Winterfest 2017 kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Zelasko Park in downtown Aberdeen when Aberdeen Mayor Erik Larson and members of the Winterfest committee deliver their welcoming addresses.
The Winterfest trolley will drop off the Robert Gray Glee Club at 5:45 p.m., then be available to shuttle people through the downtown corridor between the park and the corner of Wishkah and Broadway for free. More than 30 downtown businesses will be open late, and will each have a raffle item up for grabs. Raffle tickets are free.
Santa arrives at 6 p.m. on an Aberdeen Fire Department truck. Free cookies and cocoa provided by the Aberdeen Parks Department will be available when the switch is flipped for the tree lighting at 6:10 p.m. Businesses will be open until 8 p.m., with carolers working their way through downtown to sing holiday songs as you shop. The old fashioned trolley will shuttle shoppers until 8:30 p.m.
Saturday morning the popular Breakfast with Santa starts at 9 a.m. at the D&R Events Center at 122 E. Heron. The breakfast is free for kids up to 12 years old; for others a donation is suggested. The meal is sponsored by Windermere Real Estate, supplemented by Swanson’s Grocery, prepared by the Aberdeen Lions Club and served by World Class Scholars. The latter group is made up of Aberdeen students who complete a portfolio detailing their community service, activities and goals through their education and can qualify for a scholarship to Grays Harbor College.
During the breakfast, which runs to 11 a.m., kids can make a candy cane reindeer, decorate a gift bag, and the first 100 will receive a home project courtesy of Home Depot. There will also be a place where kids can write a letter to Santa on official Winterfest stationary. Santa himself will be on hand from 10 a.m. to noon and again from 1 to 3 p.m. for pictures, which cost a $10 donation to the Grays Harbor Community Hospital Foundation.
The holiday market opens at 10 a.m. There will be 40-plus vendors located in the old Goldberg’s Furniture Store location at 117 W. Wishkah, and the first 200 visitors will receive a free commemorative shopping bag. The market will also have free drawing items. As a matter of fact, if you put in for a drawing Friday, you can go back to that same business Saturday and put in another free ticket. The market will be open until 3 p.m., when drawing winners will be announced. You do not have to be present to win.
Organizers refer to activities downtown as taking place at the North Pole, as opposed to activities at the South Pole – the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, which is a new participant in Winterfest this year. The Seaport’s maiden Winterfest voyage starts at 2 p.m. There will be crafts, and Grays Harbor PAWS will be there sponsoring a pets’ picture with Santa. Visitors can check out the new gift shop at Seaport headquarters, 500 W. Custer St. in South Aberdeen, and take a tour of the Spar Shop, where what is believed to be the world’s largest wood lathe will soon be turning out ship masts and custom wood pieces.
The Seaport festivities continue through 8 p.m. Captain Kringle will read a maritime story, a large Christmas tree decorated courtesy the Dennis Company will be lit on the dock shortly after sunset and there will be cider and hot cocoa, along with pizza and hot dogs for purchase. There will also be collection bins for winter clothes for the Salvation Army and a toy drive for the Aberdeen Lions Club.
For more information on Winterfest, visit winterfestaberdeen.com.
Winterfest co-organizer Bette Worth places a poster inside the Winterfest Market site at 117 W. Wishkah. (Kat Bryant | The Daily World)
The first 200 visitors to the Winterfest Market on Friday will receive a free commemorative shopping bag, shown by event co-organizer Bobbi McCracken. (Kat Bryant | The Daily World)
A table is stacked with materials for the Winterfest Market as the organizers set up the space on Wednesday. (Kat Bryant | The Daily World)
