More than double the hundreds of attendees of last year enjoyed opening night of the second annual Downtown Arcadia Christmas Market Saturday, Dec. 6. Even more are expected this Saturday night, Dec. 13, when even more activities are planned.
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Lines were steady all evening for free photos with Santa Claus in front of a classic fire engine and for free rides in a carriage pulled by two beautiful white horses around the block and past the newly-decorated holiday tree at the new Arcadia Transit Plaza, courtesy of sponsor MW Investment Group. And more than two dozen classic cars of every type participated in the first-ever special Carcadia Christmas edition of the monthly Carcadia @Route 66, including four model A cars from the local Santa Anita A’s club as well as Cobras, Mustangs, Corvettes, hot rods and many others. Carcadia Christmas is sponsored by Santa Anita Park, which also had a vendor booth and gave away many tickets to the track’s upcoming horse racing season that starts Dec. 26, as well as hooded sweatshirts to many lucky winners. Among the 50 vendor booths are great gifts for the holidays and lots of delicious food and beverages, including hot spiced cider, giant baked potatoes and potatoes on a stick, and tapas from La Luna Negra, tri-tip and sausage sandwiches from Matt Denny’s Ale House Restaurant (they will offer Sloppy Joes on Dec. 13), and a full menu from Stacked Sandwich.
All of these activities and much more will be available again this Saturday, when the popular Lance & Gary band from last year also return to the Christmas Market this year, this time with a giant video screen backdrop featuring fun holiday movie clips. A inflated bouncey-house jumper will also be set up for kids to enjoy along with blowing snow throughout the venue and plenty of delicious food and beverages. The event, sponsored primarily by Downtown Arcadia and Foothill Gold Line, as well as Forest Lawn and others, is staged from 5-9 p.m. on First Avenue, which is closed for the activities between Huntington Drive and Wheeler Avenue.
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— By Scott Hettrick
