For the 15th time, the good members of the Community Arts Center Volunteer Corps will be presenting a special Christmastime event for the area’s children when they present the Skip Hunsinger Children’s Christmas Spectacular on Saturday morning, December 4, from 10 a.m. to noon in the area in front of the Community Arts Center on West Fourth Street in downtown Williamsport.

Because of the continuing specter of COVID, as with last year, the event has been altered and adapted to meet the changes brought by the pandemic. The Volunteer Corps will be distributing goody bags to every child at a drive-through in front of the Community Arts Center. The front of the Center will be decorated with all manner of holiday excess while performers line the sidewalk. There is supposed to be some musical entertainment as well as the presence of that “jolly old elf” himself, Santa Claus.

The Children’s Christmas Spectacular began in 2007 when my uncle, Harold “Skip” Hunsinger and Frank “Whitey” Missigman, both then members of the Volunteer Corps of the Community Arts Center, 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.

“I am honored to help the Community Arts Center carry on what my dad started 15 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!!”

To learn more, visit https://www.caclive.com/events/christmasspectacular-drive-through.