The renovated Soldotna Creek Park had its winter opening to rave reviews as the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce presented the very first “Christmas in the Park” and tree lighting Saturday, December 6th. “The event was unbelievable! We had just shy of 1000 people attend, so many families turned out and A Charlie Brown’s Christmas was wonderful!” exclaimed Tami Murray, event coordinator for the Soldotna Chamber. The new Fred Myer Pavilion proved to be an excellent venue for the children’s play and promises great events for the future. “Fred Myer sponsored the pavilion putting up a lot of money to have it added to the park and in cooperation with the Triumvirate Theatre we brought back Santa and the traditional tree lighting in Soldotna at the tree’s new location in the Park for all to enjoy,” said Michelle Glaves, executive director of the Soldotna Chamber. “Thank You! Triumvirate Theater and the great kids cast, CBC Rental for the Heaters, AmeriGas- Propane for heaters, Safeway and Fred Meyer for cookies, McDonalds -Hot Cocoa, Kaladi Bros- Coffee, Santa Claus and Senator Peter Micciche. Plus big thanks to ConocoPhillips for engineering and putting the lights on the tree, Peak for transporting the tree to the park from Nikiski where it’s stored and HEA for the use of boom trucks to place the tree. All three companies had staff there to oversee the placement,” she added.

According to Glaves the Soldotna Chamber Christmas team gave out 100 goodie bags to first 100 children that showed up for hot chocolate, 60 dozen cookies, and 10 gallons of hot cocoa and 5 gallons of Kaladi Bros. coffee. After Santa successfully lit the tree, he offered hugs to all the good little boys and girls including Sen. Peter Micciche, whose daughter Luci played Snoopy and daughter Sophie played Lucy. “I will tell you it was confusing during rehearsal for me to keep their names straight,” commented Erin Micciche. “And of course thank you to the City of Soldotna Parks and Rec for the use of the park and for making sure we had everything we needed to coordinate the event and Happy Holidays to everyone. We have begun a great new holiday tradition in Soldotna,” added Glaves.