By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Christmas came to Elsmere and was celebrated in a memorable way.
Up until this year, the city of Elsmere always held their Christmas celebration in the little pocket park across the street from the old city building on Garvey, next to the firehouse.
This year, the city lit up the new city building for the first time, and most of the activities were inside, instead of outside in the cold weather.
“We did still hold our carriage rides outside, but it was unique,” said Elsmere Mayor Marty Lenhof. “We cleared our back parking lot, and people got on and off the carriages from there.”
Lenhof said they blocked off Carlisle, and then the carriages went to Bedinger and to Maple and back to the city building.
Inside were stations where children could make crafts, fun things like ornaments and things they could create for their parents or grandparents. There were refreshments, hot chocolate and cookies, served outside in the police sally port, and plenty of decorations.
“One of the things we do every year is give presents out to children who have signed up on our website,” said Mayor Lenhof. “They have to fill out a form, but this year the form was a little more precise about the child’s interests.”
City Clerk Katie Hehman said they were able to buy gifts for the children that matched them a little more, and she said she overheard one mother say that her child loved her gift, and it was almost like whoever bought it for her knew her.
“We had 125 children signed up for the event,” Hehman said. “But we knew that more children would probably be there who had not signed up, so we did buy extra presents, and wrapped them so no one would go without a gift. There was no age limit; I think our oldest boy was 17 and our oldest girl was 16.”
Huge backdrops were available which portrayed a giant Polar Express type train, and a wintry barn landscape, and staff took pictures that could be transferred to email. There was also a Santa backdrop where people could take their own pictures.
And of course, Santa was on hand to visit and give out the presents.
The two hours went by quickly, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Hehman said it was all hands on deck from about 3-9 p.m., but the city staff, the council members, police and fire, and the administration were all excited and willing to be there to help kick off the Christmas season.
This has been a year of firsts for the city building as well as the city. In June the city started holding get togethers at the city building, and inviting the community to come and enjoy their city building.
“Some people said that the building was too big, but we had outgrown the old building, and this building allows us to have all our services under one roof,” said Lenhof. “We held an open house and invited the community, and we invited all the churches to come and talk to us. We have really had a lot more community engagement. Everything is well attended and exceeds our expectation as far as attendance.”
Hehman thinks there is a change in the atmosphere inside the city building, too.
“Most of us are new here,” she explained. “I came in January, many of the staff members are new. We have a new police chief, and new police secretary. We have built a warm camaraderie here, and it is fun to come to work now.”
Mayor Lenhof said the workers will not sit on their laurels.
Hehman agreed that they have plans to make next year’s celebration even better.
“Next year, in addition to the carriage rides, we want to have a train for train rides,” Lenhof said excitedly. “We will have more decorations, and more activities. We would like to have some heaters for outside so that people can be comfortable whether they are inside or outside.”
As for this year, everything seemed to go perfectly.
“We are committed to enhancing community engagement and outreach,” said Lenhof. “Our primary focus is on strengthening communication channels and making substantial improvements to our parks, Community Center, and recreation programs. Together, with the cooperation from staff and the elected officials, we are building a more connected community.”
The small city of Elsmere has really come into their own, and there is no stopping them now.
“We are like a big family,” said Hehman. “We are absolutely on our way!”