Santa Claus comes to town
The reindeer must have had the night off because the Christmas season rolled into Calhoun on Sunday evening in the form of Santa Claus riding behind an antique blue tractor.
Saint Nick waved to adoring children before taking the steps in front of the Gordon County Courthouse and leading a countdown to light a Christmas tree made of large spheres of twinkling lights.
The Floyd family was first in line to have their photos snapped with Santa. They said they arrived three and half hours early to make sure they secured that honor.
“Three o’clock on the nose,” Brenda Floyd said.
The family took a series of pictures, first with just the children — 6-year-old Robert II, 3-year-old Logan and 3-month-old Rosabelle — before mom Brenda, dad Robert and Alpha the dog jumped in, and then finally the grandmas joined too.
Closer to the back of the line of well more than 100 people, the Jones family said they didn’t mind the wait.
“They’re just excited to see Santa and tell him what all they want for Christmas,” said Krista Jones, mom of 3-year-old Liza and 5-yearold Caroline. “They woke
up excited this morning, so they’ve already been waiting all day anyway.”
The lighting of the tree in front of the courthouse marks the final bit of glowing decoration added to Downtown Calhoun in celebration of the holiday season. Calhoun City Councilman Al Edwards said during a council meeting earlier this month that city workers have hung about 15,000 lights around town.
Caroline Jones said she is a big fan of the lights.
“It’s so pretty. I wish we could leave them up all the time,” she said.
Just a block down the road, in the lot at South Wall and Hicks streets next to Owens Security, members of Riverview Baptist Church were performing in a live nativity scene, complete with live animals from Little Red Barn Mobile Petting Farm.