Canonsburg looks a lot like Christmas
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Entries are shown in last year’s gingerbread house competition, which is part of Canonsburg’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Grammy-nominated accordionist Kevin Solecki strolled downtown Canonsburg Saturday afternoon during the town’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration. The two-day event featured several musical performers, vendors, food trucks, and a Christmas parade.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration included a corporate gingerbread house competition and fundraiser. This year’s competition was won for the second time by All Ways Safe Flagging and Traffic Control, which created a Peanuts-themed house.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Visitors to Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration enjoyed getting photos taken by the antique Ford truck that sat in the middle of town. Here, McMurray residents Don Kreutzer and Colleen Kreutzer, and their daughter, Cathryn, pose in the bed of the truck last year.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Last year, the Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas celebration featured a synthetic ice skating rink. Children donned skates and kids who weren’t as steady on the blades had an optional skate helper to help them keep balance.
Lynleigh Harris, 2, waits for the Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade to begin last year. Thousands lined Pike Street as floats, bands, dancers, and more passed along the parade route.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Throughout last year’s Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas parade, children, including this group of friends, carried Christmas-themed lighted wands, collected candy that was tossed along the route by parade participants, and sang along to Christmas carols.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
New Horizons Majorettes were among the more than 40 units that participated in the Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade Saturday night. The town was transformed into a winter wonderland for the kick-off of the Christmas season. The Canonsburg Fourth of July committee organized the parade, which delighted the thousands who attended.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop float was one of several floats that participated in the Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade in 2021.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas committee float winds its way along Pike Street during Canonsburg’s Christmas parade on Saturday.
To paraphrase a classic Christmas carol, there’s no place like Canonsburg for the holidays.
The borough – renowned for its annual Fourth of July Parade and Oktoberfest celebration – kicked off the Christmas season with a Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas, highlighted by a Christmas parade Saturday night that featured lighted floats, marching bands, a horse-drawn carriage, firetrucks and police cars bedecked with lights, and Santa and Mrs. Claus.
There were no lawn chairs – July 4 parade-goers famously set out seating days in advance – but thousands of visitors lined the Christmas parade route along Pike Street, bundled in jackets or wrapped in blankets, sipping hot chocolate and coffee and munching on pizza, bacon sticks, and other food from food trucks and vendors.
Sydney Farrell of Canonsburg sat on the curb, huddled under a blanket with her son, Maddox McIntosh and her mother, Raina Farrell, while a family friend, Charlie Kelley, 2, waved a lighted Christmas tree wand as the parade got underway.
“We’re having a really good time,” said Raina Farrell. “It’s good to be out and about. It feels like the holiday again.”
Before the parade began, Maddox and Charlie got their photos taken with Santa Claus in the North Pole, and Farrell browsed downtown stores and vendors, whose tents filled parking lots.
Ron and Davonna Black of Washington accompanied their grandchildren, Lynleigh and Hattie Harris, and the children’s parents, Calina and Scott Harris.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Davonna Black. “Lynleigh wanted to see the parade and see Santa Claus. It’s a perfect night for a Christmas parade. It’s perfect weather.”
The parade included more than 40 units. Mascots from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Washington Wild Things high-fived children, while the Grinch, despite being as cuddly as a cactus, waved at the crowd.
The Canon-McMillan High School band, dressed in Christmas attire and playing lighted instruments, played Christmas carols.
The parade was only part of the fun visitors enjoyed. The two-day affair also included musical entertainment, a community gingerbread house competition at Frank Sarris Library, a corporate gingerbread competition and fundraiser on display along a portion of Pike Street near the library (the 15 businesses who participated were tasked with decorating a 4-foot by 4-foot wooden house, with proceeds going toward the Christmas celebration), face painting, a synthetic ice skating rink, and a holiday market featuring more than 50 vendors.
“We are a town of celebrations, and Christmas is such an important celebration,” said Lisa Scarmazzi, chairperson of the Old-Fashioned Christmas committee. “We were thrilled with the weekend and happy to welcome everyone to our town, and we loved seeing the joy on everybody’s faces. This is a close-knit community where people care about each other, and we’re happy this event gives us an opportunity to show what our community is about.”
Downtown Canonsburg – which has been recognized by VisitPA as one the the state’s top 10 Hallmark-esque towns to visit during the holidays – looked like a winter wonderland, with storefronts decorated with lights and festive window displays.
In front of the borough building stood a 20-foot-tall Christmas tree, lit and decorated with Hallmark ornaments donated by the Hallmark Channel in 2018.
Families flocked to an antique Ford truck parked near Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop and loaned by Rob and Paula Vietmeier, where they posed for photos.
Many communities, including Canonsburg, had to cancel or adapt traditional seasonal festivities last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so visitors were happy to get out to celebrate the season.
Melissa Albert traveled from Jefferson Hills with her son, Sam, and a group of youngsters after she heard about the event.
“It’s awesome, the whole thing,” said Albert, as she settled in to watch the parade. “We got here earlier, and we’ve done everything and seen everything that we can. We’ve checked it all out. We’re glad we came down.”