Dec 4, 2013 3 min read

Canonsburg has been keeping Christmas “old-fashioned” for over two decades, but the community’s annual holiday celebration will see some changes this year. In previous years, Canonsburg’s holiday festivities kicked off with a Santa luncheon and light-up night on Friday, Old-Fashioned Christmas on Saturday and live nativity on Sunday. But for the first time this Saturday, the Old-Fashioned Christmas event will compress three days of holiday festivities into one day-long extravaganza. “We wanted to bring everything together and make one grand event,” said Steven Parkhill, pastor of South Canonsburg Church and a representative from the Canonsburg-Houston Ministerial Association.

Anita Brecosky, executive administrator of Greater Canonsburg Chamber of Commerce, said combining all activities would make it easier for locals to attend.

“We were really asking the community to give up three days of a prime holiday weekend, so we decided we were going to combine them all into one day rather than making people choose which event to attend,” Brecosky said.

The event is sponsored by Canonsburg Borough, the chamber of commerce, ministerial association, senior citizens center, fire department, library and several local businesses. Brecosky said the event used to be organized by Our Town Cooperative, and long before that, it was sponsored by Canonsburg Merchants and Professionals Organization.

Although the celebration no longer features a parade or a llama-pulled carriage – courtesy of newspaper archives from 1997 – most activities have remained the same throughout the years. The festivities will begin at 10 a.m. with a craft and vendor fair inside the St. Patrick Church cafeteria, followed by a Santa luncheon at 11 a.m. at the senior citizens center. Local musical and vocal groups will begin performing in the borough lot at 11 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m., at which time the Christmas tree will be lit by Mayor David Rhome and Santa. The live nativity, sponsored by the ministerial association, will take place between 6 and 8 p.m. Also throughout the day, there will be craft-making for children, fire department tours, free hot chocolate and a spirit of Christmas contest for residents and businesses to show off their decorating skills. A trolley will make trips from the borough lot to Sarris Candies to St. Patrick Church. Brecosky said she hopes it will spur holiday shopping at local businesses.

“In the past, they did a small train ride for the kids in the parking lot, or they did a horse-drawn hayride around one block of the town,” she said. “What we wanted to do this year is give people a larger, expansive Canonsburg to experience other than what’s happening right at the event itself.”

Rhome said he and others have encouraged business owners to keep their doors open and engage with the community this Saturday.

“I’m very pleased with the commercial part of our business area,” Rhome said. “Whatever we can do to make it even more special, that’s my obligation.”