FAIRFIELD – Fairfield turned into a winter wonderland Friday night when the switch was flipped to turn on all the festive lights around the square.

The Holiday Lighting Ceremony is an annual tradition of the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce the day after Thanksgiving, and it also marks the first day Santa meets with children in his house in Central Park. Santa will receive visitors every Friday and Saturday from 6-8:30 through Dec. 22.

The Fairfield High School choir started Friday’s ceremony with a series of Christmas carols under the moonlight, and then Dr. Marty Gleason had the honor of flipping the switch to turn on the lights at 6 p.m. Gleason was one of the two Fairfield Citizens of the Year for 2023 who was honored at the chamber’s annual awards banquet in April. The other recipient was Lori Schaefer-Weaton, who was unable to attend the lighting ceremony.

Gleason said it was a privilege to be chosen to jump start the Christmas season Friday night. Gleason is no stranger to Santa’s house, having worked alongside St. Nick last year and will do so again this year on Dec. 1 and 22. He said he also helped many years ago when his children were little.

Joining Gleason in Central Park were his wife, Julie, son Scott and daughter Emily Helling (with spouse Lucas), and grandchildren Grayson, Everly and Owen. Gleason said he and Julie are fortunate that their children and grandchildren live so close, with Emily living in town and Scott living in Burlington, that they get to see them all on a regular basis, and especially during the holidays.

“We’ve always tried to get together for Thanksgiving,” Gleason said. “For Christmas, we do a good job of trying to decorate. We put the tree up last night after the meal was over. We’re part of the Kodi Circle area, and we always tend to put white lights up all down the street.”

Julie said the family loves baking Christmas cookies, and the grandkids get the chance to decorate them.

Gleason said that seeing his grandchildren experience the joys of the Christmas season “is the most fun of all.”

Chamber Executive Director Mendy McAdams dressed in an elf costume for Friday’s ceremony as she scurried about, helping wherever she was needed. She noted that all volunteers on the first weekend of Santa’s visits were members of Chamber Ambassadors, the Chamber board and Chamber employees. Businesses and organizations have signed up to volunteer at the other nights throughout December.

“Iowa State Bank has got a night, and Fairfield Dental Clinic has a night,” she said. “We’ve got every night covered, and then on Dec. 22 we’ll have SERVPRO. They’re all Chamber members, and they bring their staff.”

Those who visit Santa will receive a free ornament courtesy of Fairfield High School’s SkillsUSA Club, which is manufacturing 850 of them to give away this holiday season. While visiting Santa in his house, a volunteer will take a photo of the family and print a picture of the family that they can attach to their ornament. McAdams said the chamber is using a new camera this year that prints a photo with adhesive already on the back.

“It’s much easier for the elves [volunteers] and the kiddos so there’s no hot glue anymore,” McAdams said. “They can put some Elmer’s glue on it, add some glitter and make it fabulous. We’ve gotten some great feedback already [on the cameras], and we’ll probably pick up a few more because we’ll have 300 kids tonight.”

AERON LifeStyle Technology has donated more than 800 books to the chamber, so every family who visits Santa will get a book, too.

“I think AERON bought every book in town,” McAdams joked. “Every single child who comes to this house leaves with a book, a candy cane, cookies, hot cocoa and an ornament with their picture on it.”

McAdams said it’s not cheap to maintain all the decorations in Central Park and around the square, and that the chamber spends between $1,000 and $5,000 every year on upkeep alone.

“Last year, we did the big upgrade to LED lights thanks to the Greater Jefferson County Foundation for a big part of that,” she said. “They are so much brighter, and it’s almost like the glow is bigger. Every single lightbulb on the square is an LED bulb.”

McAdams said the chamber is going to have to invest in new decorations before long because they’ve repaired the old ones about as many times as they can.

“We will be looking at replacing some of them, because we can’t fix them anymore,” she said. “If we do have to retire an item, our intention is to put it up for auction. If anybody has some nostalgia about that piece, they can take it home, and we’ll use that money to fund the new stuff.”

McAdams said that Iowa winters are hard on decorations, and that their colors also fade in the sun. The chamber repainted both Santa’s house and his workshop the week before Thanksgiving. The chamber also replaced the couch inside Santa’s house.

“Julie Gleason was fabulous because she came in to decorate Santa’s house and did the tree,” McAdams said.

While waiting to see Santa, those in line can drink hot cocoa served from a window on the south side of Santa’s house. McAdams said the chamber got its own percolator to make hot cocoa this year.

McAdams said she was thrilled that the SkillsUSA club was willing to make all the ornaments this year, and in return the chamber is going to buy the club some new equipment next year so it will be able to make even more detailed ornaments.

“The students designed [the ornaments], they manufactured them, they put the base paint on, and assembled them,” McAdams said. “That’s our future workforce. Those are skills they can take to a local factory and say, ‘Hey, I did this.’”