Here comes Santa Claus

Ol’ Kris Kringle figures to be a busy, busy man this weekend with appearances booked all over Whitman County.

The old elf makes his debut on the Palouse by catching a ride on the back of the Colfax Fire Department’s ladder truck at the tail end of tonight’s Lighted Christmas Parade along Mill Street.

The parade ends with a bang, as Spokane’s Entertainment Fireworks blasts their display off the East Hill near the city’s Big Blue water reservoir immediately following the parade.

Businesses throughout Colfax will put on their brightest Christmas cheer for the Chamber of Commerce Light Up Colfax contest. Judges will survey the best decorations tonight, and the Chamber has offered up a variety of prizes for the most festive display.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus will lend children an ear from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Courtyard. Drader Photography will be on hand to capture the holiday scene.

Santa makes his first weekend stop for breakfast and pictures at the TeaPot Café in LaCrosse at 9:30 a.m. A drawing will be held for stockings filled with goodies, one for a boy and one for a girl.

Santa will then go to St. John where he will highlight the 17th annual Winterfest. Kids will have the chance to chat up the North Pole denizen at the Primeland Co-Op store beginning at 11 a.m.

Hay rides will also depart from Primeland from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

A craft fair will be in the St. John Fire Station from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and businesses throughout downtown will offer specials and giveaways.

The annual parade kicks off down Front Street at 5 p.m. and will be followed by a display of fireworks.

Showing his remarkable ability to bend time and space, Santa will show up at Pittman’s Town and Country in Rosalia at 11 a.m., where he, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph and friends will be on hand to play reindeer games and take pictures with local children.

Hot chocolate and apple cider will be available at the town’s Texaco station, and crafts will be on display in the community center. A live nativity scene will be featured downtown throughout the afternoon.

Holiday music with cowboy poetry will be featured at the Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m., followed by an open mic session.

Special guest Dick Warwick and friends will read poems. Friends will include Bill Siems of Spokane, Dave Fulfs, the Bruce Bothman Goodtime band, and members of the Palouse Country Cowboy Poets association.

Saint Nick arrives in Endicott for a Christmas celebration that begins at 5 p.m. with the lighting of Christmas decorations and trees. There will also be fireworks and entertainment at the Endicott Community Club lot across from Endicott Food Center.

From Endicott, Santa will move on to Pullman, where he will drop in on Pine Street Plaza at 6 p.m.

Celebrating his arrival will be carolers from local schools; performance by the Pullman Civic Theatre and Regional Theatre of the Palouse and a show of the artwork of local students. Hot chocolate and free cookies will be served. Events begin at 3 p.m.

The Old Post Office will host a bonfire with marshmallows and hot dogs before a new Christmas Cruise takes hold of Main and Paradise streets from 7 to 7:30 p.m.

Capping off the weekend’s festivities will be the St. John Community Club’s annual prime rib dinner and benefit auction. On the block are a dizzying selection of home quilts, gift baskets, tools and much, much more.

Proceeds this year will go to the Jon Bass family, as Bass, owner of St. John Auto Repair, continues to fight cancer. Tickets to the dinner and auction are $20 and are available at Empire Foods.