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Santa, Hundreds Of  ‘Elves,’

 Bring Magic To Muller Plaza

With the help of the crowd, Acting Mayor Russ Southard and Santa Claus light the Christmas tree in Muller Plaza on Thursday night.
With the help of the “elves” in the crowd, Acting Mayor Russ Southard and Santa Claus light the Christmas tree in Muller Plaza on Thursday night. (Ian Austin/allotsego.com)

ONEONTA – More than 200 people braved the cold and crowded into Muller Plaza to help Mayor Russ Southard and Santa Claus light the Oneonta Christmas tree earlier this evening.

“I tried to light the tree earlier, but I couldn’t get it to work,” said Southard.  “The maintenance guys told me I needed two things: Santa Claus and elves.”  He had Santa, and Santa quickly dubbed all the people gathered in the plaza as his elves, and with a countdown from ten, the tree magically sprung to light.

Main Street remained shut down for most of the evening so visitors could view the gingerbread houses, warm up with some hot chocolate from The Red Caboose, enjoy dancers from the Donna Decker School of Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” and take horse-drawn sleigh rides through the center of town.  The Oneonta History Center had their holiday train set running, and stores remained open late to invite shoppers in for gifts.

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