OUT & ABOUT

JANUARY/FEBRUARY - 2012

Hometown Holidays
Santa's Back in Town

By Kerry Pipes

Rain clouds and drizzle moved through Mansfield the first weekend in December but it wasn’t enough to halt the annual Hometown Holidays celebration and parade or keep Santa from making his scheduled pre-Christmas stop here in town. And after all, Santa is a man of his word, he hasn’t missed a Christmas yet. This year’s two-day Hometown Holidays event took place on December 2 and 3.

Officials say that despite the weather more than 4,000 attended this year’s event. Friday’s portion of the celebration was organized around city hall and featured choirs, bounce houses, sledding down a snow-covered hill, a screening of the “The Muppet’s Christmas Carol” movie, lighting of the Christmas Tree, and the live and in person visit by Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was the beginning of a magical weekend.

Saturday was highlighted by the Hometown Holidays parade making its way down Main Street. This year’s version featured nearly four-dozen entries of floats, trucks and trailers. There were a few sprinkles falling from the sky but no rain on thisparade could stop the festivities. Decorated floats rolled by, the Mansfield Fire Clowns and Legacy High’s Silver Spurs dance team performed, and back for another showing this year were the World Famous Wheelie-ing Elvi, Elvis impersonators on tiny motorbikes. They wore shower caps to protect their high-rise pompadours from the inclement weather.

The Grand Marshal’s Award for this year’s parade was given to the High School Rodeo Teams of Mansfield. The students used a John Deere tractor to pull a trailer loaded with a table set for Christmas, presents, a pig, chickens, a goat and riders on horseback.

All the activities were free and those who braved the cloudy skies and intermittent rain were rewarded with a festive and seasonal memory.