Becky Arthur got to see Santa twice over the weekend, and she didn’t have to travel farther than downtown Tinley Park to do it.
The 5-year-old was “really excited to see him” during the Toyland Parade on Saturday, her mom, Jeannie, said. But on Sunday, when she was waiting to have her picture taken with Santa inside the Oak Park Avenue Metra station, excitement turned to apprehension.
“She was really looking forward to seeing him, but when she got up there I think she got a little scared,” Jeannie Arthur said.
The Toyland Parade, visits with Santa, horse-drawn carriage rides, music and heated tents filled with food and merchandise vendors were among the weekend’s holiday attractions, capped off on Sunday with the Parade of Lights.
The parade features floats decked out with holiday lights, following a route on Oak Park Avenue that takes it past the Metra station and adjacent Zabrocki Plaza. That’s where Arthur and her daughter found a viewing spot, joining hundreds of people who lined both sides of the street.
“It’s always a lot of fun,” she said of the parade.
In its 18th year, the parade featured entries from village businesses as well as Scout groups and organizations such as the Tinley Park Bulldogs youth sports club.
A lighted van that was the village board’s entry included village Clerk Pat Rea, sitting in the passenger seat and wearing a Santa suit. Not only was T-N-T Extreme Dance studio’s float decorated with lights, but dancers walking behind it were draped with multicolored lights.
Before finding a spot along the parade route, Tim and Sherri Taylor took their twin 5-year-old sons, Mike and Max, on a carriage ride.
“They just loved it,” Sherri Taylor said.
Mike agreed.
“The horses are nice,” he said.
Sally and Fred Thrall, of Orland Hills, said they have been coming to the parade for many years, bringing their granddaughters, Cindi, 8, and 6-year-old Alicia.
“When we first brought them they were in strollers, so it’s been a few years” that they have attended, Fred Thrall said. “They both really enjoy it. We were here for the (Toyland) parade too.”
Apart from the village’s large Christmas tree in the center of Zabrocki plaza, trees around the plaza and along North and South streets were decorated with lights.
“It’s really pretty,” Ed Fayette said as he and his son, Jackson, were making their way to the parade route.
“It’s a really nice thing for families,” he said of the weekend’s events. “It’s all free, so you can’t beat that.”
