BRADENTON BEACH – The Bridge Street Merchants are finalizing their plans for the annual Christmas on Bridge Street holiday celebration taking place this year on Saturday, Dec. 15.
Bridge Street Merchants’ president Fred Bartizal said this year’s Christmas on Bridge Street event starts around 5 p.m. and takes place along the east end of Bridge Street, near the roundabout, the Bridge Tender Inn and the historic Bridge Street Pier.
“Santa Claus will go from store to store in a golf cart to see the kids and have pictures taken,” Bartizal said. “We’re going to have the bands on a flatbed in the parking spaces along Bridge Street in front of the Bridge Tender Inn. It’s going to sit there for a while, and then it’s going to go around the block a couple times with the band playing. Steve Arvey’s in charge of the live music, and we hope to have the Christmas carolers back too.”
Bartizal said participating merchants are planning holiday crafts activities for the kids and participating bars and restaurants will offer special drinks or drink specials.
Bartizal said the merchants’ annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony is being planned for Friday, Nov. 23, the day after Thanksgiving. The Christmas tree is expected to be placed in or near the large planter box in the roundabout at the east end of Bridge Street, near the pier.
City commissioners recently approved the roundabout planter box and two other spots as possible locations for the Christmas tree. The area by the nearby stormwater cistern and the city right of way in front of the post office also were approved.
Mayor John Chappie and Commissioner Ralph Cole said they liked the planter box location, but Chappie said he wants the existing tree left in place rather than being replanted elsewhere. He feels the tree is in good health and doing well in that location.
Last week, public works employees Mark Pearce and David Higgins installed an electrical outlet on the planter box to power the holiday decorations.
“We’ll figure out a way to get it up there,” Bartizal said of the Christmas tree.
On Nov. 7, Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) members agreed to spend $14,227 this year on holiday decorations to supplement the $20,000 in decorations purchased in previous years by the Bridge Street Merchants. The decorations will be purchased from Christmas Designers, the company that decorates University Boulevard and the University Town Center mall in Sarasota. The company will also install, remove, maintain and store the purchased decorations.
The purchase will not include decorative skylines previously planned to hang above Bridge Street. If all three skylines had been purchased, the expenditure would have been upwards of $32,000. The CRA hopes to revisit and potentially purchase the skylines next year.
More holiday events
- The Anna Maria Island Privateers will host their annual Christmas parade at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8. The parade will start at Bayfront Park in Anna Maria, pass through Holmes Beach and end at Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach.
- The Privateers also will be on hand for the Dec. 15 Christmas at the Drift In holiday fundraiser. Proceeds from that event will help provide Christmas gifts and holiday meals for this year’s adopted holiday families.
- Members of the recently-formed Love Bradenton Beach business collective are planning a lighted golf cart parade on Friday, Dec. 14, and a holiday boat parade on Saturday, Dec. 15. More details on the golf cart and boat parades are expected soon at www.LoveBradentonBeach.com.
