Although it was a frigid 21 degrees at Portage’s Christmas parade and tree lighting ceremony on December 7, many people still ventured out into the cold to ring in the holiday season with the city.
The parade, which began at 3:30 p.m., lined up in the parking lot of Aylesworth Elementary and Willowcreek Middle School and traveled to Gilbert Park. There were over 15 groups participating with the parade according to Event Coordinator Lori Wilkie.
“I love this day,” Wilkie said. “It’s Portage’s way of kicking off the Christmas season, and with the lighting of the park, it’s just a fun way to start off the Christmas holiday in the city.”
This was Wilkie’s second year supervising the holiday festivity. Since the parade works with Toys for Tots, Portage waits until after the organization’s chili luncheon, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., before starting the parade.
One of the participating groups was the Willowcreek Middle School’s choir. They sang Christmas carols as they walked the parade, as well as afterward at Gilbert Park.
“Christmas music is a lot more jolly than some other music that we sing, so I really like it,” said sixth grade choir student Sarah Lackey.
At the very end of the parade, Santa and Mrs. Claus rode atop a fire truck.
Unfortunately, the Claus’ themselves were unable to personally attend the parade, as they are currently preparing for Christmas up in their North Pole workshop, so Santa’s helpers, Randy and Robin Wilkening, stood in as doubles for the famous couple instead.
Randy Wilkening portrayed Santa for his sixth time. This was Robin Wilkening’s first year assisting Mrs. Claus, although she has been involved with the group that helps organize it, Pride of Portage, since the parade’s beginning 18 years ago.
According to Robin Wilkening, the parade began because two business owners, one from Portage Commons and one from the Portage Mall, decided to work together so that their holiday festivities would not conflict with one another.
“It was the north side of the city and the south side of the city that came together to have Santa come one time to see all the kids,” Robin Wilkening said.
Randy Wilkening said the parade used to run from Kyle Elementary School to City Hall, but after the trees in front of the city hall came down with disease and had to be removed, Mayor Jim Snyder rerouted the parade to its current starting and stopping points.
“The reason I joined Pride of Portage was because they were starting the Christmas parade; I’m all about Christmas,” said Robin Wilkening. “I love it. It’s my favorite holiday and, I just had a talk with our mayor, I would die if this ever went away, because I think kids love this.”
She also enjoyed her new role of being Mrs. Claus in the parade.
“Just having Mrs. Claus here today was so neat because some of the kids that are afraid of Santa, some of the little girls, just came up to me and gave me a big hug like I was their best friend,” Wilkening said. “It was the most heartwarming experience I’ve ever had. [Randy and I] haven’t had little ones for a long time, so it’s really nice to give back to the community and the other kids.”
Another special treat for the children was getting to listen to Portage police officer Joe Mokol read aloud his published book, Bottom Shelf Elf, which is about a little elf who saw the Three Wise Men giving gifts to Jesus and helped convert the North Pole into a toy factory instead of a shoe factory.
“When [my kids] were little, we always used to make a birthday cake for Jesus and sing him happy birthday, and when my son was about five or six he asked me, ‘Well, if Christmas is because of Jesus’s birthday, where did Santa Claus come from?’ So I did the research, and I found out it was because of the ‘bottom shelf’ elf that Santa Claus came to be,” Mokol explained. “After doing the research I compiled it all for him and made a little book.”
The book was published three years ago, and he began reading the story in the year after.
As a whole, the participants of the Christmas Parade enjoy the holiday cheer to spread through the community.
“It’s a great way for our community to spend time with each other,” Wilkie said.
Robin Wilkening agrees.
“I think it’s nice that everybody can get together and celebrate the season and the reason for the season, and just have a good time and be a big family,” Wilkening said. “That’s ultimately what Portage is. They’re a big community. They’re a big city, but they’re still a little town in their heads.”
Click here to see more photos from the event!