Mother Nature provided the perfect backdrop for the start of the Holiday Season in the Becker area last Saturday, serving up a lovely winter day with reasonable temperatures and widely scattered sunshine as area residents flocked to the many events that were being held around the town.

 

Many chose to begin their day with a stop at the Cookie Walk at the Becker United Methodist Church on Hancock St.  Event organizers said that the 2014 event was the 21st annual cookie sale at the church, which features endless tables of cookies and other treats created by the ladies of the congregation for the church’s annual fund-raiser.

 

As always, cookie shoppers arrived well in advance of the 9 a.m. opening time, waiting up on the main level after receiving their sale tickets for the doors to be open, plastic gloves and Tupperware® containers at the ready to sample the wonders that waited down below.  On offer this year were intricate hand-made Santa cookies, green wreath cookies, Russian tea cakes, home-made orange fudge and a host of other delicacies.

 

Once the cookie-buying was done, many of the shoppers headed down the street to the Becker Community Center, where the Becker Lion’s Club was serving up pancakes, eggs and sausage at the annual “Breakfast with Santa” event.  The event was more popular than ever, according to club member Bruno Gad, with more than 400 breakfasts served to parents and kids in attendance. Among the club members in the serving line this year were Becker Mayor Jerome “Lefty” Kleis and Becker Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen Malone along with veteran kitchen men Bill Johnson and Dale Seavert, among others.

 

Once breakfast was done, the kids made a bee-line for the line to share their Christmas wishes with Santa and Mrs. Claus, who make sure to plan a stop in Becker each year at this time as they prepare for their busiest night of the year on Christmas Eve.  Not that they didn’t have helpers, as elves in Becker Girl Scout uniforms bussed tables and sold wreaths and green Holiday decorations during the event as well.

 

While all that was going on, the BCC also hosted the Becker PTSA’s annual “Holiday Shop,” in which kids were able to find gift items for friends and family that were priced within their budgets.  The event also kept the volunteers working it in constant motion, as business was very good from the 9 a.m. opening on.

 

And in the BCC lobby, event attendees were entertained by music from the Great American Songbook and some classic Christmas songs performed by jazz pianist Andrew Walesch, an appearance sponsored by the Becker Public Library through a grant from the Clean Water land and Legacy Amendment.  He is the grandson of long-time Becker resident Verna Walesch, who was on hand to watch over her grandson with obvious family pride.

 

While not strictly a Holiday event, next door at Becker High School a “Royal Princess Tea Party” was going on, held in conjunction with the run of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Cinderella” in the new BHS Performing Arts Center last weekend.  The fund-raiser drew a flock of princesses in miniature ball gowns and tiaras to celebrate with members of the show cast, including Cinderella herself (Megan Graftaas), the Queen (Laura Niday) and many other members of the royal court who sang, danced and waited on tables during the event.

 

A little further down the road was the annual Christmas Tree Ornament Festival at the Sherburne History Center, which featured cookies and hot chocolate and a chance to create some hand-made ornaments for the family Christmas tree.  The festival encountered something of a setback when the choral group that was scheduled to appear cancelled just days before the event, with no time to find a replacement at such short notice.  Santa Claus, however, can always be counted on, and he did not disappoint last Saturday.  He spent time with the kids at their ornament-making workshop and listened to their Christmas lists and other concerns during his visit.