Christmas Festival Raises $4,932 For Toy Drive

Visitors traveled from Illinois along with local area communities such as Owensville, Gerald, Rolla, Cuba, St. James and many other towns to see Sullivan Chamber of Commerce Second Annuel Christmas Festival held on the Sullivan Fairgrounds Friday and Saturday evening.

“The Second Annual Christmas Festival Drive-Thru brought in over 1,200 vehicle, 292 wagon riders and raised $4,932 for the Sullivan Community Toy Drive,” said Shawna Speaks, Chamber Director. “What a great year and we look forward to next year.”

Speaks stated that with any event of the magnitude there are growing pains and shortages of volunteers but they were able to pull everything together for the event.

“We are seeing this event grow and want to see it continue to grow for years to come,” said Speaks. “We had some great support this year from businesses, organizations and individuals but we really want to see our volunteers increase with an event of this size. It was exciting to not only see our local citizens enjoying the festival but also seeing others come in from surrounding towns and even Watterloo, Illinois.”

More than 50 local businesses contributed donations to sponsor the event and some 20 festival displays were presented by businesses, organizations and churches.

“There are no words to describe how the drive-thru Christmas Festival brings out the Christmas Spirit in everyone and the joy that its brings to our community,” said Speaks. “The countless smiles, excitement to see the lights, Santa, everyone having fun, is what Christmas is all about. We cannot thank the community enough for coming our each year and supporting this event.”