December is a time for festivity and fun, and the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center is sending off 2019 with a bang.
This is the first holiday season the senior center will celebrate in its new Bella Vida facility, which opened in May.
“We just really want to take advantage of our wonderful new venue, especially with the holidays, so we just wanted to go all-out and make this a wonderful time of year,” said Robin Clough, coordinator of volunteers, events and advocacy at the senior center. “We’re very proud of all the accomplishments we have made this year and are excited to serve seniors every day in this new facility that they deserve.”
On Dec. 23, the senior center is scheduled to host the Innovation Show Choir for a lunchtime performance. Children aged 8 to 18 will put on a special performance of holiday music favorites with accompanying choreography.
“This is such a unique and entertaining show because they do motions along with their singing, so we’re excited to add the choir to the list of the really good entertainment we have hosted here,” Clough said. “Music is something so uplifting and everyone has affinity for it and that brings back a lot of good memories for people. There’s nothing like music to help bring joy to people during this season.”
Members of the Innovation Show Choir have performed for the senior center in the past but this will be their first time performing in the new Bella Vida center. Clough said the choir was very well received at their last performance, especially because it allowed the younger and older generations to interact with each other.
“Everybody benefits when the generations come together,” she said. “The youth have so much to offer, the seniors have so much to offer. When they come together there is a natural synergy that I think doesn’t happen that often in our society.”
Then on Dec. 31, the senior center will host a lunchtime Roaring ’20s-themed New Year’s Eve party. Guests donning their fedoras, flapper headbands and best 1920s attire will be treated to a video about the 1920s, live music, a Charleston dance lesson, a noon ball drop and a sparkling cider toast, since the ’20s were the era of Prohibition, after all.
“The Roaring ’20s were a time of a lot of energy, freedom and experimentation of what brought them joy and we’re going to decorate everything to have that feeling of ‘The Great Gatsby’ era glitz and glam,” Clough said. “Some of our oldest guests are in their late 90s so we’ll get to hopefully get to hear some interesting stories from people who remember the era or hear stories from their parents. You can read about the ’20s in a history book, but there’s nothing like the little nuances of hearing the living history stories personally and these seniors are like national treasures.”
