Grafton – Over 40 businesses, churches and organizations in Grafton will be offering holiday entertainment, activities, refreshments, crafts and more Sunday, Dec. 2, during the 23rd annual Grafton Celebrates the Holidays event.
Look for the “Frosty Stop” snow bear logo at participating locations. Many stops are perennial favorites such as the horse-drawn wagon rides at the Brigham Hill Community Barn, the Craft and Vendor Fair at the Municipal Center gym, the petting zoo and Santa’s workshop at Savers Bank, the Polar Express trackless train rides at UniBank, photos with Santa at Homefield Credit Union, and letter-writing to Santa at the Grafton Fire Department.
Many other stops return year after year, including Houlden Farm, who has homemade popcorn, stocking stuffers, and your holiday greens; Bushel ‘N Peck, serving up complimentary chicken noodle soup; and Anzio’s Brick Oven Pizza that offers $2 cheese slices.
Others are new this year, such as Beatz Dance Studio giving open line dancing instruction; Murphy Academy of Irish Dance offering tea, soda bread, steps and an Irish ornament; Reunion Tap & Table serving up pretzels and cocoa, and Premier Sport Taekwondo with an obstacle course, board breaking and dodgeball.
Special holiday performances will also be taking place at the Unitarian Universalist Society with a performance of “A Christmas Carol” at 12:30 and 1 p.m. and a holiday concert at 2:30 p.m. at Apple Tree Arts in the Great Hall of the Grafton Town House.
As always, Santa will be making his arrival on the Common for the official tree-lighting ceremony and sing-along. You can join along with caroling by the Girl Scouts at 4 p.m., then enjoy music by guitarist Mike Tarara before Santa arrives around 4:30 p.m., then continue with caroling until the tree-lighting at approximately 4:45 p.m.
Make sure to take advantage of the trolley to ease parking and traffic flow; it will run from the main parking area at Grafton High School to Koopman’s Plaza and the Common for easy access to some of the most popular Frosty Stops.
The Recreation Department as well as Savers Bank and the Grafton Fire Department also collect toys to assist the Grafton Food Bank in their holiday distribution to families in need. You may drop off a new, unwrapped toy to one of these locations by Friday, Dec. 14.
Follow Grafton Recreation on Facebook at @GraftonRecDept for highlights leading up to the big day and a live feed on the day of. For detailed times and event descriptions and locations, pick up a brochure at participating businesses or visit GraftonRec.com.
