A large number took to the streets of Centralia Friday night for the expanded Centralia Christmas stroll.
The event marked the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Carillon Park and for many, the first time to see the new street lamp decorations.
Mayor Bryan Kuder flipped the switch on the large tree decorated with thousands of white lights.
Kuder is thanking those who made donations to make the new decorations possible.
Kuder said, “I’ve actually started receiving a lot of phone calls. When they started going up over the past couple of days, a lot of people have been messaging me and calling me, thanking me for getting the city back to the Christmas season of years ago, having the lights downtown. We’re going to get the big Christmas tree up at the intersection of Broadway and locust. they’re loving it. They’re absolutely loving it.”
There are 36 decorated light poles. The remaining parts of the tree that will go above the street at Broadway and Locust are expected to arrive soon.
City Hope Church decorated the tree and provide hot chocolate and smores to those in attendance. The Carillon Park was also one of three entertainment venues with a number of school and community groups participating.
The annual event has become known for its hunt for ornaments to win a prize. The Greater Centralia Chamber of Commerce was coordinating the event for the first time. Executive Director Marcus Holland says there is another motive for the ornament contest.
Holland said, “This event is another point in the year where we can get people downtown to come to the businesses that are open, and people will look at that long list of businesses (we have over 30 businesses that are participating) and that’s over 30 businesses that are downtown. And that’s not every business that’s open and participating. People don’t realize we have that many businesses in downtown Centralia.”
Holland is also excited about several new participants who brought new activities to the event, while others like the Carriage Rides continued.
Despite the windy cold conditions, Holland felt the turnout was excellent.
