BEATTY – The town held its traditional Santa Night in the Community Center on Friday, Dec. 18. As usual, Santa and Mrs. Claus were on hand to visit with all the children and hand out gifts and there were cookies and other goodies for all.
The Community Center is always brightly decorated inside for the event, complete with Beatty’s historic old fire truck decked out for Christmas.
New this year was a “parade of lights.” As a first-time event, there were few entries, but quite a few people turned out to enjoy it. The Grinch led the parade, hauling a fully-lighted Christmas tree and a bag of gifts he had evidently stolen from Whoville. Santa brought up the rear, riding in a fire truck.
The Grinch must have gotten a dose of Christmas spirit, because he was handing out little stuffed toys to the children along the way.
The parade ended at the Community Center, providing Santa’s transportation to the annual event.
At the beginning of the Santa Night, winners of this year’s Beatty Chamber of Commerce Christmas Light Contest were announced.
In the business category, first place went to the VFW Post, with the Happy Burro taking second, and Mel’s Diner third.
The residential first place award went to Georgine Willis. Kay Pickett was second, and there was a tie for third place between Andy and Jeannie Ibarra and Wayne Burnell.