Santa officiated at community tree lightings in Port Angeles and Sequim after festivities heralding in the holiday season Saturday.
In Port Angeles, activities downtown began at 3 p.m. with the third annual Snowball Drop in the sunken parking lot on Front Street between Laurel and Oak next door to Station 51.
Pingpong balls labeled with merchant prizes and discounts from all over Port Angeles fell from a rooftop for a scramble.
At 3:30 p.m., the Hometown Holiday Main Show began on Laurel and First streets with music and Santa’s arrival before the tree lighting at about 5 p.m.
Santa arrived in Sequim at about 2 p.m. after a half-hour of music at the community tree at Centennial Place at the corner of Washington Street and Sequim Avenue. He posed for photos while music entertained visitors until the tree lighting at about 5 p.m.
Tractors dressed up in holiday lights paraded down Washington Street during the Sequim Museum Tractor Cruze &Shine.
Both downtowns marked Black and Friday and Small Business Saturday, offering specials in stores to kick off the holiday shopping season.
More than 1,300 pingpong balls redeemable for prizes pour from a Port Angeles Fire Department aerial ladder on Saturday in downtown Port Angeles. The “Snowball Drop” was hosted by the Port Angeles Downtown Association and took place under rainy conditions in a parking lot in the 100 block of West Front Street. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
