AVOCA — A few hundred people took to Main Street in the borough to witness the inaugural Polar Express Santa Parade down Main Street to the Queen of Apostle Parish Hall on Dec. 15, after which children had a chance to meet Santa at the hall.
Avoca is not noted for Main Street parades, but in less than five weeks time of planning and preparing, a complete Christmas celebration took place and organizers Holly Homschek and Kelly O’Brien pulled off the near impossibility.
“It was a tremendous day,” Stanley Waleski, Avoca Borough councilman said. “Holly Homschek and Kelly O’Brien and the Avoca committee did a tremendous job with it and the response from the community was excellent; the participation was great.”
Fire departments from surrounding communities participated in the parade as did area businesses, the Avoca Little League and three school buses decorated like the Polar Express Train, carrying young children along the parade route.
Upon the parade’s completion, over 200 children made their way to the Queen of the Apostle Parish Hall for a milk and a cookie bar, hot chocolate, music, raffle baskets, craft tables and, of course, a chance to meet Santa Claus.
In addition to activities inside, a trolley ride was held every 15 minutes through town and a horse and donkey, provided by Stephanie Jallen and Matt Cuba, were present to meet the children.
The Avoca Crime Watch has held an annual Christmas party with Santa but, this year, the group was unable to continue the tradition.
“A few of us said we’d like to do something because there was nothing else in town (for Christmas), so we decided to start the Avoca Community Committee and we figured we’d start with this,” Homschek said of the Polar Express Parade. “We decided to do a party and, if we were going to do a party, we might as well do a parade.”
To start, Homschek, O’Brien and committee members called borough organizations to tell them of the Christmas plans, asking if they would be interested in helping.
“People were so kind, wanting to know what they could do to donate,” Homschek said.
“I think, for the time we had, it went really well,” O’Brien said. “Everyone got together and got this done. It’s great and it’s something the town could be really proud of; everyone came together to make it happen.”
Hromshek was insistent on having a parade. “This is the first year. I said, why just do a party? Let’s do a parade. Why don’t we do something different, it’s the first year.”
Lori Boggetti, of Avoca, vice president of the Avoca/Dupont Little League, said the Avoca Committee is interested in doing more like the Christmas event. “Instead of having 10 different Christmas parties in the borough, why not just do this?”
“We (the committee) had a feeling it was going to be this successful,” Boggetti added.
Six-year-old Ryann Canfield, who was looking forward to seeing Santa, had a great time at the crafts table, “making Christmas,” she exclaimed.
“It’s a great day for Avoca,” Waleski said.
