That means that out in Brownhelm Township, it’s time for their charming holiday tradition of Community Christmas, in which a team of volunteer Santas clad in white beards and red suits deliver gifts, candy and fruit baskets to homes in the community.
How long has this been going on? I reviewed copies of the Lorain Times-Herald from the early 1930s at the Lorain Public Library, and it appears that 1932 was the first year that the visits from Santa Claus received any mention in the press.
On December 10, 1932, a short article appeared in the Lorain Journal (below) explaining how representatives of 15 different local organizations came together to hatch the idea of Santa Claus actually visiting the community in person.
The next mention of the arrival of Santa Claus was in the December 21, 1932 edition of the Lorain Journal. A small item (below) appeared in the section of the paper devoted to news from the neighboring communities.
Finally, an article in the December 23, 1932 edition of the Journal does a nice job of describing the behind-the-scenes preparation for Santa’s visit, which was to take place the following evening on Christmas Eve.
Like I’ve said before – it makes you want to move out there just to watch it all unfold each year.
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I wrote about the Community Christmas a few times on the blog, including the 1947 edition, as well as the 1963 version.Here is the Journal article publicizing the 1962 Community Christmas. It ran in the paper on December 18, 1962.
And here’s a photo from the Journal’s coverage from Christmas 1964.
2 comments:
Merry Christmas to you.
Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you, too!
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