Park, the Claus couple descended from Old Whitey (the first piece of fire equipment purchased by the fire department) and headed into the Depot. Once inside, they visited with children and posed for photos through a window of the historic building.

Tables loaded with free treats were set up outside and presided over by Girl Scouts decked out as elves.

The crowd devoured all the food served by the Gerald Lions Club and the Chamber. As they ate under the gaily decorated pavilion, they enjoyed the holiday songs and music of local musician, Josh Wuerffel. Others took their hot drinks to chairs around the bonfire.

The kids, powered by the candy in their treat bags, enjoyed the run of the park and pony rides.

The entire event was held outdoors allowing plenty of space for social distancing.

While the organizers may have worried that the strange times of 2020 would hinder the event, it seems the opposite was true. Once again, the community responded by pulling together to create a bright—in every sense of the word—spot in an otherwise dreary year.

The parade committee is already at work with new ideas to make next year’s parade and party even better.