Holiday cheer aplenty in Elgin
Elgin offered a bonanza of holiday cheer Saturday, as people munched on roasted chestnuts, checked out Christmas-themed window displays and visited historic homes aglow in decorative lights.
Elgin resident Connie Francis took her granddaughter and her granddaughter’s friend, who were visiting from Rockford, to Rockin’ in a Window Wonderland, the annual event sponsored by the Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Participants were given maps to stop by 13 businesses and vote for their favorite window decorations, with lots of attractions along the way, such as a live nativity scene, holiday storytelling and horse-drawn carriage rides. A picture with Santa was the prize for completing all 13 stops.
Christina Francis, 11, said she loved taking pictures with Rockin’ Santa. Her friend Isa Pichardo, 12, said she was really impressed by the ice sculpting. “He was making a Santa face. It was really cool,” Isa said.
Brothers Anthony, 7, and Alex Robles, 10, said they especially liked the reindeer, Comet and Cupid from Luxemburg, Wis. The boys were accompanied by their parents, Dhalia and Salvador Robles, and their sister Juliana, 5, all of Elgin.
“I expected them to be bigger,” Alex said of the reindeer. “I thought they were horses,” Anthony chimed in.
Mimi Claros, of Elgin, said she stumbled upon it all by chance when she noticed people carrying what at first looked like ice cream cones.
“Then I started smelling this infusion, and I followed the trail,” she said of the cherry, blueberry, apple and peach cobblers served hot in a sugar cone by members of Elgin Boy Scouts Troop 111.
Less than a mile away, others were taking part in the Homes for the Holidays historic homes tour sponsored by the Northeast Neighborhood Association. The tour featured homes on Douglas Avenue and Spring and Seneca streets.
Event chairwoman Ivonne Hopkins said the homes date from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, and they range in style from Victorian to Italianate and neoclassical. “All the homes have gone through very intensive renovations,” she pointed out.
Kim Stratsky of Schaumburg and her sister-in-law Robin Stratsky of Streamwood said they really enjoyed examining the Christmas decorations inside the homes. “They’ve been beautiful,” Kim Stratsky said. “It really puts you in the mood to start decorating. And if you have decorated already, it makes you want to do more.”
Homeowner Debbie Berry said she started decorating the first of the 10 Christmas trees featured in her home three months ago. “I put it away in a room so I wouldn’t look at it. You can’t have Christmas in September,” she said.
Later in the evening, Santa arrived on a fire truck, sirens blazing, and a crowd of about 150 people gathered near city hall to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree.
Connie Francis said that after their day of fun, she and the girls would be stringing cranberries, building gingerbread houses and watching a Christmas movie.