Community Corner

Santa With His Reindeer, Arrives in Greenwich


The holiday season got off to a chilly ... and a somewhat belated start in Greenwich on Friday afternoon with the 5th Annual Greenwich Reindeer Festival and Santa’s Workshop.

Hundreds of children swathed in bulky jackets, mittens, hats and scarves and their parents lined the already crowded Greenwich Avenue, thanks to Black Friday,  waiting for the mini-parade with Santa — portrayed by Greenwich resident Bob Crawford — to start at 2 p.m. Nov. 29.

By 2:20 p.m., parents were asking when the parade would start. The crowds started to thin, as children became a bit cranky and others found diversions of climbing onto the statues and playing in the leaf piles in front of the Board of Education's Havemeyer Building headquarters. Others sought a warm respite by ducking into the nearby Starbucks for coffee and hot chocolate.

"Where's Santa? Santa where are you?," cried out a pair of Greenwich three-year-olds, Nicholas Domenici and John Behette. John said that when he gets to visit with Santa, he wanted to ask "for my own kitchen and my own iPad." John said he wanted the kitchen so he could "make stuff ... steak." Nicholas said he wants "a dinosaur and a remote-controlled robot."

Grandmother Jo Chiappetta of Greenwich kept a watchful eye on her grandsons James and Ryan Mora as they frolicked in the leaf piles.

At 3:13 p.m., just as Buddy Kitselman, his arms filled by his two-year-old son Cooper, and his nine-year-old daughter Kaylie were ready to leave their sidewalk perch at the corner of Arch Street, one of the Greenwich Police officers directing traffic at the intersection of Greenwich Avenue and Arch Street told the crowd that Santa and the reindeer were headed down Greenwich Avenue.

Within minutes, members of the Greenwich Police motorcycle unit sounded their sirens, heralding the arrival of the mini-parade. First Selectman Peter Tesei and Selectman Drew Marzullo rode in Mercedes-Benz convertibles with the families, as did News 12 reporter Courtney Kane.

Santa and James McArdle, owner of McArdle's Florist & Garden Center on Arch Street where Santa will be in residence until Christmas Eve, greeted the crowd from an open truck, followed by the four reindeer inside a trailer, and a Greenwich Fire Department truck.

Hundreds gathered at McArdles to watch the reindeer be unloaded from the trailer into the outdoor pen where they will stay until Dec. 23.

It seems traffic along the long trip from Buffalo, NY, especially in White Plains, NY, delayed their arrival and the start of the parade, said Steve Crawford, who rode his Harley-Davidson motorcycle with the entourage.


 


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