Union comes alive in Winter Wonderland

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UNION, NJ — The township came alive on Friday, Dec. 2, when Union’s Winter Wonderland was hosted at F. Edward Biertuempfel Memorial Park, along Winslow Avenue. Thousands came out for the celebration, which continued on Saturday, Dec. 3, culminating in a tree lighting, despite the unpleasant weather that day.

“Union’s Winter Wonderland is an annual event that usually takes place in front of Town Hall, but, because this year we started construction on a new library, we had to move to Biertuempfel Park,” said William Reyes Jr., assistant township administrator, in an interview with Union County LocalSource on Monday, Dec. 5. “I love the location because of its size. It enables us to do more and get more creative and offer more fun and exciting things for families, such as increasing the size of the Vendor Village, being able to offer more inflatables and games for children, being able to offer more food trucks and food vendors, and having a bigger stage, so we can bring larger performance groups and have live entertainment throughout the event.”

Among the numerous activities for all ages, particularly children, were an ice skating rink and curling, a children’s area with inflatables and a trackless train, a s’mores fire pit area, a Santa’s workshop with puppet shows, a gingerbread house with cookie demonstrations, a sled dog demonstration, a live Nativity scene and an ice-carving display.

None of this could have happened without numerous volunteers assisting in the efforts.

“Winter Wonderland is one of those events that pretty much every single department has a hand in it,” said Reyes. “It takes about 10 months to plan, and everyone, from the Police Department and Fire Department to Recreation, Public Works, the Public Information Office, Union TV and the Police Activities League got involved.”
Despite the cold, inclement weather, particularly on Saturday, Dec. 3, it proved one of the most popular events of the year for Union.

“The turnout on Friday was the largest turnout we ever had, and Saturday was also a large turnout, but I think the weather held people back a little bit,” Reyes said. “I haven’t spoken to the police department yet for the exact numbers, but Friday’s crowd was in the thousands and Saturday’s crowd was more than 2,000. And we’re just talking about the tree-lighting part. There were people throughout the day, too. Great turnout.”

Reyes stressed the importance of the sponsors, which helped make Winter Wonderland such a success. This included BCB Bank, ConnectOne Bank, Northfield Bank, Spencer Savings Bank, Union County Savings Bank, Union Funeral Home and Union Township PAL. He gave a special thank you to Lincoln Technical Institute for the use of their parking lot and the board of education for allowing the use of Hannah Caldwell Elementary School for off-site parking.

“Through our sponsors, we raised some money for the event, but we keep it affordable by making it free, because we want to offer it to everyone by not having an entrance fee or fees for the rides,” Reyes said. “The food and the pub were the only things that you could spend money on.”

At the event, Mayor Manuel Figueiredo thanked the organizers and participants for making Winter Wonderland happen. “Good evening, everyone, and thanks so much for coming out tonight,” said the mayor. “It’s a bit cold, but it’s great to see so many people show up for a great event. I’m in awe of the lights, decorations, and activities our amazing township team has planned for us.”

“The mayor and the township committee just love this event, because they get to meet so many people and to be a part of something that just turned out to be magical,” said Reyes. “Sen. (Joseph P.) Cryan, Assemblywoman Annette Quijano and Assemblyman Reginald Atkins all came out on Friday, along with the township committee and the mayor. Superintendent Scott Taylor and board members Nancy Minnici and John O’Shea were there as well.”

Reyes said he was already looking to the next big events the township would be offering this holiday season.

“Coming up is the Santa in Blue Toy Drive, where the police department gets together and gets toys for families in need in the holiday season,” said Reyes. “They’ve been collecting toys for a couple of weeks. And then, on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Union High School, they wrap all the gifts that they’ve collected from the last month. Once they are wrapped, they will give them away the week of Dec. 19 to different households in which they got the addresses from churches and nonprofit organizations.”

“Also on Dec. 10 and 11, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., there will be horse-drawn carriage rides and photos with Santa at the Union Center, 1000 Stuyvesant Ave.,” Reyes said.

Photos by David VanDeventer