Ready, set, glow: Holiday season in full swing after Santa flips the Grand Illumination switch

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

As dusk fell on Ashland Friday, crowds gathered along East Main Street. Groups marching in the coming parade fidgeted and prepared. Nervous hands slid trombones and fingered the keys of woodwinds in the marching band, while young women in costumes practiced a choreographed dance where East Main splits into Siskiyou Boulevard. 

In front of the Peace Wall at Ashland Public Library, two young women  wearing capes of lights shuffled continually on stilts. Once one sits against a wall and stands into the silts, it isn’t possible to stop moving, they explained.

The pair answered “sure” in perfect unison when asked whether they could talk to Ashland.news. Both had braces in their mouths, learned to walk on stilts at summer camp two years ago and have been friends since sixth grade. Now in ninth grade, Isabella Baldassar said she wanted to be an engineer when she grew up. Next to her, Clara Purkerson said she had no idea. 

Both girls also perform with Ashland Aerial Arts and on stilts during other parades, such as the Fourth of July and Pride processions. When asked, both girls confirmed that, after an evening of continuous shuffling on stilts, they are sore. 

Standing over a bicycle next to a man in a reindeer onesie, Gary Shaff spoke both as an individual and chair of the Ashland Climate Collaborative, connected to Streets for Everyone. Shaff said he would be joined in the parade by around 25 to 30 others on bicycles who hoped to raise the profile of the Streets for Everyone ideal — moving away from the current “car-centric” transportation system to one where other modes of transportation are supported. 

Almost 70% of polled Ashland residents say they would use bicycles for transportation more, but don’t feel safe on the city’s streets, Shaff said. Ashland was also recently named the number five city in the nation for bicyclists and, he continued, if the public were willing and the city took it seriously in an upcoming transportation system survey, Ashland could be number-one in the nation. 

“That would be so cool!” he said. 

A small group wearing red vests emblazoned “Organizer” chatted near the library steps, intermittently breaking off in ones and twos to wrangle various groups forming along the parade line as stragglers ran in — costumed and ready. 

Pamala Joy said she volunteered to be an organizer when her husband was asked to do it in order to protect Santa. 

“I thought, ‘I want to help protect Santa. I don’t want anything bad to happen to him.’”

Outside protecting the star of the evening, Joy said organizers are tasked with ensuring each group is properly spaced from the other and everything is in order. This is particularly difficult with the reindeer, she said. 

“They’re all wearing their name tags, but they can’t read,” she said. 

Organizers must also be careful of rogue elves. 

“And I don’t mean ‘rogue’ like the river. They didn’t get enough pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, so in protest they’ll interrupt the parade.”

When asked what Joy would do if she encountered such a rogue elf, she said she would give them a hug. She then offered Ashland.news a hug. 

At the head of the rapidly organizing parade, Ashland police Officer Jason Billings chatted with Officer Ryan Kloek. Billings has been working Ashland’s Christmas parade event for years, while Kloek is only two weeks into his career with the Ashland Police Department. 

Keeping the event safe has been a process of trial and error for the department over the years with tweaks to various strategies, keeping mindful of local fringe groups inserting themselves into the festivities as a “bit of a headache” and keeping police cars and cones posted to prevent anyone driving into the parade route, Billings said. 

This parade is one of the happiest events of the year. Asked about his favorite part, the veteran officer said, without hesitation, it was protecting Santa. 

Found near the end of the parade line standing next to Mrs. Claus, Santa said he, in turn, appreciates Officer Billings for being continually “so patient,” every year. After riding in a sleigh into the Plaza for the final ceremony at the end of the parade, the couple walks back to the Ashland Chamber of Commerce building, Mrs. Claus said. 

During that walk back, many people want to take a picture, Santa said. This can become “quite a crush.” Officer Billings serves as Santa’s bodyguard during that transit, balancing large and small kids’ desire to get close to Santa with the immemorial yuletide celebrity’s safety. 

Notified it was time to climb into their sleigh, Mrs. Claus said, in parting, the pair’s favorite part of the parade is the reaction of the kids — big and small. 

As the parade moved down the street to a marching band rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” no spare inch of sidewalk was without pairs of shoes. 

Leaning on the sill of a shop window, Caroylyn Anderson said she has lived in Ashland for decades and has come to the parade for decades. 

She moved to the little town due to the reputation of its public schools, as she had young kids then, she said — nodding her head at a smiling 20-something woman standing beside her.

Caitlin O’Shea said she has only missed a couple years of attending this parade with her mother. Standing on the other side of her was Anderson’s partner, Lue Douthit. The family attended together but disagreed a little on preferences. 

Douthit and O’Shea preferred the sing-along at the end while Anderson expressed preference for Santa generally. 

As the parade moved down the street, crowds poured in after it, filling Main Street for a slow amble to the Plaza where they anticipated Santa’s appearance on the Brickroom balcony. Some moved trickling by twos and fours down side streets as the entirety of downtown Ashland took on an artificially illuminated crawling motion. 

As the anticipation for Santa’s appearance on the balcony began to build, small children popped up, one after another, on the shoulders of adults in an ever-huddling crowd. 

One attendee wondered aloud, “is (Santa) busy eating cookies right now?” 

Finally he came to a microphone on the balcony. 

“Merry Christmas, happy holidays, isn’t this great?”

After pausing for applause, the man of the season continued. 

“Mrs. Claus is looking pretty fair tonight isn’t she? … I think we’ll start singing. Oh, Mrs. Claus is correcting me, as Mrs. Claus does. Lights off, first,” he said. 

After a 10-to-1 countdown in unison from the hundreds gathered below the balcony, lights were turned off and the crowd, led by Santa, joined together in singing. 

Officer Billings said he often jokes, “next year” Ashland should do all its parades at once — Fourth of July, Pride, Christmas and all — and “just get it all out at once.” But, he conceded, “That would be a lot of energy.” 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected].