When Santa Claus comes to town this year, he’ll have a great view of the nearly-completed streetscape project from atop his traditional ride on a fire truck.

Grove City historically has a parade to herald the jolly old elf’s arrival, and that won’t change this year. The parade is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 1 on South Broad Street. It is the culmination of a day of festivities as Olde Town tries something so new with another town’s traditions – the holiday open house – that it warranted a new name.

The Olde Town Grove City Christmas Extravaganza, when the downtown merchants open their doors to extend hospitality to visitors, has been held on Sundays afternoons in the past, but Olde Town manager Lisa Pritchard and the Olde Town Marketing Committee have moved the event to Saturday, Dec. 1, from 3 to 7 p.m.

“We’re just not a Sunday retail kind of town,” Pritchard told Allied News. All but a couple of downtown businesses are closed Sundays.

Downtown businesses have been positive about the day change, and some who haven’t opened for previous open houses are planning to open this year. The change of day makes it easy for them to participate, beginning during normal business hours for many, and extending a couple of hours past their usual Saturday closing time.

More entertainment is being added to this year’s event. One favorite activity - particularly with children - is the horse-drawn wagon rides through downtown. That won’t change, but as the wagon rolls down Broad Street, riders can gaze around and plan what they want to do next. Among their choices are a children’s train ride, puppet shows, musical entertainment including a performance by Grove City High School Show Choir, and an Olde Town Christmas Shop.

An extravaganza indeed.

As visitors enjoy the day, they can also admire the new sidewalks with inlays of brick and the many fresh storefronts, and the newly installed benches for a welcome rest.

Pritchard said if everything falls into place, she hopes the stately light poles will be adorned with new snowflake ornaments. Olde Town has been working to raise money to buy the new decorations, and so far there is enough for about 27. She hopes to have enough for 32 snowflakes by Dec. 1, and 47 are needed altogether.

Pritchard credits cooperation among the town’s leadership - the college, the borough, the chamber, Grove City Revitalization Inc., Interstate Development Corporation and everyone at Olde Town - for the ease of planning events such as the Christmas Extravaganza.

“We have a dynamic, progressive leadership in this community. It is almost unprecedented,” Pritchard said. “We work together for the common good, and that is so uncommon.”

That cooperation is what will make the difference between a vibrant downtown and merely a pretty one.

The Extravaganza is the inaugural event for Grove City’s beautiful new downtown, and those who are planning it have made easier for both merchants and the community to be part of it by changing the day, and more inviting by giving families more to do. Whether the snowflakes are on the poles or falling from the sky – or both – it promises to be a magical time.

As the song says, there’s no place like home for the holidays. Especially when that home is Olde Town Grove City.