Santa visits children at Ralston Grange

RALSTON – Grange members hosted Santa for a drive-through gift-giving and wish-making event Saturday, Dec. 12.

Ralston Grange President Jerry Snyder said the event has been taking place since 1932.

“We were going to miss this year, with the restrictions in place, and we hadn’t missed a single year,” Snyder said. “You sit down and you brain storm, and we came up with the drive-through idea.”

Volunteers decorated the parking lot with a lighted drive-through, with stops at two stations. The first stop featured Santa greeting kids, asking them what they wanted for Christmas, and giving out gifts and treats including Wilma’s homemade popcorn balls and jumbo-sized candy canes. A second table featured more treats, craft bags, and bottles of water referred to as melted snowmen.

Snyder shared some poignant history of the event dating back to tough economic times in the area.

“Lester Snyder, his whole family with seven children, of the Benge Snyder family, all their Christmas gifts in 1934 and 1935 was what the Grange gave out,” Snyder said. “It was a sack of peanuts, an orange and a candy bar. And that was their Christmas presents. They didn’t have money to get any.”

“I remember coming to this event ever since I was little,” Grange member Ana Lobe. “The kids have already had so many disappointments this year, we had to make this happen.”

About 25 families were treated to the Christmas spirit during the hour-long event. (See more photos , page B1).