Children were the primary focus of Presque Isle's Olde Fashioned Community Christmas this past weekend. That's only to be expected. For children, this is the most exciting season of the year, and festival planners made sure the kids had lots to do!
At the Township Hall, for example, the Children's Movie Theater offered multiple showings of
Annabelle's Wish, a Disney film, with popcorn aplenty, over both days, and on Sunday an opportunity for bring-your-own-camera photos with Santa. Movie showings were preceded by the reading of a Christmas story.
 |
A Christmas story kept children entertained while waiting
for the movie to begin. |
 |
| This first of four showings attracted both children and adults. |
Ice skating and activities for kids were slated for the fire hall at Presque Isle Fire Department (PIFD), one of two departments serving the township. To explain: Grand Lake — 5,660 acres, 7 miles long, 1.5 miles wide — bisects the township. Traveling across the township requires skirting this large body of water. To keep emergency response times to a minimum, we have
both PIFD on the west side and East Grand Lake Fire Dept. on the east.
Unfortunately, PIFD is somewhat isolated from the main festival venues at the clubhouse and New Lighthouse. In addition, warm weather ruled out ice skating. As a result, few children showed up at the fire hall, but on Sunday several adults gathered there to enjoy excellent food and to celebrate the growing sense of community in the township. PIFD may reschedule the ice skating event (complete with hot chocolate, food, and a bonfire) for mid-winter when people are anxious for something to do!
 |
| A firefighter's daughter makes a paper chain for the tree. |
 |
| PIFD's cheerful personnel line up for a photo. |
One new service offered by Presque Isle Fire Department is the "File of Life." Shortly before I moved away from Grand Haven, one of the local fire departments began distributing these packets which allow a person to list conditions, medications, recent surgeries, information on doctors and insurance, emergency contact numbers, and much more. A magnetic strip on the back of the plastic envelope allows it to be mounted on the refrigerator, making it readily available to EMS crews. This kind of information can save lives during that critical time between an incident and arrival at the hospital. A few months ago I showed the File to Pat Pokorski, the department's manager, and he got the firefighters' approval to have a supply made up for distribution. It's a great public service.
 |
| The File of Life can save your life! |
My next stop on Saturday was Grand Lake Community Chapel, an inter-denominational church serving the Presque Isle area. As in the past, the Chapel hosted an excellent soup-and-salad lunch, with a half-dozen delicious soups available. This was followed by a fine half-hour concert by the Chapel's Bell Choir, and then an hourlong recital by the New Day Singers, a accomplished
a cappella vocal group. Attendance at both musical events was strong.
 |
| The Chapel's ringers performed several Christmas instrumentals. |
 |
| Ringers pay close attention to their music... |
 |
| ...while the audience pays close attention to the ringers! |
 |
| The New Day Singers are introduced before their recital. |
Out at the New Lighthouse, the snowman building contest had been scrubbed because there was no snow! In place of Frosty, we had a flock of pink flamingos which flew in from Florida to enjoy the Olde Fashioned Christmas celebration. Like festival goers, they were decked out for the chilly weather — except, oddly, for the babies! I especially liked the socks!
 |
| The pink flamingos soldiered on through chilly weather. |
When visitors spotted the flamingos, they were anxious to be photographed with the stylishly bundled Floridians. Meanwhile, in Garraty Hall, Santa (aka Dennis, part of the Lake Esau Mafia) was greeting children and posing for photos taken by happy parents. Warm cider and homemade cookies provided nourishment for those waiting to take a horse-drawn carriage ride.
 |
| Dad photographs his daughter with Santa. |
 |
| Each child got a small pre-Christmas gift from Santa. |
More about the weekend tomorrow. •••
Hey there John,
ReplyDeleteYou're really making me realize what a COMMUNITY Presque Isle is - I always saw it more as a slightly declining vacation area. My bad. Very glad you've found such a warm and welcoming place to retire to!!
Hugs,
Marian H.
Good to hear from you, Marian. In fact, there was very little community here, but things are changing under the new township regime. There has been a substantial increase in volunteer work, and a willingness to celebrate what the area has to offer. My best, John
ReplyDelete