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11/30/2015 11:00 PMFor more than 40 years, Madison has celebrated the beginning of the holiday season with a Christmas parade, visits with Santa, and the tree lighting.
This year’s festivities are Sunday, Dec. 6 with the parade touching off at 2 p.m. from the former railroad station parking lot on Bradley Road. More than 20 groups are expected to march down Wall Street onto Boston Post Road and finish at Café Allegre. After the parade, children can visit with Santa on the porch of Café Allegre from 2:15 to 4 p.m.
The Madison Chamber of Commerce coordinates the event and several local businesses sponsor the day’s activities.
“This is one of the most popular events,” said Madison Chamber of Commerce Director Eileen Banisch. “It kicks off the season in Madison.
“These events bring together many generations. We see parents bringing their children, but recognize the parents as the children who were, not very long ago, on Santa’s lap themselves,” said Banisch, who has been involved in the event as the Chamber director for 22 years, but began attending the event with her own children in 1979.
In addition to visits with Santa, there are several other activities happening in Downtown Madison prior to the tree lighting. There will be hay rides, story-telling, gingerbread house displays, face-painting, cookie decorating, shopping, and more.
After the visits with Santa, the festivities move to the Green where there will be caroling and hot cocoa before the Christmas Tree, which is sponsored by Madison Beach & Recreation, is lit. The Madison ABC Concert will take place at the First Congregational Church on the Green after the tree lighting at 5:30 p.m.
“Everything is free thanks to our sponsors,” said Banisch. “The caroling is led at the Green for the tree lighting with participation by all in the audience.”
Sponsors for the event include MDJ Home Improvement, The Walz Team at Morgan Stanley, Connecticut Water, The Source Newspaper, Watrous Nursing Center, Bridgepoint Mortgage, Kearney Insurance, Child & Adult Orthodontics, and Guilford Savings Bank.
For more information or to register to be in the parade, contact the Madison Chamber of Commerce at 203-245-7394 or chamber@madisonct.com, or visit www.madisonct.com.