Santa Claus is Coming...To Tigard

With it being three weeks before St. Nicholas makes his pilgrimage across the world to deliver joy and hope to young and old, his shiny red sleigh is at the North Pole Sleigh Shop getting tuned up and ready for the big event. So when Santa needed transportation to attend the 7th Annual Tigard Christmas Tree Lighting in Liberty Park, the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue District stepped up and substituted Santa's red sleigh with a shiny red firetruck.

In between holiday music sung by the Mitch Charter School Choir, Santa and Mrs. Claus greeted the enthusiastic crowd and led the countdown for the tree lighting. As the count hit three...two...one...zero, the star inexplainably failed to light. Being the resourceful person he is, Santa quickly jumped into the bucket of the Tualatin Valley firetruck's extension ladder. The firefighters raised him towards the Christmas Star where Santa applied some Christmas magic to get the star lit to the joy of the onlookers.

After the ceremony, Santa and Mrs. Claus were hosts to children and their parents, providing cookies, hot chocolate and lemonade as they listened to Christmas wishes at the Tigard Fitness Center. It was a fun event to cover for the Tigard-Tualatin Times.