It has been a rough year for many annual events in the area because of mean old Mr. COVID-19, but one event is going to carry on despite the challenges posed by the virus at this time, and that is the 14th Annual Skip Hunsinger Children’s Christmas Spectacular to be held on Saturday, December 5 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Community Arts Center in downtown Williamsport. The event is put on by the Volunteer Corps of Ushers and the staff of the Community Arts Center.

Organizers of the event have had to make a lot of adjustments and modifications to the event in order to make it a safe event from the possible ravages of COVID-19.

This year it will be conducted in an innovative and clever way as a drive-through event by vehicle-only experience.

At 10 a.m. on December 5, cars can start lining up on West Fourth Street in front of the Community Arts Center building to get a goodie bag for their kid(s) and enjoy a few socially distanced Christmas festivities, including a visit from the big, jolly man himself, Santa Claus!

The Volunteer Corps will be joined by musical guests, Repasz Brass, Repasz Winds, and Autumn Breeze Sax Quartet, who will be playing some of your favorite holiday classics.

“I am honored to help the Community Arts Center carry on what my Dad started 14 years ago,” Bryan Hunsinger, eldest son of Skip Hunsinger, told Webb Weekly. “He was a kid at heart, and enjoyed seeing the sparkle in the eyes of the kids as they left the event. Being able to continue this tradition during the pandemic is especially important as the kids need a little fun and excitement, and I believe that we will be able to pull that off!!”

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.

To learn more visit https://www.caclive.com/events/christmas-spectacular-drive-through/.