By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Parks and Recreation Department held Christmas in the Park celebration on Tuesday evening, featuring free Santa pictures and family family-friendly activities at booths run by various city departments and activities at booths run by different city departments and city organizations.
The free event was brought back and expanded after a seven-year hiatus, according to Ashley Wilson, who is the city’s Special Events Coordinator. The last time the city held an event like this, with pictures with Santa and the opportunity to visit with the different city departments, was in 2018, she said.
“We pretty much have revamped it,” she said. “It used to be years and years and years ago at the library, and they used to kind of have the city departments come out, and they had Santa and some figurines and stuff like that, and then we got away from it. So, we kind of wanted to bring something like that back with the newly built walking trail. We definitely wanted to do something around the walking trail so that people can walk the trail and actually enjoy the lights.”
The various activities included the free pictures with Santa, letters to Santa at the Parks and Recreation table, free cookies at the Golf Course table, hot cocoa and wassail at the Public Library table, face painting by the local chapter of the International Order of the Rainbow Girls, scratch ornaments at the Chamber of Commerce table, cookie decorating at the Economic Development Corporation table, ornament crafts from recycled material at the Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful table, along with other activities at the tables for the City Secretary and the Water and Utilities departments.
At the Utilities Department table, city employees handed out cookies and hot chocolate and also had an elf scavenger hunt for kids, with winners receiving a prizes and a medal.
Naja Ford, with Utility Administration, said she enjoyed coming out and showing what services the department offers.
“I love it. I really think that it’s neat that we were able to put this on and that we had such a great turnout,” Ford said.
There were also vendors selling lemonade, kettle corn, and light-up toys. Another popular station at the event was the Touch a Truck, where several city department vehicles were parked and available for kids to see vehicles such as a police car, firetruck, ambulance, garbage truck, and more, up close and interact with them.
Wilson said that seeing the community’s response to the event was great. She added that Copperas Cove families typically have to travel elsewhere for a stroll through Christmas lights, going to other events such as the Lights on the Creek in Lampasas or the Walkway of Lights in Marble Falls.
“I think it’s great just to have it here locally, especially with the walking trail, so that people can just come take their kids out on a random night and just come and stroll underneath the trees and look at the different lights and the big Christmas tree over there,” Wilson said.
The Christmas lights and decorations will remain in City Park through January 8. Wilson said that the plan is to have the park decorated and lit up from Thanksgiving through the New Year in the future.
Wilson added that this project is something that will require community support and sponsorships to sustain, as it is not budgeted for.
“It’s more of kind of like the community is also investing into it as well,” she said.
Public Relations Director Kevin Keller gave kudos to Wilson and the Copperas Cove Parks and Recreation Department for their hard work on this event.
“I would like to just say a huge thank you to Ashley Wilson and the Parks and Rec team for putting this event together and investing in our parks for the future of our community,” Keller said.
Xiomy Santiago and Mario Romero brought their twin 8-month-old daughters to Christmas in the Park, stopping to take pictures along the walking trail with the various decorations.
“It’s their first time celebrating Christmas, their first time meeting Santa, which was so nice,” Santiago said. “It’s really nice. We actually just moved here eight months ago. I’m from Chicago. We haven’t experienced things like this in a really long time.”
Romero added that it is really nice that the city offered an event like this that was free for the community, especially the pictures with Santa.
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