The Mantua winter festival will be back this year on Thursday, Nov. 30, at Chestnut Branch Park, where the township will usher in the holiday season.
The 5 p.m. event is free for residents from Mantua and beyond and will feature various holiday-themed attractions, including a visit from Santa. There will also be music and a photo booth that people can take pictures in.
“It’s a nice family holiday event,” said recreation chair Regina Dewitt. “We’ll have fabulous food trucks, music and more. The star of the show, Santa, will be there for the kids. It’s an exciting time. It’s one of the biggest events the township puts on all year.
“It started out small and has only grown more ever since.”
The event will close with fireworks and the trees of Chestnut Branch Park will be decorated and lighted.
“We have very fabulous lighting,” Dewitt enthused. “It’s very festive.”
Many of the park’s newest additions will be on display during the festival, including handicapped-accessible tables and state-of-the-art trash cans, both of which were added earlier this year.
Also open to the public during the event will be the park’s new nine-hole, disc golf course, Tornado Crossing, named after the September 2021 tornado that blew through the county. It opened on Oct. 14.
“We’ve done a lot of enhancing to the park,” Dewitt noted. ” … It’s nice living in a place where we have the opportunities that the park gives us.”
The township committee, Mayor Robert Zimmerman and other Mantua officials are also expected to attend the festival. Buses will be available for transportation from J. Mason Tomlin Elementary School to the park and will run throughout the evening.
“I would like it to snow,” Dewitt said. “But regardless, we’ll be ready.”
