A small town Christmas
Memories from 2019, before everything changed
Five years ago, before the whole world shut down, we were facing the last year of a Donald Trump presidency.
When he was first elected, I thought… well, Minnesota survived Jesse Ventura. Certainly, the country would survive a billionaire celebrity at the helm for four years.
Sadly, not all of us did. When COVID hit, our celebrity president failed to act in the face of a global health crisis. By the time the pandemic ended, 1.2 million American lives had been lost.
But on the first Saturday in December of 2019, downtown Farmington, Michigan, ushered in the joy of the holidays.
Our wildly popular three-season farmers market opened again for just the one day with a full complement of vendors. A small train ferried kids around the grounds of a downtown park. Santa and Mrs. Claus visited, the city-owned theater showed free movies, and shops offered special deals and treats.
A fitting finale to this festive day, the Light Up the Grand parade included a fleet of lighted vehicles, a marching band, and dancers. But my favorite part came at the end, when parade goers walked behind Santa’s motorized sleigh to the historic Governor Warner Mansion, which was decked out for the occasion.
People of all ages crowded onto the pitch dark lawn to sing carols and hear Santa read “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” At the end of a short countdown, Santa swept his arms toward an evergreen standing at the center of a gazebo, which lit up on cue.
I walked away thinking how lucky I was to live in a place that cared about and celebrated the spirit of Christmas. It took a mind-boggling number of volunteers to put it all together, but that’s always the case with any special event.
Governments don’t power and empower communities. People do. That seems like an important thing to remember now.
While I didn’t cover a lighted parade this year, I am enjoying these memories from my time as a community journalist. If you’ve got photos of your town’s holiday celebration, please pop them into the comments. More than ever, we need a little Christmas.
I love that the Light up the Grand continues to grow and inspire Farmington! Wish it was a thing when I was a kid. Even the snow plows were in the parade this year, which I think is a very Minnesota tradition!
I love Farmington in the winter (and all the other seasons as well), but it reminds me of Ferndale, where I grew up.
I have fond memories of sitting in our town theater-Radio City Theater-on Saturdays before many Christmases. Every kid would get a candy cane and we'd watch cartoons and a movie. It was so loud in there! I think that was probably why, when they were old enough to do it, my sisters brought me more times than my mom did over the years. But we never missed going. If you made it until the very end without getting in trouble or getting sick, you were just lucky enough to see Santa arrive. He would waltz up the center aisle booming his "Ho! Ho! Hos!" And we would excitedly whisper wide-eyed, "There's Santa!"
I'm blessed enough to have had that childhood and to have been able to raise my daughters in a town that also values the wonderment of the season. Merry Christmas to all and Happy Holidays!