Jocelyn, Hugh and Ellis Quenneville peek into Santa’s workshop where elves are busy baking at the Simcoe Christmas Panorama.
By Leah Bauer
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and the perfect way to kick off the holiday season is by visiting the Simcoe Christmas Panorama!
On Saturday, Nov. 30th, the parks of Downtown Simcoe were aglow for the official lighting of this year’s Simcoe Christmas Panorama. The park was full of eager attendees, waiting to meet Santa Claus, and of course waiting to see the lights for the first time this holiday season.
The official lighting ceremony is a beautiful tradition that occurs at Wellington Park each year. It encourages people to come together and ring in the holiday season as a community. However, this tradition definitely expands beyond the community as one attendee who drove all the way from Hamilton stated, “My family and I drove over an hour to be here, it’s an awesome way to start off the holiday season, we come every year!”
It was a high-spirited event and people of all ages were enjoying the lights and the ceremony together.
Volunteers organized a lovely opening ceremony, the stars of the show were of course Mr. Claus and Mrs. Claus, who rode in on a Bickle firetruck thanks to the help of the Simcoe Firefighters Association. While the excitement for Santa was palpable there were other notable guests in attendance. The Mayor of Norfolk County Amy Martin was there as well as our elected Member of Provincial Parliament Bobbi Ann Brady.
Guests of the panorama can expect lights every night from Nov. 30th-Jan. 1st this holiday season. There are also a variety of events and offerings which will compliment the lights such as Santa meet and greets on Saturday nights, and horse drawn trolley rides on Dec. 6-7 and Dec. 20-21. There are also a variety of refreshments at the panorama on select nights. The Tumaini Children’s Foundation sells delicious hot apple cider and apple cinnamon donuts, and there is also a Dolly’s Sandwiches food truck.
A great deal of dedication and commitment goes into this event which has been a tradition of the Norfolk County holiday season for generations, and hopefully will continue to be. Make sure to check out the Simcoe Christmas Panorama this year, it is open every night 6-10 p.m. until January 1st.
The Panorama is run entirely by volunteers who happily donate their time and talents to the Panorama so that the entire community may enjoy. The Simcoe Christmas Panorama is always accepting donations to keep this important tradition running. You may make a donation using this link: http://www.gofundme.com/f/supportpanorama.
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