VALLEJO’S WINTER WONDERLAND
Children's venue full of holiday activities this week
It may be over 3,600 miles from Vallejo to the North Pole, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the Winter Wonderland at 360 Glenn St. this week.
Children’s Wonderland kicked off a week full of holiday activities Monday night with a “Light up the Night Ceremony,” featuring photos with Santa. The fun continued on Tuesday with the Greater Vallejo Recreation District’s Jazz Band playing music for “Caroling in the Park.”
The park has been transformed into a place with seemingly more lights than Las Vegas, as the park’s entire fencing, trees and parts of the playground decked out with festive sparkle. An inflatable snowman, Olaf, from the film “Frozen” is also on display, as was an inflatable
nutcracker, Santa and Mickey Mouse. And of course, Santa was on hand to walk around the park.
One youngster, 16-month-old Iona McKnight, was in total awe
as she watched Santa perform a magic trick over and over again.
“This park is always fun for kids, but the lights they put up for this really make it look magical,” Iona’s father, Glenn McKnight
said. “(Iona) seems to love the tea kettle a lot.”
“What’s also great about the park is that it’s so spacious,” said Iona’s mother, Jules McKnight. “Kids can run around all over the place because it’s not crammed together like a lot of other parks.”
Vincent Seymour, the assistant recreation coordinator for GVRD special events, said over 200 hours were put into transforming the park during his second crack at putting the event together.
“We started working on the decorations the week after Halloween. We added a lot of movement to the park this year as the lights move all over the park,” Seymour said. “We took the lights up into the trees as well. It was a real fun time to put this together with the staff. The most difficult part was dealing
with the rain and stormy weather during some of the days.”
On Wednesday the park will feature an I spy “Elf in the Park” scavenger hunt, as well as a toy drive. Preregistration is required for the scavenger hunt, but admission to the park is free with an unwrapped toy. Without an unwrapped toy, admission is $3.
“This whole week is not only about the holiday season but also about family, so the scavenger hunt is a good way for families to get outdoors and be together,” Seymour said. “It’s always exciting to see the young ones go about accomplishing their little tasks they have to do.”
Thursday’s attraction is a Nutcracker performance by the Vallejo Ballet School. The concert will begin at 5
p.m, and cost for admission to the park is $3.
“We still have a very good relationship with the Vallejo Ballet School and it’s always nice to see all the little girls in their costumes,” Seymour said. “Plus, who doesn’t like the Nutcracker? Even if it rains on Thursday, we’ll make sure they all get up there on the stage because they like it so much.”
Finally, Friday will feature an artificial snow day with fake snow planted throughout the park. There will be two areas with the fake snow, one area for toddlers and one for kids a little older. There will be family craft stations as well. The cost for this day is $6.
On Tuesday night, some fake snow was coming out of a few snowmen, and many kids enjoyed running around in it.
“I love the snow here,” 8-year-old Sidney said. “It got all in my hair!”
Sidney’s foster mom, Jennifer Belleville, also enjoyed the event.
“We’ve lived here for 10 years but I’ve never been to this event. The lights here at night, wow, they really do a good job with this,” Belleville said.
Santa, who also goes by Scot Harvest, entertained guests with magic and photo opportunities. At one point he guided one child to a mailbox where Santa said he kept all his letters throughout the year.
“I love seeing the little ones come up to me, but I think the best is the 2- to 3-year-olds that recognize Santa,” Harvest said. “They are in shock and overcome with emotion. Then they come over and pull on the beard and it all becomes real to them.”
The park is open from 4 to 8 p.m. each day for the holiday activities.