West Chester Old Fashioned Christmas Parade Presented by Mars Drinks

Every year for 34 yrs and going strong, West Chester Chamber of Commerce puts on a spectacular parade. This year the parade will be held tomorrow night, Friday, November 30, 2012 at 7:15pm. Filled with excitement for all ages and entertainment from local High Schools (Chester County and Delaware County), Colleges/Universities and businesses. “The parade was recently named by USA Today as one of the top ten places to experience the arrival of Santa Claus during the holiday season. With about 30,000 spectators tightly lining the 1 mile route, it makes you feel like you are on Main Street USA.” Besides the arrival of Santa, another attraction is the High School marching bands who have the opportunity to compete and win a portion of more than  $5,000. Who will win this year? Last year it was Downingtown High School, will they stay as the Honor Band or will they be replaced?

So, what does this parade mean to me? Family, fun and the Holidays! Every year for the past 4 years, my family (3 generations) meets at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in town and have dinner. Then, around 6:45pm we walk up to Gay Street to claim our spots to watch the parade, usually catching the last part of the Elf run. We decided to start going when one of my sisters and I started families and wanted to get the kids and families involved. We love to see all of the local entities involved, even our old High School and most importantly the arrival of Santa at the end. If we ever get cold, which is quite often, Mars Drinks offers FREE Hot Chocolate and other warm drinks to help warm you from the inside out. It is a fun-filled night for us all and this year is expected to be just a wonderful as years past! Bundle up, go early to get a parking spot and a parade spot (streets of the parade route close at 5pm) and prepare for a great night!!!

For more information, please check below or follow the link to the West Chester Chamber of Commerce‘s web site and see what else is going to through out town!

Parade Info:
Date: November 30, 2012
Time: 7:15pm

This year’s highlights:

• 6ABC’s Karen Rogers and Adam Joseph will be emceeing the parade
• Check out the Wells Fargo “Light the Night” show located at the corner of High and Market Streets
• Don’t miss all new this year our Patrotic Division “Celebrate the Military” with appearances by the US Air Force, US Coast Guard, Welcome Home Vets float, Silver Dolphins Drill Team and more!
• Check out Fulton Bank’s “Strike Up the Band” competition featuring over 15 area schools
• All new Holiday Festival on High Street – stop by Mars Drinks tent and receive a FREE cup of Hot Chocolate or any other hot beverage
• Last but not least, Santa makes his arrival to West Chester!

Elf Run/Walk: Follows same route as parade
Date: November 30, 2012
Time:

• 5:30pm- Registration at First Niagara Bank- 16 E Market St.
• 6:30pm- Kids 6 and under 200m.
• 6:35pm- Kids 7-12 – 1/2 mile.
• 6:45pm- 2 mi. run, 1 mi. walk
• 7:15pm- Awards at High and Market street

Map of the Elf Run and Parade

Celebrate The Holidays in Wayne

The two-day community and family celebration begins Friday evening, December 3, with festive caroling and horsedrawn carriage rides along North and South Wayne avenues, and culminates with the lighting of the Christmas Tree at the Wayne Train Station. The festivities continue with a parade on Saturday morning, December 4. Jolly Old Santa will make his way down Lancaster Avenue from the Wayne Acme on a firetruck to the porch of the Wayne Hotel. Wide-eyed children and their families will gather on the porch to visit with Santa, while enjoying fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate compliments of the hotel. Toys for Tots will be on the porch of Wayne Hotel Saturday morning and you are invited to contribute by bring a new, unwrapped toy when visiting with Santa.

Bring your loved ones to celebrate at the Wayne Hotel’s Old- Fashioned Christmas!

For more information on Wayne Hotel’s Old-Fashioned Christmas please visit http://www.waynechristmas.com.

For more information on the Wayne Hotel, please contact David Brennan, General Manager at 610.687.5000

5:30 to 6:30 Strolling Carolers on North Wayne Avenue

5:30 to 7:15 Craft a Personalized Ornament at Radnor Fire House

5:30 to 7:30 Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides on South Wayne Avenue and Runnymede Avenue

7:00 to 7:30 Valley Forge Military Academy Chorale and Radnor High School Cheerleaders at Wayne Train Station

7:30 Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at Wayne Train Station with Cathy Gandolfo of 6 ABC Action News

4:00 to 8:00pm Special Holiday Shopping Hours

Enjoy Free Holiday Movies at Clearview’s Anthony Wayne Theatre

Santa Parade Saturday, December 4th 10 AM starting at the ACME featuring Radnor High School Marching Band & VFMA Field Music Group and ending at Wayne Hotel.

Visit with Santa on the Porch of Wayne Hotel until 11:30 AM .

Enjoy a Free Family Holiday Matinee at Clearview’s Anthony Wayne Theatre

Holiday Parades in Chester County

Coatesville Christmas Parade – Saturday, December 4th at 9:00am

Downingtown Christmas Parade – Saturday, December 11th at 2:00PM

Phoenixville Holiday Parade – Friday, December 3rd at 7:00PM

Malvern Old Fashion Christmas -Victorian Christmas – December 3rd at 6:15 PM

West Chester Christmas Parade – Friday, December 3rd at 7:00PM

Winter Holiday Parade in West Chester

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it’s time to focus on winter holidays. This is my favorite time of year and my family and I like to celebrate to the fullest. We have our Christmas tree, wreath and new holiday decorations at home waiting to adorn the house. I have purchased ribbon and wrapping paper and there are even a few gifts hidden about the house. We have plans to decorate our tree next weekend and to start bringing out the rest of the green and red this week. We are now even considering getting another tree if could just figure out where to put it. Now it’s time to get into the holiday spirit with some fun filled family events!

One of the best ways to kick off the holidays, and one of our personal favorite traditions, is The MARS Drinks Old Fashioned Christmas Celebration. This year the parade is celebrating its 31st year and has grown from a small town gathering with a few classic cars and local groups marching Market and Gay Streets to an all out major event with Channel 10 newscasters MCing and roughly 30,000 attendees expected.

There is a full weekend of event planned for December 2nd-5th including crafts for the family, lots of choral performances, breakfast with Santa for the kiddies and the 2nd Annual Jingle Elf Run. The tree lighting ceremony starts off the parade, the main event, at 7:30pm on Friday, December 3rd (location to be decided) and will take just one trip around the course lasting until roughly 9pm.

Participants this year include Jason Castro (American Idol Finalist), Adam Joseph (NBC10), Karen Rogers (NBC10), The Margera Family and The Lone Ranger with his horse Silver. There will be fifteen marching bands, five marching musical groups, eleven special performance groups, forty two specialty groups, eight sponsored floats and numerous dignitaries. No wonder this thing is going to be almost two hours long!

Join me and my family (and much of Chester County, it seems!) this Friday, December 3rd, in West Chester. We can all start off Holiday Season 2010 right!