PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Kristen and Sam Pollard organize their store, Mud Puddle Toys, in Marblehead. They are well stocked with a large variety of toys for the Christmas Walk.
By BILL BROTHERTON
MARBLEHEAD — Santa and Mrs. Claus will disembark from a lobster boat at State Street Landing around 9:30 Saturday morning.
Thirty minutes before their arrival the youngsters from A Dancer’s Dream and special guests will start two hours of entertainment at the landing for the families waiting to greet Santa and the missus.
“We joke that we’re Santa’s warmup act,” said Beth Wheeler, director of A Dancer’s Dream, the Marblehead-based studio that has been part of Christmas Walk fun for more than 20 years.
Wheeler, whose dancers range in age from 6 into their teens, has arranged quite a “fun, festive, fabulous” program.
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The cast of the high school production of “Sister Act” will perform, as will Contemporarily Out of Order with Wendy O’Byrne, Touche’ Taps with Shaina Schwartz, ITM Set Squad and Dance Team with James Runner III, and other Dancer’s Dream alumni who have continued dancing careers.
Beth Ferris, executive director of the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce, may be biased when she says that the “Marblehead Christmas Walk is the best.” But those who have attended this celebration will likely agree with her; this weekend-long fun fest has become an annual must-do event for thousands of families.
“This is the 46th year, started before the Nantucket Christmas Stroll, and it’s the best Christmas celebration in New England,” Ferris said. “I can’t imagine anything else being more magical or a more awesome community event. The retailers in town throw quite a party.”
The fun begins tonight with a series of holiday shopping preview parties in stores throughout town. Many merchants will welcome shoppers and offer snacks and beverages.
Tomorrow night at 7, a tree-lighting celebration, preceded by caroling and other entertainment by the high school band and theater company, will take place at National Grand Bank on Pleasant Street. Longtime town residents Mike and Pam Mentuck donated this year’s tree.
If the more traditional tree-lighting isn’t quite festive enough, you might want to wander down to Mud Puddle Toys at 1 Pleasant St. for its annual Lobster Trap Tree-lighting at 7:15, which has become its own holiday tradition.
Yes, it’s a tree made out of lobster traps and miscellaneous items — and participants go crazy for it.
“This is the 13th year we’ll be lighting up the Lobster Trap Tree,” said Kristen Pollard, co-owner of the toy store. “My husband Sam assembles it, and our tree lighting has become part of the fabric of this community and the Christmas Walk.”
Cheering on the lighting of stacked lobster traps isn’t the only thing the Mud Puddle Toys party has going for it, Pollard said.
Members of the town’s esteemed Glover’s Regiment will be on hand to sing sea shanties and probably sip rum out of antique mugs. The high school volleyball team will be selling Joe Frogger cookies, the large uniquely Marblehead molasses-y treat. And the Pollards will have munchies and wine in the store.
“It’s a silly tradition,” Pollard said. “But it means a lot to people and to us. Last year, several people told me this is how they know it’s the start of the holiday season.
“The entire Christmas Walk weekend is such a great event for kids,” she added.
On Saturday, after the Clauses’ meet-and-greet, the grand parade will wind up and down Washington, Atlantic and Pleasant streets starting at 11:45 a.m.
The Festival of Arts’ artisans marketplace will fill Abbot Hall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jeremiah Lee Mansion will host a gingerbread festival. Choral groups, jazz bands, a cappella outfits and sea shanty singers will wander through town throughout the day adding to the holiday spirit.
And new this year, town historian Bob Booth will lead a 30-minute candlelight walking tour and share stories about Marblehead’s past; it starts at 4:30 p.m. at the Old Town House.
Many of the same events will take place on Sunday.
“It’s great that Mr.and Mrs. Claus have taken time out from their busy schedule to be here with us on Saturday,” said Ferris, adding that with Christmas fast approaching they will be unable to join the fun on Sunday. The first 400 children to meet Santa will receive a goodie bag.
Ferris praised the retailers. “They finance it and organize it; it’s a gigantic commitment that begins early in the year. They are passionate about everything they do and want to be actively involved in the community. Community is what Marblehead’s all about.”
And the weather is supposed to be good, mid-40s with little chance of rain. That pleases most participants, especially Wheeler whose dancers have often had to perform in the snow, rain or sub-freezing temperatures.
“Blizzard events; I tell the kids they’ll never forget those … and they haven’t,” she said.
For a detailed schedule and additional information about the Marblehead Christmas Walk go to www.marbleheadchamber.org or the Shop Marblehead Facebook page. Parking is available at the high school, and a trolley will run continuously transporting revelers to and from and all around the downtown area.