Greensboro town leaders are excited to see Whoville come to life for three weeks this December. From left: Bill Lesmerises, Public Works staff; Mayor Kevin Reichart, Pfc. Ashley Collison; Angel Perez, parks board; the Grinch (portrayed by Hunter Hatfield); Allan Anthony, supervisor of Public Works; Tammy Kelledes town clerk; and Greensboro Police Chief Billy Biddle.
Public Works employee Bill Lesmerises and Angel Perez measure as the walk the perimeter of the new Whoville Village Holiday Park location. The site should drain better than last year’s and will be bigger. It is behind the drive-in movie theater and across Route 313 from Greensboro Elementary School.
Greensboro town leaders are excited to see Whoville come to life for three weeks this December. From left: Bill Lesmerises, Public Works staff; Mayor Kevin Reichart, Pfc. Ashley Collison; Angel Perez, parks board; the Grinch (portrayed by Hunter Hatfield); Allan Anthony, supervisor of Public Works; Tammy Kelledes town clerk; and Greensboro Police Chief Billy Biddle.
PHOTO By TOM MCCALL
Public Works employee Bill Lesmerises and Angel Perez measure as the walk the perimeter of the new Whoville Village Holiday Park location. The site should drain better than last year’s and will be bigger. It is behind the drive-in movie theater and across Route 313 from Greensboro Elementary School.
GREENSBORO — Whoville Village Holiday Park part two is coming to Greensboro behind the fire department’s drive-in movie theater. This is a Christmas holiday extravaganza filled with hot cocoa, blinking lights and even the perennially mean Grinch. There will even be Christmas music piped in. A place to take photos with Santa will be ready.
Angel Perez, member of the Greensboro Parks Board, said “We are officially doing a ground breaking in a better location, so weather isn’t going to be an issue this year. Unfortunately, last year we had to close three out of four weekends. We had water around the park.”
“Last year we had a smaller space and we had 1,100 people the first night. So we can get more than that every night. We open Dec. 3 and we will open Fridays and Saturdays into the month of December. The last day is Dec. 18. We are open 5 to 9,” he said.
This year the holiday light display will be located across Route 313 from the Greensboro Elementary School and behind the Greensboro Fire Company Community Center.
Perez sketched out the vision in broad strokes. Last year they were on full COVID precaution. This year they are ready for whatever COVID-19 protocols the state demands as far as social distancing and hand sanitizing. They are recommending masks but not requiring them.
“This year we will have more attractions and more inflatables and more lights,” said Perez.
Tammy Kelledes, town clerk, was on site to kick off Whoville for the Christmas season.
“I am excited. We have planned to go bigger this year. We will top last year this year. New displays and a lot of lights. The kids should enjoy it. We are hoping to pull from all over Caroline County and hopefully Delaware. Last year we pulled in a lot from out of state — even from New Jersey. This year we have dry ground and even more for the kids and families to see. I am hoping for several thousand (visitors) over the course of the three weeks of the event,” Kelledes said.
Whoville Village Holiday Park is a tourist magnet and designed as a real holiday crowdpleaser.
“We have 100% participation — Parks Board and some nonprofits. The town is basically running it. It is our show,” Kelledes said.
They are planning for free admission to enter Whoville Village Holiday Park. That is because of the sponsors like Lowe’s.
“We are hoping this becomes an annual event. The time invested by all of the volunteers, it is going to benefit the town for years to come,” said Greensboro Mayor Kevin Reichart.
“We have a great group of employees and volunteers making this a great event for the town,” Reichart said.
Perez gave a sort of benediction to the ground breaking at the new Whoville. A happy selection of prominent townspeople stood beneath a Whoville arch, embodying the “Field of Dreams” mantra of build it and they will come.
“It is really good we have this new location, so we can avoid the weather issues we had last year. We have already started some good marketing and social media. People are really excited to have Whoville back,” Perez said.
Hunter Hatfield of Denton portrays the green menace known as the Grinch. He said his role “is to make kids smile.”
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