If you were downtown last weekend and saw all the folks who came to see Santa ride on the old Kenworth fire truck with Mayor Dave Enslow, you know Santa isn’t the only one who loves Sumner.

It was another cold, sunny day on Main Street with about 10,000 visitors on the streets from the railroad tracks to the high school.

And another 1,500 happy parade participants marching downtown wearing everything from red hats with white tassels to snowmen costumes to reindeer antlers and striped socks. We had the usual flatbed trucks, floats, bands and tractors and from a purely business stand point, I have to admit loving seeing not only Jerry Yoder of Sunset Chevrolet in his vintage Corvair, but George Shoemaker from Riverside in a bright red Mustang and a merry driver in a cherry red convertible from Jay Lee’s Honda.

And continuing on with Sumner business highlights, Jay Lee’s Honda and Riverside Ford are partnering together from Dec. 11 through Dec. 24 with a Christmas event where the first 150 folks can get free Christmas trees when they take a test drive and get a trade appraisal. Plus they’ll have free hot chocolate and Santa will be on hand on the weekends with a snow maker. How “cool” is that?

And don’t forget Sunset Chevrolet is having their annual toy and food drive through Dec. 16 for St. Francis House and the Sumner Food Bank.

Now I’m just guessing, but if you saw a car or truck you liked when you were there for these events and just happened to buy one, I’m thinking that would be OK, too. And you might have even seen the “Muddies” from Mud Bay (another Sumner business) handing out treats to folks on the street and inviting them back to their store for holiday fun.

This weekend, don’t forget about the Christmas Stroll on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Tannenbaum Tubas and Artists in Resonance will be performing Christmas music for your shopping entertainment and you won’t want to miss our first community dance performance to “You Need A Little Christmas” in center of town. The performances will be at 4, 4:30 and 5 p.m. and we have more than 40 locals who will be dancing their hearts out in the middle of the street.

But before I close, I have to backtrack a little to the bridge lighting again.

I got the neatest report last week that after the processional left for Windmill Gardens and the crowds had dwindled, Paul Brockwell from East Pierce Fire and Rescue saw a young man drop to his knee on the sidewalk in the middle of the brightly lit bridge. Initially when he saw onlookers gasp and cover their mouths, he was sure he was going to have make an impromptu aid call. However, upon closer inspection, he realized an astute young man had used our unique downtown holiday event to propose to his girlfriend. And Paul guessed from her expression she said yes.

A sure-fire way to get everyone in the holiday spirit.

So mark your calendars for this weekend’s final downtown holiday event. You won’t want to miss the fun evening performances. And if you know who the newly engaged couple is, I’d really like to hear from you so I can get some more fun details to share with folks. Because having an event that is “proposal worthy” is just one more reason folks come to spend some time in Sumner.