CAMDEN — Organization Camden Comeback hosted its first Christmas in the Village on Saturday, Nov. 30. The event was sponsored by Wood Propane and featured cookies, cocoa, carolers, and visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
The event was supposed to be held in Bicentennial Park with Santa lighting the park, however, it was moved due to the rain. The park was still lit, displaying reindeer and other decorations. Santa traveled by police cruiser from Town Hall to the First Southern Baptist Church activity center.
There, First Southern Baptist Church carolers entertained the crowd gathered as they stood in line to meet with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
According to Camden Comeback member Debbie Hickman, the town hasn’t held a holiday event in several years, though they have celebrated in the past. They wanted to host an event to bring the community together and celebrate the holiday season.
“This event is good for community spirit. A lot of kids get to go to the mall or other events to see Santa, but we have some kids who don’t have a way and this opens up a door for everybody to get to see Santa,” she said.
“Camden Comeback is about a lot of things — we want to bring our town forward, but we also want to keep old traditions and create new traditions. This is just one phase of our group, we have many parts of the Camden Comeback.”
Ultimately, while they were disappointed they had to move the event from Bicentennial Park, Hickman is happy with the turn out and the first Christmas in the Village.
“We’re happy with the turnout. I think it would have been better in the park, because people would have stopped after seeing the [festivities], but having to move it to the church, we’re very happy with how it turned out. We want to host this again in the future,” she said.
