POTTSVILLE — The expression on 4-year-old Colson Conville’s face said it all.
Standing near Santa Claus and a real, live reindeer, the Buck Run lad was awestruck Sunday evening at Winter Wonderland in Yuengling Bicentennial Park & Gardens.
It was as if Clement Moore”s “’Twas The Night Before Christmas” had come true, and Santa was actually prepping the reindeer for his Christmas Eve flight.
The incident was part of the magic of the Christmas season evident in the park, a wonderland of twinkling lights, holiday music and the clip-clop of draught horses pulling an old-fashioned wagon.
Mike and Kim Downey and children make a memory at Winter Wonderland in Yuengling Bicentennial Park on Dec. 8, 2024 CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
It was the seventh season for the event, organized by the nonprofit Lasting Legacy for Pottsville Foundation.
“People are looking for a sense of community,” said Tom Palamar, a Lasting Legacy board member. “Things like this help bring that about.”
Unlike the bitter cold of Dec. 1, when the event on consecutive Sundays opened, relatively mild weather made closing night more enjoyable.
“It was so cold last week, I thought I was getting frostbite,” said Palamar, who’s also the City of Pottsville administrator.
Perched on a red chair overlooking the park, Santa greeted visitors entering through a winding walkway etched into the steep hillside.
Youngsters asked Santa for Barbie dolls, cellphones, quads and puppies. Naturally, as always, he asked them if they’d been very good all year long.
David E. Hoover was kind enough to allow Santa to inspect Mitzie, a 2-year-old reindeer who lives at SRF Reindeer Farm in Columbia County.
Mitzie is one of eight reindeer – the same number that’s on Santa’s team in the classic Christmas tale – on the farm. Hoover’s keeping his fingers crossed, but it appears that Mitzie’s going to become a mommy.
With Mitzie was Cowboy Kris, a 6-month-old male who Hoover says will eventually weigh over 400 pounds. They’re fed a special reindeer food developed by the University of Alaska, but both couldn’t resist munching on the park’s dried oak leaves, one of their favorite snacks.
Visitors rode a wagon pulled by a team of horses past brightly lit Victorian houses built by coal barons a century ago in the city’s residential district. Native to France, the Percheron horses were from Running Springs Farm in Spring Glen.
Dancers from Crimson Academy for the Arts in Pottsville and the Schuyljgirlz chorus performed in the park’s plaza.
Santa Claus in Winter Wonderland at Yuengling Bicentennial Park on Dec. 8, 2024. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Originally founded in the 1800s by D. G. Yuengling & Sons brewery, the park was donated by Richard “Dick” Yuengling Jr. to the city in 2005.
An urban green space, the park featured footpaths, wooden bridges, gazebos, waterfalls and gardens.
Mayor Mark Atkinson and city councilman William Messaros attended the event.
“This is Pottsville’s way,” the mayor said, “of sending season’s greetings and holiday cheer to everyone.”