Throughout the holiday season, the Owatonna community has had the opportunity to hold different family friendly events. The events include: the Lighted Holiday Parade and the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train. This brings a chance to show holiday spirit throughout the town.
On Friday Dec. 1, Downtown Owatonna hosted its annual Lighted Holiday Parade. Different businesses and organizations decorate floats with hundreds of Christmas lights. The parade started at 6 p.m. on North Cedar Avenue and made its way down and around Central Park. Around 100 floats participated in the parade. After they made their way past Central Park they were able to be judged to win different prizes. The three volunteer judges sat in Central Park to make their decisions. The second place winner was Mineral Springs Brewery, and they won 75 dollars of Chamber bucks. Their float consisted of Christmas trees built out of kegs. The first place winner was Life Fitness. Their Barbie themed float had Barbie working out on equipment painted in pink. They won a travel trophy and 100 dollars of chamber bucks.
Senior Halle Oldefendt got to ride on the Rachel’s Light float. Oldefendt said, “The holiday parade was a very cool experience. There were so many floats and so many people from our community supporting.” After the parade, people moved to Central Park to countdown the lighting of the lights and watch the OHS Carolers sing.
Another opportunity to show holiday spirit was attending the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train. The train has been making its way around Canada and the U.S. since 1999, celebrating its 25th year. It brings awareness to food banks and all they do for their communities. Over the years, the CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City) has raised over 22 million dollars and more than 5 million pounds of food.
The train stopped near the Owatonna Bus Company on Wednesday, Dec. 6. Community Pathways was receiving non-perishable items and monetary donations. There was also coffee, cider, and hot chocolate being served. Before the train came, people could stand around a bonfire and listen to the Carolers while Santa walked around handing out candy canes to all the kids. The train pulled in around 3:40 p.m. and held live music. Samantha Ashton said, “It was super festive and fun to see all the lights and decorations.”
This year’s singers included Breland and Tenille Townes. In between their performances, Community Pathways was presented with 5,000 dollars and Mayor Thomas Kuntz thanked the community for coming out and helping give back.
Throughout Owatonna, the community is able to host a variety of different holiday events. To find more information on what goes on, the event calendar can be found at Visit Owatonna.
