Come Home to Galion supplies Christmas fun

Sarah Ein­se­len — Staff

The Brownella Cot­tage din­ing room, located at the cor­ner of Wal­nut Street and South Union Street.

By Sarah Einselen

Inquirer Reporter

Saturday’s a big day in Galion. The third annual Come Home to Galion Christ­mas cel­e­bra­tions will cul­mi­nate in a parade and tree light­ing cer­e­mony late that after­noon, fol­low­ing sev­eral free musi­cal per­for­mances and other events, includ­ing car­riage rides.

Joel Sanchez, who in past years headed up the Come Home to Galion plans, has stepped back this year, antic­i­pat­ing a move to New Mex­ico. Other Galion­ites have taken the lead, includ­ing mem­bers of the Galion Min­is­te­r­ial Asso­ci­a­tion, the main backer of the day’s fes­tiv­i­ties. Sanchez still had a hand in the plans, though, and expects this year to be the best one so far.

“We’re really try­ing to cre­ate a fam­ily atmos­phere where peo­ple can have a bowl of soup or hot cider,” Sanchez said of the Come Home to Galion events. He and other com­mu­nity lead­ers have been plan­ning for Saturday’s cel­e­bra­tion all year and have received “incred­i­ble” sup­port from local spon­sors. “Peo­ple have been very sup­port­ive of the event,” he said.

The day starts in the Galion West Shop­ping Cen­ter at 10 a.m. with real rein­deer to enter­tain chil­dren, plus crafts, bal­loon clowns and a food stand. To top off the morn­ing, major league base­ball player J. B. Shuck will be present until noon to sign auto­graphs. Shuck, a Galion native, has been named grand mar­shal of the Come Home to Galion parade, accom­pa­ny­ing hon­orary mar­shal Sanchez. Shuck will also par­tic­i­pate in the tree light­ing cer­e­mony on the square.

The pub­lic square will come alive at 1 p.m. with free car­riage rides—a peren­nial delight for cel­e­brants, Sanchez said—and food booths and enter­tain­ment. Sev­eral churches and other non­profit orga­ni­za­tions will sell hot foods and cider to raise money for their respec­tive pur­poses. An ice sculp­tor will make a first appear­ance on the square, as well, to demon­strate ice carv­ing from 1:30 until 3:30 p.m.

Soloist Kim Lovely from the Galion Free Methodist Church will per­form pop Christ­mas songs on the square at 1:15 p.m., fol­lowed by the Galion Alumni Band. Lovely will also per­form at the library. The Galion Alliance Brass band will take the stage on the square at 3:30 p.m.

Two of Uptowne’s major archi­tec­tural land­marks will hold open houses. The Galion Pub­lic Library just off the square will host the Galion Show­tunes at 1 p.m., Mans­field crooner Jeff Helvie at 1:30 p.m., and Kim Lovely at 2 p.m. Entries in the gin­ger­bread house con­test will be dis­played, as well as art fea­tured in the Come Home to Galion cal­en­dar, and cook­ies and punch will be served to open house vis­i­tors. The library open house ends at 3 p.m.

Those longed-for car­riage rides will also depart from the library from 1 until 3 p.m.

For lit­tle tykes, the library children’s staff will hold spe­cial hol­i­day story times at 1:20 and 2:10 p.m. Chil­dren may also par­tic­i­pate in children’s craft time in the library com­mu­nity room.

Sarah Ein­se­len — Staff

Galion His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety mem­bers are busy this week putting up Christ­mas decor in Brownella Cot­tage, prepar­ing for Saturday’s open house. The pub­lic is invited to tour the cot­tage free of charge, though dona­tions would be appre­ci­ated, said soci­ety direc­tor Amber Wertman.

Brownella Cot­tage will be open for free self-guided tours from 1 until 4 p.m. The his­toric res­i­dence will be dec­o­rated as it may have looked in 1887, and accord­ing to Galion His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety exec­u­tive direc­tor Amber Wert­man, local artists will dis­play their work, too. “There will be no set tour times or tour guides, just vol­un­teers sta­tioned through­out the house to answer any ques­tions there may be,” Wert­man said.

As the his­tor­i­cal society’s open house winds down, the Come Home to Galion parade will step off from Heise Park at 4 p.m. and pro­ceed down Gill Avenue and east through town on Hard­ing Way until arriv­ing at the Big Four Depot. More than 40 orga­ni­za­tions have entered floats, cars or marchers in the parade, Sanchez said. The Galion High School Band will lead off and the city’s Girl Scouts will be march­ing behind the parade’s horses, scoop­ing drop­pings to earn their ser­vice badges. Santa Claus, atop a city fire truck, and the alumni band will bring up the rear.

Just after the parade, par­tic­i­pants will migrate back to the square to sing car­ols and hear a read­ing of the Christ­mas story at the annual tree light­ing cer­e­mony to begin at approx­i­mately 4:40 p.m. Local pas­tors Rick Mad­dox, Joe Stafford, Tom Snode and Sam Buehrer will lead the gath­er­ing. Parade mar­shal J. B. Shuck will draw the name of one of the six col­or­ing con­test win­ners to choose the child who will throw the switch to light the 50-foot tree on the square.

Posted by Sarah Einselen on Nov 30 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.