Festive Othello: 2023 A Christmas Miracle on Main Street biggest yet

NOTE: For more photos, scroll to the bottom of this story.

OTHELLO —Thousands of people came together at Othello City Hall on Saturday to celebrate the holiday season with the 2023 A Christmas Miracle on Main Street event, organized by the Othello Holiday Committee for the fifth year since its inception in 2019.

Committee Manager Tania Morelos said she felt really good about the event’s turnout.

“It was great. We had very many positive responses to the event. I think people were really happy. I think it had a lot to do with the theme, too,” she said. “I feel like every year has been pretty big, but this probably has been our biggest one yet.”

Morelos said feedback on the event both during the celebration and on social media has been positive.

“Throughout the day, everyone was saying, ‘Good job, everything's great, we're having a good time,’” Morelos said. “You could see the smiles on people's faces.”

Morelos said she is still figuring out how many people attended, but she said she is pretty sure it was over 1,000 people.

“New this year, I feel like we had more kids’ activities other than pictures with the Grinch,” she said. “We had Cow Path Bakery and Desert Rose host … a kid’s activity and the tent was full, and I was like ‘Great, we’ll need a bigger tent.’ So that was big.”

Bonnie Giles, attending with her three children, noticed the new features of the event, including ornament making and cookie decorating from Desert Rose and the Cow Path respectively.

“We go every year,” Giles said. “I just like the small-town feel of it. It’s not so big you have to walk miles to find everything; it’s just all right here … I did like the arts and crafts. That was lots of fun this year, decorating cookies and making the little stockings.”

Giles’s daughter, Samantha, also mentioned what she liked about the event.

“I liked the corn dogs,” she said.

The Disney theme was a hit, Morelos said. Seven classic Disney characters were hired for the event, and their feedback was generally that the children were loving the experience, Morelos said.

“It got a lot of people excited,” she said. “I had a parent tell me that this was just amazing for their family because they've never been to Disney (Land), so it gave them a little glimpse of it, which was really sweet.”

While the kids enjoyed the crafts, bouncy house, and Disney characters, informational booths and food vendors catered to adults walking through the area or watching the various performances on the stage on Main Street, including local school bands, choirs and entertainers. 

“Our food vendors all sold out. That’s one thing I've noticed, all our vendors have always had success and every single one of them sold out this year,” Morelos said. “We had a good variety of different types of foods.”

When evening set in, people lined Main Street all the way to 14th Avenue to watch the parade, which featured both Christmas- and Disney-themed floats. After the parade, the crowd came back to City Hall for the Christmas tree lighting, followed by a Christmas fireworks display.

“I do have to give kudos to literally all the parade participants. None of them did mediocre, everyone went all out, everyone tried their best,” Morelos said.

David and Jerica Freeman, who participated in the parade with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints float, said they had been enjoying the festivities.

“It's fun to see the community come together. It was fun to be in the parade and see everybody watching and nice to see people enjoy the Christmas spirit,” Jerica said. 

Overall, Morelos said, it would be difficult to top this year’s celebration, but she still plans on trying her best to do just that. She also said in the future the committee plans on moving away from cycling through a new theme each year. Morelos said next year’s theme will likely be “Festival of Lights,” now that the city has installed more electrical outlets at City Hall.

“I think now we have enough to support the vision that I have, which was the same vision from year one, so I'm gonna give it a shot this next year to just make it kind of like Leavenworth, you know, everything is lit up,” she said. “We probably won't get to their level, but that's kind of my vision.”

Morelos spoke about what A Christmas Miracle on Main Street provides for the Othello community.

“I think what it's done best compared to all the other events here is it gives you more of that hometown, close-knit feeling,” she said. “I think it has to do with the season and the meaning of Christmas, and it was just very family-oriented.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.

    Members of the community crowd around the newly-lit Christmas tree outside Othello City Hall during the 2023 A Christmas Miracle on Main Street celebration Saturday.
  

    The Simplot Express parade float coasts west on Main Street during Othello’s Christmas celebration Saturday while kids rush to pick up candy and the float blows fake snow out onto the street.
  

    Families and children were able to take their pictures with seven Disney characters outside Othello City Hall during the 2023 A Christmas Miracle on Main Street celebration. Disney was this year’s theme.
  

    A truck trailer wrapped in Christmas lights with holiday-themed inflatables goes down Main Street during the Christmas Miracle on Main Street parade Saturday evening.
  

    An Othello Future Farmers of America parade float participates in the Othello Christmas celebration.
  

    The arts and crafts tent of 2023’s A Christmas Miracle on Main Street event was packed Saturday afternoon, with a line forming outside for the children’s activities.