Are you ready for some Santa?
The Watonga Chamber of Commerce’s annual Downtown Sparkle and Spree and Light Parade will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday night.
The event will be located on Main Street and Centennial park.
Downtown businesses will be open late. There will be cookies and hot cocoa, a food truck, music, hayrides, pictures with Santa, a float contest and a toy drive.
For more information, call the chamber at 580- 623-5452
One change this year due to COVID-19 is children won’t sit on Santa’s lap.
“They can sit next to him,” Dayla Luetkemeyer, executive director of the Chamber. “Santa will be wearing a face shield” for safety precautions.
The hayride will feature a ride around the block in downtown. The chamber is working to make sure social distancing is taking place on the hayrides as a safety measure, Luetkemeyer said.
The Light Parade will kick off the event on 6 p.m. The parade will feature vehicles decorated with festive Christmas lights, or people decorated with lights walking the parade route.
The parade will start on Weigle and turn on to Main Street and continue to Centennial Park, then turn onto and end on Leach.
There will be prizes for best floats; first place will win $100, second $75 and third $50.
“I think people are eager to get out of the house and do something,” Luetkemeyer said. Centers for Disease Control guidelines suggest outside activities with proper social distancing are more than safe, she added.
“Be sure to shop local. Businesses on Main Street will be open late.”
There will be five $100 prizes given away on Dec. 23 for people spend $50 at a downtown business. People will get a ticket for every $50 they spend. The giveaway starts on Friday night.
“You’ll have a couple of weeks to shop downtown and hit the local boutiques,” Luetkemeyer said.