Canonsburg refuses to let the Grinch, or pandemic, steal Christmas
The Grinch will not be stealing the spirit of Canonsburg’s Old-Fashioned Christmas, but the COVID-19 pandemic nearly did.
While the 2020 version won’t be as large, Canonsburg will celebrate the holiday season as best it can, considering keeping everyone safe, said Lisa Scarmazzi, chairperson of Canonsburg Old-Fashioned Christmas.
The theme this year is “The Grinch Did Not Steal the Spirit of Christmas in Canonsburg.”
“We’re going to celebrate in a different way,” Scarmazzi said. “We’ll continue to have lights at the top of buildings. We’re going to spread a holiday celebration over two months.
“We’re going to support the vendors who supported us last year. We’re going to have a Christmas Pop-Up market. We had to cancel what we have been doing. It was a hard decision, and we went back and forth for months. Based on the information we have now, this is the best we can do this year.
“We were fearful with other (event) cancellations, we could get inundated with people and it would just be too much for us. There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scene as far as sanitizing and cleaning.”
Some of the main features of this year’s events include:
A fresh-cut Christmas tree sale. For each tree sold, a tree, light stand and ornaments are donated to a local family in need. As was the case last year, Bluestar USA and its holiday wish program are sponsoring the sale December 4-12 on weekdays (3 p.m.-8 p.m.) and weekends (10 a.m.-7 p.m.)
The downtown Canonsburg City Mission Thrift store will host three or four Christmas craft, gift and goodies vendors each week throughout November and December. Dates include November 12-14, 19-21 and 27-28; and December 3-5 and 10-12, with vendors available 2 p.m. through 7 p.m. and store hours from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Grinch himself will be stalking the streets of downtown Canonsburg throughout the holiday season.
Santa Claus will take his seat in the Mission’s Thrift store window. Children are encouraged to drop off their letters for Santa in the mailbox in front of the store.
The corporate-sponsored and created gingerbread house display will again be featured along Pike Street.
The Hallmark Christmas tree is in front of the Canonsburg Borough building and will be lit after Thanksgiving, according to Scarmazzi. Sarris Candies is also sponsoring a Christmas tree this year, and it will stand at the entrance of Canonsburg.
In the past year, VisitPa.com recognized Canonsburg as one of Pennsylvania’s top 10 Hallmark-esque towns to visit during the holidays, Scarmazzi said.