Holiday Festival ready to roll through Johnston War Memorial Park

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Chants like “Ho, ho, ho!” and “All aboard!” will echo through Johnston War Memorial Park Sunday during one of the town’s most time-honored treasures, the annual Holiday Festival.

So, if you’re looking for the epitome of family fun, plan on visiting between 2 and 4 p.m. Sunday when children will have a chance to win a bike and take a train ride throughout the pristine park.

In keeping with a longstanding tradition, the Johnston Recreation Department and Johnston Community Center Association (JCCA) will present the annual Holiday Festival, which will again be highlighted by a special visit from Santa Claus.

“We have some great, great news for all the children in town,” said Glenn Carroll, the long-serving volunteer JCCA president. “I just received a telephone call from the North Pole and Santa Claus has included the Johnston Holiday Festival in his pre-Christmas schedule.”

Carroll also announced that “Santa Claus will be here Sunday and people can have their picture taken with him as well as enjoying some music, refreshments and our annual bike raffle.”

Carroll said the event is free, and Mayor Joseph Polisena, the JCCA and the Parks and Recreation Department extend an open invitation to all members of the community.

Likewise, Carroll sent along a request for festival-goers to “please help people in need by bringing a nonperishable canned good – or two – to the Holiday Festival Sunday.”

There will also be free hot chocolate and popcorn, and Carroll reiterated, “we will be giving out certificates for children to get a bike.”

Meanwhile, Vin Jackvony – the Parks and Recreation Department’s program coordinator – said: “If you’ve never taken a train ride through the park, plan on doing so Sunday. I know first hand how much my daughter enjoyed the train ride years ago, and it’s always lots of fun for the entire family.”

Free train tides will be provided by Johnston-based Okee’s Old Fashioned Amusement, which will have its famed train inside the park.

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