Santa Claus made an early appearance in Paradise to help ring in the holidays this year as a special guest at the 3rd Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration, which included songs, goodies and colorful decorations.

More than 80 people from Plains, Paradise, Thompson Falls, Dixon, Superior, and Missoula attended the hour-long free event, sponsored by the Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee, the nonprofit organization that manages and maintains the Paradise Center. The event followed a concert at the Paradise Center by the Gothard Sisters, a Celtic group from Seattle. The performance was sponsored by the Sanders County Arts Council and packed the multi purpose room with over 150 people.

"We do this as a thank you to the community," said Judy Stamm, president of the Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee and one of the Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration organizers. "It's a good way to kick off the Christmas season," she added.

Almost a dozen children and one adult took time to sit on the lap of St. Nick - aka Adam Aguilera of Plains - to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and to get a bag of treats. 

This year's festivities included for the first time a Christmas tree decorating contest. Ten Plains businesses - Mountain West Clothing, Dog Hill Bistro, McGowan's Grocery, Century 21 Real Estate, First Security Bank, Rocky Mountain Bank, Garden, Gift & Floral, Plains Drugs, Sanders County Arts Council, and Clark Fork Valley Hospital - entered the contest. The idea was to decorate the tree with the theme of their business. The audience voted for their favorite tree and when the votes were tallied, the Sanders County Arts Council won with 19 votes. Its tree was decorated by Lisa Eberhardt of Paradise and a dozen Plains High School art class students. Eberhardt also did most of the room's decorating. 

Second place went to Century 21 with 13 votes, followed by a tie of 11 votes each for the trees of Dog Hill Bistro and Rocky Mountain Bank.

"I had a wonderful time and I always look forward to it," said 95-year-old Betty Meyer, a Paradise resident, who has been to all three lighting ceremonies. Meyer said she was probably the oldest person at the event, but the youngster surfaced to get her picture taken with Santa. "I'm so grateful that we have people that give their time to save the old school," said Meyer, who was a student at Paradise Elementary School from 1930-1938.

New this year was the sale of a limited edition commemorative Paradise School Christmas decoration that went for $20. Stamm said they had only 100 made and plan to do a different one next year. In addition, Kathleen Hubka conducted a choral reading of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." On stage helping with the recital were Lyla Sears, Rochelle Lukehart, and Joy Nelson, who played the Grinch. Scripts were also handed out to the audience for them to read their parts aloud, including Paradise resident Steve Eberhardt, who played the role of Cindy Lou Who.

The Gothard Sisters stuck around after their performance to play "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bells" as the grand finale of the tree lighting ceremony. 

Ed Moreth

SISTERS SING – The Gothard Sisters (from left, Greta, Willow and Solana) perform a group-written story/song called "The Christmas Eve Disaster Story" for their final number at the Paradise Center, sponsored by the Sanders County Arts Council. The three Seattle performers did a variety of Celtic and Christmas music, including some clogging numbers, to over 150 people in the center's multi-purpose room Sunday evening just prior to the 3rd Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

"I thought everything went really well. We had amazing talent and versatility," said Stamm, who hopes more children will attend next year. About a dozen people took time to tour the main building of the Paradise Center between the two events.