NEW TRADITION

Kings Playhouse hosts first Georgetown Old Fashioned Christmas.

The spirit of Christmas rang through Georgetown this past weekend.

Carollers sang, Christmas trees sparkled and children decorated holiday cookies for the first Georgetown Old Fashioned Christmas.

“It’s fun and it’s just something that’s close that the kids can have fun for Christmas,” said Georgetown resident Jenene Crane, who took her four-year-old son Jensen MacPhee to the festivities.

This is the inaugural year for the festival, which was organized by the Kings Playhouse and community members.

“It hadn’t been done in a while and I think that the whole idea of an Old Fashioned Christmas just really appealed to the community,” said Catherine O’Brien, interim executive director for Kings Playhouse. “We’ve also gone through obviously a major change because now we’re part of Three Rivers, so it was really just celebrating everything that Georgetown is.”

On Saturday, children challenged themselves with a scavenger hunt where they tried to find everything on “Santa’s List” like ornaments and other Christmas treasures.

The artisan market held at the King’s Playhouse all weekend doubled as a spot to find some of the scavenger hunt items.

“People were coming in because they were looking for some of their stuff for their scavenger hunt,” said O’Brien.

The town’s annual Christmas parade was also part of the Old Fashioned Christmas lineup and took place Saturday evening.

Thirty-three shining Christmas trees lined the sides of Water Street during the parade.

Each tree was either sponsored by businesses or local residents in memory of a loved one.

“We were amazed by the uptake,” said O’Brien, adding that the trees will stay up until Jan. 5.

On Sunday, Santa visited the Kings Playhouse during a pancake breakfast and took photos with children. Later in the day, children got to take part in a dress-up skate.

The day concluded with a fundraising bingo and a family movie night at the Kings Playhouse theatre which aired the new “Christmas Chronicles” Netflix movie.

O’Brien said both community and Christmas spirit helped make the Georgetown Old Fashioned Christmas come to life.

KATHERINE HUNT/THE GUARDIAN Charlie Rafuse, 3, shows how much she loves sprinkles while decorating a cookie during the Georgetown Old Fashioned Christmas this past weekend. Cookie decorating was one of many activities for children at the event, which also featured a scavenger hunt, a dress-up skate and face painting.