I moved to my hometown of Corona, California when I was two years old. The population size at the time was 100,032. By the time I graduated high school in 2012, the population had risen 58 percent to 157,726 people.
Growing up, my family didn’t often attend the city’s community events—they were often on the opposite side of town from us and crowded. In order to experience a small-town feel, we mostly attended tree lightings and Christmas celebrations put on by our church—and, since it was a megachurch, finding a small-town vibe there was a little comical, but the church somehow achieved it.
Council Bluffs is by no means a small town, but I’ve found it has a special way of holding on to its small-town roots with community celebrations like Winterfest. Upon finding out about the event, I was excited—I’m really into the holidays and it warms my heart to think about the community coming together to ring in the holiday season together.
In a world where it feels like people know less and less of their neighbors and spend most of their time in public glued to their phones, community events like this one provide an opportunity to remember that we’re all a part of something larger than just ourselves. The holiday season can become hectic for many with gift-buying, traveling, and too little time for prep. Events like this provide a moment to pause and remember what we loved about the season as kids.
I, for example, am completely enchanted with the idea that this event includes reindeer. Real-life reindeer will be in attendance? How magical. 5-year-old me wouldn’t even be able to handle her joy at the prospect of reindeer at a Christmas event, and I’m sure there will be many children in attendance who will feel the same way—what a special gift this event provides for them.
While I don’t have any children, I can imagine this is the exact type of event I’d want to take them to and be sure they experience. It’s one of community and holiday anticipation. There’s little more exciting to children than the Christmas season, and while we may begin to lose that feeling as adults, events like Winterfest give us the opportunity to make sure that feeling lasts as long as it can for the kids in our lives.
In addition to the reindeer, I’m looking forward to all of the traditional and new activities coming to Winterfest this year. Having the 1969 Frosty the Snowman playing on an outdoor screen sounds like something out of a too-cute-to-be-real Christmas special on Hallmark Channel, and I know children will be thrilled to have Santa on the scene to hear their Christmas wishes.
The evening will also include a food truck court, a makers village, an art activity, carolers, festive photo ops, face painting, balloons and, perhaps best of all, free hot chocolate!
Winterfest begins at 5:30 p.m. at Bayliss Park on Thursday, November 15. Find more details on our calendar.
