By TIM PRESTON — The Independent
Ashland — Hot cocoa, cookies, children and an unseasonably warm evening combined to provide the perfect atmosphere for Monday’s Winter Wonderland of Lights opening night.
“Perfect night for this isn’t it?” a man with a coat draped over his arm asked a stranger in the Central Park crowd as children at the back of the audience of hundreds used another coat to play a game of catch.
The King’s Way Church Choir helped shift the crowd into Christmas gear with a selection of contemporary praise songs, including an original composition by choir director Martin Revely titled “It’s Christmas Time.”
The combined choruses from Crabbe Elementary and Charles Russell Elementary, however, proved to be the crowd favorite of the evening as the sixth-grade students blended their voices during a selection of classic Christmas songs from “Silver Bells” to “Silent Night.”
Adding to the delight of parents and family members in the audience, the sixth-grade students added a few moves to their performance, and caused many in the crowd to join in for the “Ha Ha Ha” part of “Jingle Bells.”
Master of ceremonies Rob Johnson triggered a wave of applause with the announcement that members of the 201st Engineer Battalion will serve as grand marshals for the 2009 Christmas Parade on Nov. 24. Johnson said the soldiers, who will be coming to Ashland from across the region, will lead the parade with an array of the military vehicles they used while recently serving in Afghanistan. The theme for this year’s parade is “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.”
Taking their cue from a “3-2-1” countdown by the crowd, Winter Wonderland Queen Shantelle Scott and her court flipped the switch to illuminate the park’s numerous holiday light displays. As an Ashland Fire Department truck backed toward the stage with Santa Claus aboard and each of the evening’s singers joined for a rendition of “Here Comes Santa Claus,” many in the audience slowly spun around to catch a glimpse of this year’s elaborate lights and holiday images around the park’s perimeter.
The Winter Wonderland of Lights display in Central Park continues from dusk to 10 nightly (11 p.m. Friday and Saturday) until Jan. 1, and Winter Wonderland Express train rides will be offered at the park Friday through Sunday, Nov. 27 through 29, and every Friday and Saturday of December before Christmas.
