Christmas Extravaganza comes to Plains

Saturday was the first Plains Christmas Extravaganza. It might have been small, but organizers are hoping it will grow in time.

"We don't really have anything for Christmas in Plains and this is sort of a test year. Maybe it'll be bigger next year," said Steve Spurr, who helped his wife, Whitney Tanner-Spurr, organize the Plains Christmas Extravaganza. Festivities started at the United Methodist Church, where children had the chance to decorate Christmas ornaments. Six girls and two boys from ages 3-6 showed up for the one-hour free decoration making project. Donna Maughlin and Tanner-Spurr baked 75 salt dough ornaments – Christmas trees, stars, candy canes, angels, and reindeer – for the kids to decorate. Using a water-based acrylic paint, glitter, colored markers and "googly eyes," which Tanner-Spurr said was a big hit, the kids each made two or three ornaments for their trees.

For the fourth consecutive year, Santa Claus, aka Steve Spurr, rode through downtown Plains to Ripples Ice Cream Parlor, where he handed out candy canes, complements of Tom and Jacqi Peterson, owners of Ripples. In past years, Santa has been transported to Ripples on a trailored snowmobile and on a horse-drawn wagon, but this was the first time he hitched a ride on the Plains-Paradise Rural District 1939 fire engine. It was part of what Spurr called a "Christmas Caravan" because they didn't have time to get a parade permit. District also had one of their new fire engines in the caravan, along with a Plains Police escort, a hayride trailer of Christmas carolers, and Frosty the Snowman, aka Judy Stephens. All went to Ripples where Frosty sat on Santa's lap, then went outside to wave at vehicles passing by. Officer Ethan Harvey took a moment to get a selfie with Santa and to tell him he wanted a new patrol car for Christmas, according to Santa, who saw about 40 kids and three adults during his three-hour stay at the ice cream parlor.

Mangy Moose Mercantile also joined the merriment by giving out free homemade chili and cornbread to people in the front of the store. "It's to show appreciation to our customers," said Wendy Martin, a Mangy Moose employee, who gave out between 40-50 cups of hot chili for just over two hours. Her 14-year-old daughter, Justine, who also gave away hand-drawn Christmas bookmarks that she designed, helped hand out the chili and cornbread. Shauna O'Brien, who owns the store with her husband, Kayle, said they plan to participate in the event next year, too.

Tanner-Spurr said the extravaganza was smaller than they had hoped, but she said it was well received. She said that Plains is far enough away from other Christmas parades and they wanted to create their own experiences for residents. "The goal is to have more community groups participate in the parade and more businesses in the overall day's events as we progress," she said. "More people, more businesses, and more organizations participating would equal more fun."