Annual Christmas Celebration lights up Mount Pleasant
With the month of December comes time to get ready for the holidays.
On December 4, the community of Mount Pleasant came together to celebrate the first night of the annual Christmas Celebration downtown. The area was filled with families, students and residents, surrounded by twinkling lights and holiday activities.
Christmas Celebration has been going on for 22 years. Downtown Development Director Michelle Sponseller said the event takes a lot of time and volunteers to plan and execute.
The celebration kicked off with caroling. A large crowd was gathered to sing before the Christmas tree lighting at 7 p.m. The caroling was intended to draw people in before the tree lighting ceremony. Mount Pleasant resident Adam Niezgoda was one of those people.
“I was just walking by and I stopped to listen to the people sing,” Niezgoda he said. “I have never been to this, but it’s cool.”
Unlike Niezgoda, residents Mark and Sher Schafer have been attending the annual event for years.
“We have come off and on over the years,” Sher said. “We love to sing, and I was in the Broadway play called Oliver a while back.”
“We also love to go to Max and Emily’s to watch the live music before the caroling starts,” Mark added.
Along with the activities for adults, there is also plenty of activities for children, such as story time and seeing Santa with his reindeer. For new-comers Toni Maybee and her daughter Ella, they enjoyed story time.
“We are new to this, so we have not seen it all yet, but we liked story time,” Maybee said. “This is our first time, so we are just excited to see everything.”
A large part of this Christmas Celebration is the families that attend. The majority of the people who attended were families, including resident Chelsea House, her husband, and her baby.
“We came so our baby could see Santa,” House said. “We also love the downtown atmosphere, and seeing all the people come together. There’s also a new coffee shop that we wanted to try.”
On the second day of the Christmas Celebration, the morning began with "A Dickens of a Run" by the Mount Pleasant Road Runners. A Pancake Breakfast with Santa at Sacred Heart Parish Hall, crafts, Bingo and limbo were also offered. Children were then able to watch The Polar Express while enjoying snacks and hot cocoa.
Although the day had plenty of activities for kids, there was also activities on campus. There were local musicians and carolers, along with Central Michigan University’s annual concert at the Staples Family Concert Hall.
