DEARBORN, Mo. — Christmas officially returned to one small Platte County town over the weekend.
Organizers helped rejuvenate the annual Christmas in Dearborn festival after the event had gone on a hiatus. Hundreds showed up Saturday, Dec. 3 to the Dearborn Community Center and Dearborn Area Fire Protection District station for the largest holiday celebration for the city in years.
The Dearborn Community Betterment Association worked the past few months to bring back this event that ended about a decade earlier due to lack of support. Community members still had great memories from years past and wanted to try and bring that feeling back to Dearborn.
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
Santa holds two-month-old Wyatt Dunn of Dearborn, Mo.
“We started talking one night at a meeting and people started talking about how much they missed this, how much they really enjoyed it and so we thought okay, let’s try and bring it back,” Breanna Cheadle said. “The biggest thing is that in this day and age its social media and digital and electronics and we really wanted to try and do something to get people out.”
Local vendors brought in crafts, homemade soaps, home décor and clothing for sale at the community center, while the fire department continued its recent tradition of Cookies with Santa. An estimated 125 kids went through the line to talk with the man in the red suit and have their picture taken with him in front of a fire truck.
“We decided the kids in this area still needed to have Santa Claus and so that’s what we did and we made it happen,” Dearborn Area Fire Protection District assistant chief Raymond Swanstone said. “It’s real nice, the town is coming together.”
While both events are separated by Maple Leaf Avenue, they were both working together for the same reasons. A late donation also helped revive the tradition of the “Mayor’s Christmas Tree,” which was officially lit on Wednesday, Nov. 30 ahead of the celebration.
The combined efforts may have created a new tradition.
“We didn’t want to take away from the firemen because they picked up where Christmas in Dearborn left off,” Cheadle said, “and we did not want to intrude on their event at all. Their event is wonderful.”
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
Cindy Johnson of Platte City applies glitter to a child’s hand during Chirstmas in Dearborn on Saturday, Dec. 3 in Dearborn, Mo.