It’s time again for the Skip Hunsinger Children’s Christmas Spectacular, which will be held on Sunday, December 15 at 2 p.m. at the Community Arts Center in downtown Williamsport. Tickets for this free event will be given out on a first come first served basis, from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday morning, November 30 in the lobby at the Community Arts Center. They will be given out until the supply of tickets is exhausted. Each child attending the Christmas Spectacular must be accompanied by a responsible adult and the children and the adults will all have to have tickets.

This event is a free show designed for children between the ages of two and 11.

Santa will be there.

Entertainment will include a puppet show and a professional storyteller.

More than $4,500 in prizes and gift bags will be given. ONLY children ages 2 to 11 are eligible for these items.

This free show and prizes are a Christmas gift by the Community Art Center ushers and volunteers to the younger children of our community.

The Children’s Christmas Spectacular began in 2007 when my uncle, Harold “Skip” Hunsinger and Frank “Whitey” Missigman proposed that the CAC’s volunteers sponsor an annual event called the “Children’s Christmas Spectacular,” which was a revival of the Christmas parties sponsored by the local AFL-CIO held at the then Capitol Theater from the late 1930s until the early 1960s. These events usually included a movie, candy and a small toy for each child, something that was welcome to children, particularly during the Depression years. Skip and a dedicated committee made up of CAC volunteers, did all the leg work to make this event possible and as successful as it has been.