Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
Hayrides, bingo, a snow machine, reindeer races, Mrs. Claus’s hot cocoa kitchen, and of course the big man himself, Santa Claus, welcomed families Dec. 9 at the Christiansburg Parks and Recreation Center.
Anyone that wishes to visit the event was welcomed, and you did not have to be a member of the recreation center to attend, Director of Christiansburg Parks and Recreation said.
“We have a variety of different games, one being pin the heart on the Grinch,” Epperley said. “Kids always love the snow machine too.”
The Grinch was the theme this year, with last year being Elf, from the popular Christmas movie.
This was the fourth year of the event with one year missed due to COVID, and the following year held outside in the wake of the pandemic.
Santa greeted eventgoers in the multipurpose room, where he was met with wide-eyed and excited children wanting to tell their Christmas wishes in hopes they would find them under the tree Christmas morning.
Epperley shared that when the Recreation Center first started the event, their goal was to create a free family-oriented, holiday event.
“We had done a couple other items indoors, with the Halloween and some of those others and thought this would be really neat…and it was a huge event for us,” Epperley said. “It is held from 6-8 p.m., and some folks come, and they stay for 15-20 minutes and people come and stay for the entire time. It is really up to them as to what they want to do.”
Epperley said last year they had close to 2,000 people come through. The large space provides for this number of people to enjoy themselves and visit the different stations set up by the Department’s employees.
The Christiansburg Recreation Department also manages the parade that happened the evening before on December 8th. Epperley said that the parade this year drew the largest crowd and the largest number of entries to date.
Residents of the New River Valley as well as visitors to the area can check out future events held by the Christiansburg Recreation Department on their website at www.christiansburg.org.
