BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT) – The long-running Brockway Community Children’s Christmas Party will continue for 2019, but in a brand-new venue.
[PHOTO: 2018 Brockway Community Christmas. (Provided by Tammy Stansell)]
The Brockway Community Children’s Christmas Party is free and will run from 2-4:30 p.m. on December 8. The Christmas Party has been moving from place to place in recent years. Last year saw the event at the Chatterbox, but when the Chatterbox moved, organizers had to look for a new home.
Failte Acres stepped in to fill that need.
“The people at Failte Acres offered us the location at no cost,” explained Tammy Stansell, the chairwoman of the Christmas party for the Block Parents Association. “And the place is really nice.”
The party will have snacks, pizza, milk, magic, and Santa Claus. Local people are baking and donating the cookies while the milk comes from the Jefferson County Dairy Promotion Board. Paesano’s is donating pizza, and local businesses are pitching in to make the season bright.
“When we started, we put our own money in,” Stansell said. “Now, we are totally funded by businesses. Almost all the businesses in town give us something. Our community is so good at giving that donations are not a problem.”
Stansell was part of the group who started the event 35 years ago. The event gradually faded, but the Block Parent Association brought it back 12 years ago.
“I’ve always been a community-minded person,” Stansell said. “This is something that brings the whole community together.”
Joining Santa this year is magician Mike Catanzarito. Stansell said the hardest part of the show is finding the entertainment.
“We have to find entertainment that can be enjoyed by children of all ages,” she said. “You see just as many smiles on the parents’ faces as you do on the children.”
With donations and business support, plus the free venue, the party is bringing in photographer Max Salada. Each child will have a chance to get a picture with Santa and then put that 4×6 in a frame.
“At some of these events, you get stuff, but there are no memories,” Stansell said. “With the picture, you can put it on the refrigerator and remember.”
The event owes a lot to the first one 35 years ago in the Brockway Ambulance Building. Stansell said that parents and children can come, meet people from their community, and have a great time.
“The group of people who started this event did because they have miles of heart,” she said. “Anyone who wants to come is welcome.”
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