By Eric A Thomas
Photos / Santa waits to greet children at a previous Christmas festival. Other photos from previous years.
Preparations are being finalized for the students at Franklin High School to be ready to present Franklin’s Annual Christmas Festival. The festivities will be December 6, 7 and 8.
The weekend starts with bidding on the Christmas trees. Bidding will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6 and end on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. There will be 20 to 25 decorated trees, with all of the decorations being donated from area businesses.
Bidding is done in-person or through Facebook on the “FranklinFourth Ofjuly” page. Also, people can drop off for the snowman building contest at this time. Additionally that evening, the senior class will start selling “walking tacos” at 4:30 p.m., and the gymnasium will be the site of a local classic throw down. At 6 p.m., the South County Vipers will take on the New Berlin Pretzels in a hoop matchup. Cheerleaders will be providing some fun activities throughout the game.
On Saturday morning there will be a 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament sponsored by the junior class; registration begins at 8:30 a.m. From 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., the New Leaf Coffee Christmas Coffee Shop will be open. Also during this time, there will be photos with the Grinch. The Christmas Bazaar will be held from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Then, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., there will be kids’ crafts, activities and the Santa shop. This is open to everyone ages pre-k through 5th grade.
Also on Saturday, Dec. 7, the freshman class will be serving a pulled pork lunch from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. At noon, the sophomore class will begin the quarter auction and paddle sales. There will be the annual lighted Christmas parade at 5:15 p.m., which is sponsored by the Village of Franklin. The royalty of Franklin will be hosting a Magical Christmas Dinner at 6 p.m., which will include some fun characters to join in song and dance.
Rounding out the weekend on Sunday, Dec. 8 will be Breakfast with Santa, sponsored by the senior class. This will run from 7 a.m.-1 p.m., and they will be serving pancakes and sausage. From 8 a.m.-noon, there will be pictures with Santa and crafts. There will be a Christmas Spelling Bee at 11 a.m., followed by “Elf Races” at 11 a.m. (kid and adult pinewood derby races). The festival will close with the Children’s Christmas Program on Sunday evening at 7.
During the whole weekend of the Franklin Christmas Festival, they will be collecting toys and teen items for local families in need. Money raised from the weekend will go to the various classes to fund class events such as prom, class activities and the senior trip.
This annual event started 14 years ago as a simple “Breakfast with Santa,” and it has evolved into the event it is today. “The idea expanded into separate fundraising events that would help each of the four academic classes raise money for yearly needs,” stated Aleece Ford, festival organizer. “I come in and work with each class to design events for the year and include budgeting, planning them out and organizing advertisement etc.” It is always fun for her to work with the classes to come up with new ideas for kids to enjoy.
Ford’s goal was to get the kids involved in the community. She also involved local churches and other groups from the community. “We have even had graduated students come back to help with the event,” concluded Ford. “Lately it has been really fun having students that participated in these events when they were younger doing the planning.”
