NORTHFIELD — As men, women and children waited at picnic tables in front of Highland BBQ Saturday, the clip-clop of hooves grew louder. With each step, bells on the animals’ harnesses jingled a little more until they were in sight, pulling two wagons down Main Street.
Stopping on the corner of Main and School streets, the two teams — one of draft horses and one of ponies — stopped to accept new passengers, and to be pet by new friends.
The free horse drawn wagon rides are a signature feature of the annual A Special Day in Northfield holiday celebration, and the reason friends Chris Evans of Greenfield and Lorraine Carey, of Leverett, have kept coming back for nine years.
They weren’t the only ones. Sara Ryan and her 12-year-old son Mitchell of Greenfield have enjoyed the wagon rides for three years. Ryan’s husband Peter was able to come along for the first time.
“We’ll ride the wagon three or four times before we leave,” she said.
The Ryans said they started coming because they have family in Northfield, and grew to love the various children’s crafts, gingerbread cookie decorating at Mim’s Market and Dickinson Memorial Library’s Children’s Holiday Bazaar.
“The first year, we came when the kids were little and they wanted to do all the crafts,” Ryan said. “It’s something that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, and that you get to do with your family.”
Down the street, the library was filled with children buying gifts for their friends and family. The items, which were all donated, cost 50 cents each, according to Dickinson Memorial Library Programming Librarian Matt Atwood. Teenagers helped guide the younger shoppers.
“A lot of kids who are volunteering, they came here (to shop) when they were little,” explained Library Director Deb Kern.
The children’s bazaar predates the A Special Day in Northfield, going back over 30 years, Atwood said. But since the holiday celebration began 12 years ago, the library has held the bazaar on the same day, also offering winter-themed crafts in the afternoon.
“It’s a good reason for everyone to stay in town,” Kern said of A Special Day in Northfield.
“It brings people into town and they get to see all the things Northfield has to offer,” said Amanda Dunnell, a firefighter with the Northfield Fire Department who supervised the junior firefighters in making reindeer food with children.
Reindeer food has been a typical offering of the Fire Department for three years, along with candy canes and hot chocolate, Dunnell said.
“We thought it’d be a good, fun way to interact with the kids,” she said.
Junior firefighter Tyler Hunter, 15, of Northfield, said A Special Day in Northfield allows him to celebrate the holidays, while also possibly meeting some future junior firefighters.
The feeling was mutual for Nicholas Lawrence, 14, of Dummerston, Vt., a Boy Scout with Troop 9. The Boy Scouts operated a booth in front of Northfield Auto Body, selling hot chocolate, Krispee Kreme doughnuts, kindling and raffle tickets to win Yankee Candle gift baskets.
Lawrence said he hoped his A Special Day in Northfield involvement would “show people what the Boy Scouts are all about,” maybe while adding some new recruits.
Reach Shelby Ashline at: sashline@recorder.com
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