Santa Clarita marked the coming of the holiday season with its annual Light Up Main Street event in Old Town Newhall on Saturday.
Hundreds of residents, and guests from outside Santa Clarita gathered from one end of Main Street to the other, with the event culminating outside the Newhall Library with a tree-lighting ceremony.
Walking up and down Main Street, families visited local businesses and restaurants. Lines of people zigzagged for face painting, sitting for a picture with Santa Claus or the Grinch and waiting for food at one of the 10 food trucks beside the library, opposite the stage and the tree.
“I was commenting as we were walking up Main Street here, how awesome it is to see a lot more businesses having booths set up,” said Daniel Dod, a Santa Clarita resident with his wife, Heather, and their two children.
The Sustins were another family in attendance. This year’s Light Up Main Street was their first.
“It feels like we’re in a Hallmark movie,” said Eden Sustin. “One of the Christmas Hallmark movies. So that’s what really made us girls want to come, because (of) the fantasy of it.”
In the time before the tree lit up, the Canyon Theatre Guild sang multiple Christmas songs. Led by executive and artistic director TimBen Boydston, songs included “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
All of the City Council members gathered onstage and following a countdown, the tree’s lights ignited. With the audience cheering the lit-up tree, Mayor Laurene Weste wished everyone a safe and happy holiday season.
McLean said she was proud to see so many residents come together and start to celebrate Christmas ahead of Dec. 1.
“As you can tell by the crowd here,” she said, “no one seems to mind that it’s a week before Thanksgiving.”
