ANNA MARIA – The city hosted its inaugural Santa Stops Here holiday event Friday at City Pier Park.
The city has hosted similar holiday events at the park in past years, but the Santa Stops Here event name is new this year.
The highlight of the event was a visit from Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. Public Works Manager Dean Jones transported Mrs. Claus to the park and Deputy JoAnn Parkinson had the honor of transporting Santa Claus.
“I went to the North Pole to get him,” Parkinson said.
After being greeted by Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy, Santa said, “Thank you for having me. It’s warm down here. No snow.”
Santa then spent more than 90 minutes chatting with the youngsters who came to see him. The line of kids and parents extended from Santa’s throne to Pine Avenue. The youngsters received a small gift bag containing a stuffed animal, a rubber-stamping device and more. After speaking with Santa, 9-year old Jadyn McQuillen said, “He’s wonderful.”
Visiting from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Brian Pleune said, “This is fantastic. It’s a great thing to do.”
Sharing his thoughts on the event, Murphy said, “This is the best holiday event that we’ve had yet. I thought all the other ones were pretty good, but this one has the largest attendance. People are lined up for Santa all the way to Pine Avenue. I’m real thankful to the city staff. They worked so hard to put this together and what an excellent job they did. You can see by all the happy faces on the children that this was a successful event. I’m proud to be part of the city of Anna Maria where we can have such an event.”
City Commission Chair Carol Carter said, “I’m thrilled with the number of people. It’s great to see.”
Commissioner Robert Kingan said, “This place is hopping.”
During the Santa Stops Here event, the winners of the city’s Bright Holiday Lights decorating contest were announced. Carol and Larry Craft repeated as the residential category winners and The Anna Maria General Store won the business category this year after tying with Beach Bums last year.
