Plum hosts Santa, 'Christmas at Plum Creek' at new municipal center

Two-year-old Olivia Sikina calls Santa “Ho-Ho,” but her father wasn’t sure how she was going to react to seeing him.

“We’ll see if she screams or cries. She seemed very excited at the house,” said Rick Sikina of Plum. “Last year, it didn’t go very well. I think she’s starting to realize what’s going on.”

The Sikinas were among families from Plum and beyond who came out for the sixth annual “Christmas at Plum Creek” on Thursday.

It was held for the first time at the borough’s new municipal center on Old Mine Road, and was the first community event to take place there.

Visitors rode Plum school buses to the event from parking areas at the high school, Amplify Church and St. John the Baptist Church. They were dropped off at the Al Franci Emergency Services Building, where there was a photo booth, crafts, and cookies and hot chocolate.

Santa held court in council chambers of the new municipal center, where activities, and food and drink were featured inside and out.

“A lot of communities do it for the merchants. We do it for the kids and the community,” said Mayor Harry Schlegel, who was handing out packages of Oreos with the advice that they go great with hot chocolate.

Schlegel said more than 1,000 people attended last year, and he was expecting more this year given the weather: no wind, no rain, no snow — “Just cold, the way it’s supposed to be.”

Alexis Petrosky came with her children, Elliana Zimmerman, 3, and Braxton Zimmerman, 6; and her sister, Vanessa Witt, from Tarentum. It was their first time at Christmas at Plum Creek.

“It looked like fun, so we thought we’d check it out,” Petrosky said.

This year was also a first-time for Lindsay Ondo, a two-year Plum resident. Her daughter, Rylin, 5, got started with a craft project making Fruit Loop candy canes by putting the cereal pieces on pieces of string.

“She’s excited to meet Santa, and she loves crafts,” Ondo said.

Daniel and Carly Kohler had been to the event before, but didn’t know it had been moved to the new borough building when they boarded a bus at St. John the Baptist. Daniel Kohler said his stomach was the main reason he goes.

“The food is always really good,” he said.

Plum Area Soccer was among community groups set up outside. They were providing free hot apple cider, along with information about spring signups.

“It’s our little give-back to the community,” said Fred Lucas, the group’s president since 1995. “It’s the least we can do.”

Lucas was impressed with the new borough building. Poster boards set up in council chambers told residents that an outdoor amphitheater and a combination splash pad and ice rink will be coming in 2023.

“It’s a beautiful complex they have here. They have everything,” Lucas said. “It’s night-and-day from the old facilities.”

Melissa Kooser got up close and personal with a couple of reindeer that were on display in the parking lot. The reindeer, a male and a female named Christina and Rudy— came from Sell’s Christmas Tree and Reindeer Farm in Wakeman, Ohio.

“I love them,” Kooser said. “They’re so pretty.”

Kooser and her husband, Adam, and son, Gage, 8, moved to Plum just last week. She saw the event promoted on the borough’s website.

“It looked like a nice event and something we could do together as a family,” she said.