LANCASTER : Elks Beat the Grinch, Restore Reindeer and All
In Lancaster this holiday season, the Elks are rushing in where city-appointed reindeer have failed to tread.
Bowing to a budget Grinch, Lancaster city officials this year were forced to jettison the annual Santa’s Float Tour, which sent Kris Kringle riding through town in the evenings dispensing merriment and candy canes from a flatbed truck, complete with plywood reindeer. Officials said that the weeklong tradition’s $10,000 price tag proved too hefty even for St. Nicholas in these recessionary times.
But Monday, the Lancaster Elks Lodge 1625 said it would open its parking lot to a visit by Santa Claus this week, after a local radio show broadcast news of the float tour’s demise Monday morning. Volunteers have begun donating candy and offering to act as elves and helpers at the event Wednesday night.
“We’re going to let the kids have something,” said Dominic Rotell, chairman of the lodge’s board of trustees, “because they want to see Santa Claus.”
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