Dozens of community members, Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson, Santa Claus, Homewood-Flossmoor Park District employees and the Flossmoor Firebirds gathered at Flossmoor Park for the village’s annual holiday tree-lighting ceremony on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 9.
Community members roasted marshmallows over a bonfire, made s’mores, drank hot cocoa with candy canes and took photos with Santa Claus before the tree-lighting ceremony.
Stephanie Zuba-Bates, China Howard and Myisha Toliver, parents of the Flossmoor Firebirds, an organization of traveling baseball teams for kids, sold marshmallows, s’mores supplies and hot cocoa inside Park Place
“I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if a lot of people will come out because of the snow,’” said Toliver, whose son plays shortstop and second base for the Firebirds. “But it doesn’t really seem to be a deterrent.”
Griffin Wiegand, a 5-year-old Flossmoor resident, visits with Santa during the Flossmoor holiday celebration on Nov. 29. (Nick Ulanowski / H-F Chronicle)
The 8.4 inches that fell that day were the highest single-day November snowfall on record in the Chicago metro area, according to weather.gov.
Gabe Gacsko, a maintenance worker with the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, shoveled snow onto the area under the bonfire to clean up the park.
The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District set up a craft table inside Park Place. Kids made holiday tree ornaments out of paper, clay, tiny top hats, Santa hats and red string. The black outer layer of the paper could be scratched off with wooden sticks, revealing a rainbow of colors underneath, allowing them to sign their names on the ornaments.
“It’s something for the kids to do to get in the holiday spirit,” said Zak Kerby, the recreation supervisor for the Park District. “It’s molding clay. So, the kids get to make their own — the arms, the eyes, all the things.”
Parents took photos of their children sitting on Santa’s lap. He sat on a green and white chair in front of the fireplace.
Christmas carols played on the speaker.
Nelson gave a speech to the crowd while holding taped-together pieces of printer paper labeled “the Nice List.” Santa stood next to her during the speech.
“Flossmoor Public Library and the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District had an amazing week of gathering food for Rich and Bloom Township pantries that are in desperate need,” Nelson said. “Thank you to everybody who showed up, showed out and donated bins and bins of food for them. That was a big success.”
Nelson also thanked the Firebirds, the Park District, the Flossmoor Business Association, the village board, other village officials, Flossmoor Police, Flossmoor Fire, the Flossmoor Green Commission and the Public Art Commission.
“I get up in the morning, and I think how lucky I am and how excited I am to see all of you. You really do make it feel like Christmas,” Nelson said.
The crowd counted down from five to one. Santa pulled a lever painted red and white like a candy cane, turning on the holiday lights on a large tree in Flossmoor Park. Community members cheered and clapped.
“It was so much fun tonight. Kids were building snowmen or snow people. They were having snowball fights,” Nelson said. “It was kind of dreamy.”
