Christmas in Carroll: Resident starts new holiday event with tree lighting, Santa
CARROLL -- As a longtime resident of Carroll, Tammy Drobina often has thought about how neat it would be if the village had a Christmas tree lighting of its own each December.
But it wasn't until just a few weeks ago when Drobina decided to make the idea a reality by bringing not just a Christmas tree lighting, but a daylong holiday celebration to her hometown of Carroll.
She's calling the event A Christmas Carroll.
Drobina, a village council member, said along with a tree lighting, the celebration also will include a craft show, a house lighting contest, a pancake breakfast, wagon rides and a dedication of a 142-year-old school bell that was donated to the village by Carroll resident Mildred Benson. All those events and more will take place Dec. 4 in downtown Carroll.
"I was working with Councilman Dave Cotner on (the school bell's display marker) -- he wanted to do a dedication ceremony for the bell -- and I was thinking about the tree-lighting ceremony and then thought: why not put the two together?" Drobina said.
With the help of organizations such as the Carroll Area Historical Society, the Revitalization and Improvement Committee of Carroll, the Bloom-Carroll Lions Club and the Carroll Old Timers, more activities were quickly added to the Dec. 4 celebration.
Drobina said many of the organizations involved in the planning of A Christmas Carroll offered to move the holiday activities they sponsor each year to Dec. 4 so everything could take place on the same day.
"The Old Timers do a house lighting contest every year, usually later in the year, but they agreed to move it to (Dec. 4)," Drobina said. "The craft show has always taken place on the first Saturday of December and so do the RICC wagon rides, so that didn't change."
Drobina said, in addition to all the holiday activities that will take place, the village also will hold a dedication for the 1868 school bell. The bell, which is on display inside a mini-bell tower at Bessie Benson Park, was once housed inside a schoolhouse that stood on High Street from 1868 to 1910.
"Mildred Benson decided to donate it to the village on the condition that it be put on display in Bessie Benson Park," Drobina said. "Everything was donated to put the display up, including the bricks, the concrete, the money to pay the bricklayer. ... It was a real community effort."
Drobina said she would like A Christmas Carroll to become an annual holiday event for the village. She hopes a lot of other residents who come out on Dec. 4 will agree.
"It is nice to have something for Carroll," Drobina said. "It really helps bring about a sense of community."
