By JEFFREY POWELL
Hundreds of spectators gathered on Friday evening, Dec. 2, for the annual Freeport Christmas parade and tree lighting program. Visitors were greeted with cool but comfortable temperatures as the parade made its way through town ending just west of the Freeport City Hall. After the parade, children of all ages were able to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as they waited for the program to begin.
The program began at 6 p.m. as scheduled but there seemed to be a problem as Santa Claus was supposed to emcee the show and he was nowhere to be found. Freeport Mayor Russ Barley and a faithful elf then proceeded to look for a replacement emcee to take over for Santa. That replacement ended up being DeFuniak Herald Editor Bruce Collier who appeared to have no idea what was going to happen. Thankfully, this was all part of a scripted show and visitors settled in to see a well-written and produced program that included several song and dance groups as well as a late appearance by Santa who was located – through no small effort – by Walton County Sheriff’s office personnel.
The evening ended with spectators visiting this year’s festival of trees, held in the community center, and children giving their Christmas lists to Santa.