It’s uncertain what sort of connections Downtown Aberdeen Association had to make in order to get Santa Claus to interrupt his preparations for his worldwide travels with Christmas Eve about three weeks away, but they managed to get the jolly old elf to downtown Aberdeen on Saturday for Winterfest.

The results were as fun as you’d hope they’d be with children and their parents smiling while they sat with the red-suited St. Nick at Messy Jessy’s Bar and Grill — 212 S. I St. While the excitement was to see Mr. Claus, he also had nice words to say about Winterfest.

“I think it’s fun,” Santa said. “I’m here every year. I enjoy it and the kids get pictures. Everyone gets breakfast. It’s a good time.”

To make it a better time, Rick and Amy Moyer, of Moyer Multimedia (MMM), captured the happy moments of each child meeting the man who takes a sleigh powered by eight reindeer across seven continents to bring them gifts. Rick said in two hours he and Amy took more than 190 photos. But they’re happy to do it. It’s their way of giving back to Grays Harbor. Plus, they also got to hang out with Santa.

“What I love about Santa is regardless of how many children are in line, he takes the time to talk to each of them about what they want for Christmas,” Rick said.

Santa sounded just as impressed by Grays Harbor — a place he’s visited in December for hundreds of years.

“It’s a unique place. There’s nothing else like it in the world,” Santa said. “It’s wild, it’s wet, it’s cold, it’s green, it’s luscious, it’s gorgeous, it’s Grays Harbor.”

Taryn Veloni and her family enjoyed themselves as she, her husband and their sons Abram and LJ got to sit with Santa. They’re happy to have Winterfest in Aberdeen.

“We’re so impressed with the DAA,” Taryn said. “The boys love it. I didn’t know what to expect, but they have really blown us away.”

Tammy Ellis was also glad to see her three-year-old grandson Mason meet Santa, as well as enjoy the pancakes, ham and Sunny Delight.

“It’s very nice,” Ellis said. “It’s fun for the kids. The pancake breakfast was very good. The kids ate way better than I thought they would.”

Back in the kitchen and restaurant portion of Messy Jessy’s, volunteers from the Aberdeen and Central Park Lions clubs worked hard to prepare and serve the pancakes and ham. According to Judi Hubbard, a Central Park Lions Club member, the clubs served approximately 131 adults and 130 children. To feed those hungry families, the clubs went through 28 pounds of ham.

“I couldn’t tell you how many pancakes we served,” said Hubbard, who also noted the clubs served more at Winterfest this year than last year.

Hubbard thanked the owner of the restaurant, Jessy Knutson.

“Jessy was a big help,” Hubbard said.

Jessy said she liked seeing all the children and families. This is the second year Messy Jessy’s has hosted the holiday breakfast.

“We’re better set up this year,” Knutson said as a line of people was ushered from the establishment’s stairs to the breakfast food. “We have a better flow. I know they’re slaving away in the kitchen.”

Jessy said with a smile and a laugh that she “loves the look on babies’ faces because they give blank stares,” and how she was “glad I’ve got the remote for the Touchtunes (jukebox) so I can annoy them with Christmas music.”

Wil Russoul, director of DAA, was in attendance as well. He was there with his wife Kristi and their two granddaughters. They walked through snow in front of Messy Jessy’s. That was the one bit of precipitation that fell over downtown Aberdeen during Winterfest.

“I absolutely loved it,” Russoul said. “I loved that they catered the breakfast to families and kids. And the snow. Who doesn’t want to see snow, walk upstairs and then see Santa?”

Holiday Market

Across the street, 37 vendors filled the D&R Event Center in order to sell their wares. And from what Bobbi McCracken, of DAA, had to say, the market was a success.

“Ninety percent of them said they did very, very well,” said McCracken, who also is a major help with Aberdeen’s Summerfest. “One vendor called me last night wanting a Summerfest registration.”

And by McCracken’s count, she and the other volunteers at the market handed out 250 tote bags. But they weren’t just leaving with the bags as souvenirs.

“It was nice to see them going out the door filled,” McCracken said.

One of the vendors — Larry Morgan, owner of Larry’s Lemons and Corn — spoke about his experience at the Holiday Market.

“I’ve been here since 7:30 a.m. and open since 9,” Morgan said. “It’s a nice crowd so far today.”

Morgan, at about noon, had sold about 40 bags of homemade kettle corn. He only had about 20 bags left at that time. In addition to that, he was selling fresh, thirst-quenching lemonade with a variety of flavor choices. While he had only gone through three lemons at the time, he was in high spirits. And by the end of the day, according to McCracken, Morgan sold “a lot of lemonade and a lot of popcorn.”

“He said he did really well,” McCracken said.

At the market, McCracken was selling tickets for the raffle, which featured a few large prizes, including a Playstation 5 and accessories for the game console.

On Monday, McCracken shared how the Winterfest raffle raised $2,250. She also shared who won the prizes.

Side One Studios won the Playstation 5, plus accessories

Jeri Roten won the Moyer Multimedia photo package

Side One Studios won the Les Schwab gift card

Reece Donley won the gas gift card from Q-Mart and the Swanson’s grocery gift card

Marci Vorren won the pillow from Mattress Ranch

McCracken said her favorite part of the day was “seeing this many people come to downtown Aberdeen,” and how it makes her “feel good.”

McCracken said “probably a good 1,500 people came through between all three of the venues,” which included the breakfast, holiday market and the space with the gingerbread houses.

Gingerbread houses

Candy architects, and possible future architects, showed their creativity and skill with colorful gingerbread houses in quite the festive space just east of Go Get the Pho — 100 E. Heron St.

In addition to the houses displayed, there were images of Santa, snowflakes and other fun, wintry signs that lit the space’s ceiling. But the houses themselves ther were the stars.

One of the houses, by Fritz-Tyler Boyd, an Aberdeen eighth grader, wowed many people. Boyd worked on his house — a space shuttle — with his friend Tyler. Boyd, who’s house won the “People’s Choice” honor, shared in a few words about what led to the outside-the-box idea.

“We were going to do a skyscraper, but we decided to do a space shuttle,” Boyd said. “My friend Tyler did it with me. He’s in seventh grade.”

Near Boyd’s award-winning gingerbread house, there were many other colorful creations that made people stop and stare. Take Madi DenAdel’s pink castle. She won first place in the child category. And then there was Ryder Bland’s second place house. Bland decorated the house with colorful lights around the front door, little candy trees in the front yard and candy cane sticks that lined the pathway to the front door. The house itself was light blue with a brown roof.

As for the businesses to compete in their own gingerbread house competition, the winner there depended on the amount of funds raised. This year, The Tap Room won. The bar raised $794 for Grays Harbor Beyond Survival, a nonprofit that helps victims of sexual assault and sexual abuse.

Other well-done gingerbread houses were Side One Studios, Billy’s Bar and Grill, Windermere Real Estate, Breakwater Seafood and Chowder House and Aberdeen Art Center.

Gwyn Tarrence, Grays Harbor County’s veterans’ ombudsman, really enjoyed herself as she studied the different gingerbread designs. She told Bette Worth, one of the main coordinators for both Winterfest and Summerfest, that Worth and her team of volunteers “outdid” themselves.

Another fun element to the space was the offering of free, hot apple cider and gingerbread cookies.

Recap

Besides the weather behaving — it was supposed to rain all or most of Saturday — McCracken noticed people having a grand old time outside. She loved seeing it because she, and everybody else at DAA, wants to help bring people to downtown Aberdeen.

“It impressed me when I saw the groups of people walking down the street and hugging,” McCracken said. “It showed we’re doing the right thing. We’re bringing people downtown and building community again.”

Worth was “so pleased” with the turnout on Saturday.

“The success is testimony of the support of our community and incredible work of our volunteers,” Worth said.

Tarrence had a smile on her face as she strolled downtown.

“This is awesome,” Tarrence said. “They put a lot of work into (Winterfest). I think they’re so amazing. It’s nice to see so many people in downtown Aberdeen. This is one of my favorite events and I’ve run into people I haven’t seen in months. I love Aberdeen!”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Fritz-Tyler Boyd, an Aberdeen eighth grader, kneels next to the space shuttle gingerbread house that he and his friend Tyler made. The shuttle won Winterfest’s “People’s Choice” vote on Saturday.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World The Goldenaires from Aberdeen High School sang Christmas songs on Saturday afternoon near rows of well-crafted and creative gingerbread houses. From right, Madeline Casey, a junior; Judith Knight, a sophomore; Allie Olague, a sophomore; and Hannah Moline, a sophomore, sing.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World One of the standout business gingerbread houses was Side One Studios candy replica building, done by Dani Bacon, co-owner of the actual building. People stopped and stared at it in order to see all the little details, such as “The Green Room,” on the southwest corner of the building, the Moyer Multimedia logo that is in one of the windows, as well as the urban moss green paint that the much larger building at South K and West Wishkah streets is known for having.