Upper St. Clair VFD delivers Santa to appointed rounds
Perhaps Santa Claus’ sleigh was in the shop getting a pre-Christmas Eve tune-up, and/or his reindeer were resting after a round of games.
But the Upper St. Clair Volunteer Fire Department took care of business on Dec. 7, delivering St. Nick by fire truck to his appointed round at the township’s Community and Recreation Center.
The occasion was the Holidays at the CRC celebration, which in addition to Santa’s visit – Mrs. Claus must’ve been busy baking cookies – also featured a musical performance with Community Band South and students from Fort Couch Middle School.
The band, now in its 33rd season, is led by James Bennett, former director of bands and chairman of fine arts for Upper St. Clair School District and currently director of activities for the Upper St. Clair Theater. The group’s co-director is Max Gonano, retired head of the music department at California University of Pennsylvania.
Community Band South was created to provide the opportunity and place for former high school and college band members who enjoyed the experience to continue to play music. The band also aims to inform young school musicians that there are opportunities to perform in musical organizations later in life in thousands of community bands and orchestras throughout the United States.
For Holidays at the CRC, the repertoire included an educational component along with the seasonal music, as plenty of information was provided about what enthusiastic audience members were hearing.
Meanwhile, Santa was happy to hear what the youngsters in the crowd would like to have waiting when they wake up on Christmas morning. By then, his sleigh and reindeer should be ready to take him everywhere he needs to go.
That would be a tall order for anyone else, even the Upper St. Clair Volunteer Fire Department.