Spencer Main Street’s socially distanced “Christmas at the Square” brought a near-record number of families to downtown Spencer last weekend. Santa and his elves donned masks, braved the cold and stayed late Saturday evening to ensure every child who wanted to speak with Mr. Claus had the opportunity to do so from their cars.
“It went fantastically well – the whole event exceeded our expectations,” said Spencer Main Street president Julie Coffin. “We were scheduled to be running from 5 to 7 p.m. and the last car did not go through until 7:51.”
READ MORE: Santa Still Stopping By Spencer During Next Week’s “Christmas At The Square”
Spencer Main Street wanted to keep its annual Christmas kickoff going this year despite the pandemic, so the community collaboration received permission from the town to block off part of Market Street to set up a “winter wonderland.”
Two hundred and forty cars drove through tents containing over two dozen lighted trees, snowmen and reindeer before arriving at Santa Claus.
“The parents were still cheerful after sitting in their cars for an hour,” Coffin said. “And without exception, the families, I heard over and over again, were grateful that their kids got a chance to see Santa.”
Because the event is normally a huge day for local businesses owners, each vehicle received a voucher for $5 in “Main Street Bucks” redeemable at nine participating businesses downtown.
Coffin estimates 400 children came by to see Santa on Saturday – nearly double the number that came last year.
“So many parents were grateful that the kids at least got to see Santa because they're not going to get to sit on Santa's lap or do anything else with Santa this year,” she said. “I think that people are starving for things to be a little bit normal. And this was not quite normal, but it was a piece of normal.”
On top of providing families and potentially local businesses with some Christmas cheer, the event worked as a test run of sorts for future special events.
“We certainly proved that we can be on the square without touching the square and create a successful event with the cooperation of the town of Spencer.”
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