Santa Land Village returns to Bristol
Tradition held since 1985 is highlight this weekend
BRISTOL — Bristol’s Rockwell Park hosts some special attractions from now through Sunday evening: Santa and Mrs. Claus, a group of elves, a horsedrawn sleigh, a model railroad layout, an exhibit of unique Christmas trees and more.
At Santa Land Village, traditions such as hot chocolate and candy canes continue on this year, and there’ll be some new features, too.
“We have new lights this year, a new ceiling of lights, the train layout is bigger,” said Jessie Caetano, recreation supervisor for the city and chief organizer of Santa Land Village.
“We start putting this together the day after Thanksgiving,” Caetano said Thursday as she and Tim Rollins, a craftsman with the parks and recreation department, attended to last-minute details before the attraction opened later in the afternoon for a four-day-long weekend.
If the weather is good, as many as 4,000 people will get to enjoy Santa Land Village before it shuts down late Sunday afternoon, Caetano said. The attraction began in 1985, and has become a holiday tradition for two generations of Bristol families.
Located in a building near the Mrs. Rockwell’s Playground section of Rockwell Park, Santa Land Village offers free admission. Inside are thousands of holiday lights, an elves workshop, Christmas trees, Christmas music, and oversize sleigh and more.
Children and their parents can walk through the heavily decorated building to watch model trains chugging across the
Lionel railroad layout. There’s a spot for free photos with Santa; families are reminded to bring their own cameras.
Businesses and civic organizations decorated more than a half-dozen trees, some with unique themes. The DoubleTree hotel staff, for instance, hung enormous cookies as ornaments on its tree, and Sherwood Cleaners put clothespins and hangers on another one.
Students from the Chippens Hill and West Bristol middle schools will serve as elves and costumed characters each day the attraction is open.
Santa Land Village began Thursday with hours from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and will keep that schedule on Friday, too. On Saturday and Sunday it will be open from noon to 4 p.m.
Children will receive a free candy cane, and are invited to work on a Christmas craft in the elf workshop. There will be horsedrawn sleigh rides Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m., and hot chocolate will be sold at $1 per cup on Saturday and Sunday. There will also be a petting zoo on the weekend.
Keeping everything running is the job of Rollins, who has worked at Santa Land Village for half of its 34 years. He handles the carpentry and other work, but his chief assignment is to keep all the lights on.
“I think we’ve got it down pretty good this year,” he said .