Newington Parks And Rec: Holiday House Decorating Contest

Press release from Newington Parks and Recreation:

Dec. 9, 2020

Voting is now up for our annual Holiday House Decorating Contest! We are pleased to announce that we have 18 houses entered into the contest this year! “Some of these 18 households that have registered are in for a great surprise!” said Bill DeMaio, Superintendent of Newington Parks and Recreation. “We have word that Jolly Old St. Nick is going to be in town this Thursday, December 10th and we think we know where he is heading!” Santa will be escorted around town on his parks and recreation decorated sleigh and will visit some of the most magnificently decorated houses from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm before he heads back to the North Pole for the night.

Also, due to the anticipated inclement weather on Saturday, December 12th, Santa will be making his visits to the kindest kids in town a little bit early! This Friday, December 11th from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm Santa will be visiting as many kids as he can who wrote to him.

“Just imagine seeing Santa on his Parks and Recreation hay wagon, playing Christmas carols throughout the town and making visits to the kindest kids,” said Bill DeMaio, Superintendent of Newington Parks and Recreation.

Despite these troubling times, it is important to remember to spread kindness where you can, and that giving is more important than receiving. So the Department has come up with a new program to do just that, called “Kindness Counts with Kids!”

Instead of writing letters to Santa with special requests for presents, we are asking our Newington kids to write letters to Santa describing acts of kindness that they have done to help get them on Santa’s nice list!

“We are so thrilled with children of Newington’s participation in this new program,” said Joe Harvey, Recreation Supervisor. “We already have collected over 50 hand-written letters to Santa from the North Pole mailbox and we are anticipating getting a lot more before Friday!”

Letters can be dropped off in Santa’s mailbox, located outside the new Mortensen Community Center entrance on Garfield Street. In your letter, make sure to include your street address and Santa just may show up at your house this Friday! We, at the Newington Parks and Recreation Department, encourage you to participate in great events like this in hopes of making the holidays seem a little more normal.

For more information, please contact the Newington Parks and Recreation office at 860-665-8666 or visit our website at www.newingtonct.gov/parksandrec. Remember, with Newington Parks and Recreation we are “Building a Strong Community!”

This press release was produced by Newington Parks and Recreation. The views expressed here are the author's own.