In December, as the days grow shorter, darker and colder and humans tend to retreat indoors, our communities like to organize public celebrations to draw residents back out into the streets (not to mention patronize local merchants). Scheduling outdoor holiday festivals is always risky, of course; if the weather doesn’t cooperate, turnout can be disappointing.
This year, the Saugerties Chamber of Commerce lucked out. Sunday, December 8 turned out to be an excellent day for the annual Holiday in the Village event. The piercing wind of the previous several days calmed down and temperatures warmed up into the balmy mid-40s. The chill in the atmosphere was all vibes: folks being festive in a laid-back sort of way, in classic Saugerties style.
Activities for the day kicked off with a Christmas Breakfast Buffet at the American Legion. Events were happening all over town, including a Reverse Santa Claus Brunch charity fundraiser at the Blackbarn Restaurant, the Festival of Trees exhibit at the Saugerties Library and the Hope Farm petting zoo at the Kiersted House’s Dutch Barn. Live music performances were held at the Library, the Local, the Jane Street Art Center and Rock da Casbah.
The center of the action was downtown, of course, with a section of Main Street closed off to traffic. Families promenaded down the center of the thoroughfare, checking out all the specials, freebies and entertainment that the various businesses had to offer. The Mayone family provided free horsedrawn wagon rides in the early afternoon. There were pop-up crafts markets at the 32 Partition Street parking lot, the J. J. Newberry building, the Boys and Girls Club and the Reformed Church of Saugerties.
In the Reis parking lot at the corner of Main and Market Street, a deejay played music while Sawyer Motors held its annual toy raffle, with three drawings throughout the afternoon. A towering holiday tree, donated by the Harkins family in memory of Peter Harkins, dominated the space, flanked by a lighted menorah and a Nativity scene. All around downtown, the Village’s vintage-style streetlamps were wreathed in white fairy lights, and storefronts were decked out in holiday splendor.
With Barbara Bravo and Bill Kimble serving as judges, the Chamber awarded four ribbons for the best window displays. The Saugerties Antique Center took First Place in the contest, its entryway flanked by topiary reindeer covered with lights and the two big picture windows transformed into Christmasy dioramas. An antique sleigh pulled by an impressively life-sized carved wooden horse were surrounded by a scattering of old wagons, with vintage Santa figures in various media looking on. A wrought-iron bedstead draped with a mirrored tapestry held a model fire engine that might have been the Christmas morning surprise of some 19th-century child’s dreams.
Second Place went to Bosco’s Mercantile, whose front window showcased an array of winter coziness: piles of colorful pillows, cushy bathrobes and patterned pajamas, lit by balls of red string lights. The swags of greenery framing the window continued to the right to envelop the stone archway and arbor that leads to the shop’s tucked-away patio, where awaited three white Yule trees and two deer statues with scarves wrapped around their necks.
Taking Third Place, Catskill Mountain Moonshine painted its windows with frisky faces of Santa saying “Sleigh” and Mrs. Claus saying “Whiskaaaayy!” Flanking the doorway hung outfits for the North Pole’s First Couple to relax after all the gift deliveries were done: red thermal underwear with big buttons for Santa himself and a red negligée with white furry trim for his wife. Fourth Place went to Smith Hardware for a clever evergreen tree created from 50 overlapping pairs of gardening gloves by Angela Gaffney-Smith, with the single decoration of a striking red origami cardinal.
Prizes were also handed out to the fire companies who put on the best show in the Firemen’s Parade of Lights that wended its way around the Village streets after dark, with sirens wailing, horns honking and music blaring. This Saugerties tradition is a veritable clan gathering of firefighters, and the competition for fanciest firetrucks and floats is fierce. The Saxton/Asbury fire company clinched First Place with a tribute to the holiday movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, including a station wagon with a Christmas tree tied to the roof and a troupe of cosplayers dressed as the hapless Griswold family. Second Place went to Ulster Hose and Third Place to the Centerville Fire District.
The trophies were presented at the parade’s endpoint in front of the entrance to Seamon Park. There, Village of Saugerties deputy mayor Jeannine Mayer read Clement C. Moore’s beloved poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” a/k/a “’Twas the Night before Christmas,” from a book held by the Grinch.
The official climax to the day’s events was the illumination of the elaborate holiday display spread across the park’s hillside by the Kiwanis Club of Saugerties. This was no mere tree-lighting; the sparkling panorama included multiple trees, shrubs, deer topiaries, wooden figures of Santa, snowmen, carolers, shops and a train, and strings of lights were interwoven with the wrought-iron fence at streetside as well. It’s worth a visit, next time you’re passing through Saugerties.
Join the family! 
