Santa hitches a ride from the Cedar Springs Fire Department to the tree lighting event.

Excitement filled the air Friday evening, December 2, as boys and girls and kids of all ages waited for the moment Santa would arrive on the corner of Main and Ash Streets in Cedar Springs for the annual “Mingle with Kris Kringle”  event.
The evening started at 5 p.m. with a live nativity from Calvary Assembly of God Church, which included live actors and animals. They were later joined by the choir from the play, “A Christmas Carol.” At about 6:15, the children all began singing to see if it would bring Santa Claus to them, and it did! Santa arrived (much to everyone’s delight) and the Christmas tree was lit.
Afterward, people were invited to pet the animals, and those who had signed up to see Santa waited (or were supposed to) until their name was called, and then made their way over to the United Methodist Church and into a long winding line to see Santa. Children were entertained in a couple of spots along the way, with Tom Noreen and Donna Clark reading storybooks, and a couple of crafts in the gym.

A live nativity from Calvary Assembly of God Church started off the evening.

This year’s event was organized by Cedar Springs Area Parks and Rec Director Amanda Gerhardt, and Craig Owens, pastor of Calvary Assembly of God.
“I thought it went great!” said Owens. “I didn’t get an exact count, but we had at least 200 kids (based on how many crafts we did). So I would guess 300-350 total.”
Gerhardt said that the Community Action Network would talk about the event to see what could be improved for next year.