So eager were local holiday celebrants to attend the Kennett Square Holiday Light Parade on Friday that they set up unbroken lines of their lawn chairs along the sidewalk a full hour before starting time. Many even crowded to watch the goings-on beyond the formal parade route onto South Broad Street down to the staging area.  

By the time the dancers from Longwood Performing Arts took to the street and kicked off the evening festivities at 6:15 p.m., the throng of spectators had grown so large they were five-deep on State Street. Not since the Mushroom Festival has the borough seen crowds of this size.

For at least 10 years, Kennett Square has welcomed the arrival of Santa Claus and the start of the Christmas season with a parade or some other special event, but this year it was particularly popular.

The mood was festive uptown from one end of State Street to the other. Rain that had fallen early in the day yielded to moderated temperatures and partly cloudy skies for the evening. The local watering holes obliged spectators’ thirst by keeping their doors wide open.

By 5:45 p.m. the video and lights crew set to work on their trailer with sentimental and classic music from crooners like Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Andy Williams. They frequently interspersed the songs with “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano.

Family members including the very youngest infants bundled in blankets to the oldest grandparents and great-grandparents flooded the streets dancing, singing along and embracing old friends.

Even the ever-present street vendors who show up for all the public events appeared to have a banner night with sales of flashing light sticks and other holiday do-dads.

Right on time at the top of the hour, Mayor and Master of Ceremonies Matt Fetick stood atop the entertainment trailer and greeted the spectators. 

The parade arrived on schedule led by the Kennett High School Marching Band, followed close behind by an army of vehicles draped in Christmas lights. Some of the cars and trucks displayed a string or two, while others like Blittersdorf Towing outdid themselves with what appeared to be hundreds of thousands of lights.

Lumbering onto the scene about halfway through was the well-known Kennett Square glowing mushroom, reminding the spectators that there was more to come in the holiday season including a return of the Mushroom Drop on New Year’s Eve.

Toward the end of the parade, along came an army of fire trucks and a couple of horse-drawn carriages. They were followed at the conclusion by the long-awaited and traditional arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, aka Fran and Andrea Durynski. They were driven up the Broad Street hill (a revised route from past years) and into town in by Lou Mandich in his 1918 Buick convertible.

They were greeted by cheers and excitement from the children. They lit the town tree at the corner of Union Street and then proceeded to receive children and their expressed wants at Work2gether next to La Verona.

Many people appeared to in no hurry to leave the scene afterward, as they gathered around the newly lit Christmas tree to schmooze with friends well into the evening.

The Light Parade is not the end of the borough’s holiday celebrating. 

Craft sales will be at the Creamery on Birch Street the weekends of Dec. 3 and 10. Tinsel on the Town, a holiday shopping event planned by the merchants, will be held on the evening of Friday, Dec. 9.