by Sue Crawford Poster, Westfield Barcelona Chamber of Commerce
This was the weekend to be in Westfield, NY. It has been a long standing tradition that Westfield has had a Holiday Shopping extravaganza the weekend before Thanksgiving. This has evolved into a community event that involves many entities and organizations. The Holiday Market moved to the Y.W.C.A. this year providing an intimate atmosphere and there were free horse and carriage rides.
Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived via a grape picker on Friday night to a park crowded with families and the Victorian Choir led by Libby Sciarrino. Santa and Mrs. Claus then entertained for picture taking at the Y.W.C.A. while many attended the one man show of of “A Christmas Carol” at the Lake Shore Center for the Arts that also held a Westfield Wonders gift shop of Westfield oriented gifts during the weekend.
Saturday morning kicked off with a pancake breakfast by the 7th grade as a fund raiser for their trip to Washington D.C.
It was a busy weekend for merchants with a Hot Toddy crawl and a merchant punch card for visitors. A magic show at the Patterson Library and the traveling Carolers along with many people dressed in period costumes added to the ambience of the day. The Victorian Tea held by the Chautauqua Historical Society is always a well attended event. The museum is beautifully decorated for the season with Westfield’s very own Queen Bettie to greet guests, tables laden with fine china, silver, tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, along with the tea of choice served with a vast array of cookies made for a special treat.
Late afternoon brought the first ever Lighted Holiday Parade that began at Westfield Family Physicians parking lot and went down Main Street to Moore Park. Lights adorned trucks from the Electric Department, the Fire Department, grape pickers, a harvester from LaPorte’s, floats from area churches, LSCFTA, Westfield Woman’s Organization and the event planning committee provided a fun experience for all.