Holiday season kicks off

Events spread holiday cheer

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM-- Is there anyone in town that hasn't figured out that the winter holiday season has arrived ?

Friday was the beginning of that ever-recognizable pre-Christmas rush, as the first wave of holiday events sprang up around town, along with a host of Christmas-esque decorations and the rush of shoppers downtown.

Many of Friday's goings-on, like the Santa appearance at the mall and the evening Parade of Lights, were annual affairs.

For some, like Lisa and Becca Fleck of New Ulm, afternoon shopping and an evening parade are a holiday tradition.

"It's a tradition," said Lisa Fleck. "It sparks the holiday season."

Earlier in the day, several children joined Mrs. Claus for 'Wake Up Santa', a program of children's holiday songs and storytelling that culminated when the kids yelled at Santa to wake up from his sleep. The program, held in the Marktplatz Mall, is meant to signal the start of the holiday shopping season in New Ulm.

Outside on the sidewalk, employees of Citizens Bank roasted chestnuts on a Weber grill for the bank's customer appreciation day, a tradition of about 20 years (photo on page 3A).

Shoppers came into downtown New Ulm and filtered through many of the local businesses and the mall, walking quickly back to their cars, bags in hand.

As usual, the Parade of Lights commenced around 6 p.m.

Queued up three rows deep in some spots along the sidewalks of North Minnesota Street, the crowd at this year's parade looked, well.....cold.

To help avoid freezing and still see the parade, several folks resorted to some creative tactics. At the corner of 1st North and Minnesota streets, a young girl sat underneath a street light outside the NU Telecom building, wrapped head-to-toe in a heavy blanket. A few more lined up along the NU Telecom store's large windows to watch the floats go by without enduring the windchill.

Out on the street, parade watchers huddled together, pulled sweatshirt hoods tightly over their faces and tried to prevent their innards from turing to ice with the help of hot drinks from Bookshelves and Coffeecups and from a wagon selling hot cocoa that two girls pulled up and down the sidewalks.