Busy weekend ahead for Santa

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Volunteer Sharon Bougher of Michigan City, ind., heats up a kettle of cider for visitors to a previous Pioneerland Christmas. The 2011 event is from 3 to 8 p.m. Dec. 3 and 4, at the LaPorte County Fairgrounds. | Photo provided

Updated: January 3, 2012 8:39AM

He’s back. By helicopter, sleigh, fire truck and on foot, Santa Claus already has visited many Northwest Indiana communities, and has another busy weekend ahead. Here are a few of Santa’s scheduled appearances at area events this weekend.

† Festivities begin at 5 p.m. Dec. 2 in Valparaiso outside the Memorial Opera House, 104 Indiana Ave., and the Porter County Museum with “The Holly and JJ Jolly Show,” a free program that heralds Santa’s return. He will be available for photos after the show.

Just a couple blocks west, at Lafayette Street and the lovely new Central Park Plaza, more of Valparaiso’s Holly Days activities will run from 5 to 7 p.m.

Take a free train ride while listening to choirs singing carols from the amphitheater stage. Visit the Live Nativity, and watch ice sculptors in action.

For a small donation, you can get a unique photo with a 4-H llama. A Holiday Village Market also is planned by the park, and many downtown shops along Lincolnway will stay open late.

† Santa will lead a parade through Washington Park in Michigan City, starting near the Senior Center, at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 3.

Afterward, join Santa in the Senior Center for photos and free hot chocolate and cookies. If you really want to warm things up, buy a $5 ticket to sample the entries in the chili cook-off, a heated competition between city departments and local not-for-profit groups, and vote for your favorite.

Magic happens at 4:30 when the switch is flipped and the park glows with millions of lights in displays stretching across 30 acres, from the zoo to the marina. The free Festival of Holiday Lights will remain lit into January.

Take a horse-drawn wagon ride through this winter wonderland until 6 p.m. Dec. 3. The rides are free, but monetary and nonperishable food donations are requested to help make the holiday brighter for families in need.

† Santa and Mrs. Claus will sit by a potbellied stove in the big barn and greet visitors from 3 to 8 p.m. Dec. 3 and 4 during the annual Pioneerland Christmas open house at the LaPorte County Fairgrounds. A team of draft horses, complete with jingling bells, will pull visitors on wagon rides around this 1800s-era village. Each building will be open and offer an old-time holiday experience, thanks to costumed volunteers who add to the spirit of this free event.

Craftsmen will make sleigh bells and reindeer shoes in the blacksmith shop, while quilters work at a beautifully intricate quilt in a log cabin. Relax in a rocking chair and nibble cookies in one cabin, sip cider warming in a huge kettle in the fireplace, and enjoy old-fashioned decorations in another. Or write a letter to Santa in the old post office.

Pioneerland is at 2581 W. Indiana 2, about two miles west of downtown LaPorte.