Santa comes to town for Shelley’s Tree Lighting Ceremony
SHELLEY – Hundreds of people attended the city’s tree light ceremony at Dawn Lloyd Field in Shelley as Santa came riding into town on the back of a Shelley Rural Fire Department truck. Shelley’s own Miss Russet, Tenlee Williams, accompanied Santa as his special helper.
Friday, Nov. 27, several hundred people braved sub-freezing temperatures to attend Shelley’s tree lighting ceremony and, more importantly, to meet Santa Claus. The event was a massive success for children, both young and old, who sat on Santa’s lap to tell him their Christmas wishes.
Miss Russet handed each child a candy cane.
Santa Claus said, not even Covid-19 could stop him from seeing the children. He couldn’t wait to hear what all the good boys and girls wanted for Christmas.
Kayleigh Searle, who is with the Kiwanis Club and who happens to have an inside connection with Santa, helped plan the event with city officials.
Usually, the city has a chili cook-off contest before the lighting ceremony, but they canceled it because of the pandemic.
“We scaled back this year’s event because of covid, but next year, we are going big,” Searle said
The city’s parks and recreation director Mikel Anderson and public work’s director Justin Johnson were on hand, providing hot chocolate and heaters to warm the chilled company.
For anyone who missed Santa, do not despair; at 224 South S. Street, Sweet Life Nutrition kindly allowed Santa Claus to place his special mailbox in front of their business. Children can put their letters to Santa with their Christmas wishes in the box. He promises to respond to them by mail.
