Last night’s Stocking Stuffer Sleighride at the Community Center was a heartwarming and joyful success! Well over 120 kids, parents, carolers, and other festive community members gathered to celebrate the Christmas season in high spirits. Three trailer ‘sleighs’ transported kids young and old to the Point and back, with stops along the way to recieve stocking stuffer goodies from givers stationed at brightly decorated pocket gardens. The BIC Center lobby greeted sleighriders on their return with hot cocoa, a table brimming with cookies and treats, and carols led by the Beaver Island Community Chorus as the Community Center Christmas Tree was lit. It was a delight to see everyone have such fun, especially the kids!
Many thanks to all who made this special event possible: Shirley Gatliff Cole and Catherine Sowa Meintsma for their vision and production of the event; Heidi Vigil for planning and coordinating the decoration of the pocket gardens, Christmas stockings and stocking stuffer hand-outs, and so much more of the event; John Roberts, Bob Evans and Joel Meintsma for the use of their trailers as sleighs (and driving); Pocket Garden-stationed Stocking Stuffers Skylar Marsh and John Brady Robert, Drew and Thayer McDonough, Nicole and Terry Shepardson, Craig and Rita Peirano, and Whiskey Point Brewing Company; and for the lavish spread of sweet treats at the BIC Center, Alice Belfy, Beverly Cantwell, Heather Carey, Becca Foli, Cari Ledbetter, Briana Maudrie, Lucy Niehaus, Mary Palmer, Sarah Siller, and Kathleen Wood. We couldn’t have done it without you. Here’s to a grand holiday season for all, and we’ll see you at the Community Center!