Johnston Kids Ring in the Holidays With Santa Claus

Santa can still pack ‘em in at Johnston.

Kris Kringle and his retinue of volunteers drew more than 700 people to the Johnston Public Library Saturday, where kids had a chance to decorate cookies, play games, and to give Santa their wish list for Christmas.

Willona Graham Goers, the library director, said the annual event, first held in 2004, is the one event that she looks forward to the most every year. Temperatures this year were quite a bit a higher than in years past, with Saturday’s high in the 60s, but Goers said no matter what the weather, the holidays are a big deal in Johnston.

“I love having all of these people in the library,” Goers said. “It’s great having this be a place where everyone in the community can come to.”

The holiday celebration is too big for the library to handle alone, and Goers said they wouldn’t be able to put on such a great event without help from so many different volunteer organizations in the area. Two members of the Teen Advisory Board in Johnston, Faith Goldsworthy, 14, and Bradi Wright, 13, were excited to have a chance to volunteer at the event this year.

Wright, in particular, was excited about the event, which she helped plan.

“This is better than I expected,” Wright said. “There’s so much to do, and there’s so many people here.”

Her friend Goldsworthy added that getting to work with her friend was part of what made the event so much fun in the first place.

“I really like being able to work with so many cool people,” Goldsworthy said.