UTICA — A hometown Christmas celebration as only the Utica community could deliver returned to Main Street when the annual Utica Christmas Walk on Main took place Wednesday evening. The community has come out for this holiday get-together every year since 2006, often in less-than-desirable weather conditions. Despite the chilly temperature and brisk winds blowing in, Main Street was filled with friends community-wide sharing the Christmas spirit and enjoying a festive evening.
The annual entrance of Santa Claus kicked-off the Christmas Walk, as he was escorted in on a Utica fire truck led by Frosty the Snowman, the high school girls basketball team and members of the Utica High School concert band.
Santa quickly made his way to his hut where anxious youngsters were already lined up to give him their Christmas wishes.
The main event that made for a fun evening was a scavenger hunt where Christmas Walk participants would visit the many participating merchants and have their scavenger hunt form stamped so that they could collect prizes.
As Main Street was blocked to make it a safe event for all, high school concert band members were providing Christmas tunes on a downtown stage, and the high school choir was also serenading the visitors with Christmas carols.
