Parade, train garden to debut Saturday

.Songs, sweets, trains and lights will mark the beginning of the holiday season in Dundalk on Saturday as local groups for the first time have combined several annual celebrations for a full day of festivities and cheer. 
    The merriment begins at noon, with the train garden opening at the Dundalk-Patapsco Neck Historical Society Museum.
    This year’s display will occupy about a 400-square-foot area of the main exhibit floor in the museum, at 4 Center Place. The 10th annual holiday train garden will feature six trains, two trolley lines, villages, animated items, tunnels and some new displays, according to information from the historical society.
    “There’s a new amusement park. We got a new train that runs the whole way around the track now,” said Skip Jones, a docent at the museum.
    Michael Andy and Harry Young built the 32-square-foot display. Admission is free, as has been the case in years past, although donations will be accepted.
    The historical society had planned to decrease the size of the train garden this year, as a range of pieces and parts were not working properly. A donation from Yorkway developer John Vontran made it possible to replace broken elements and expand the display.
    Museum personnel collaborated with the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks and the Dundalk Renaissance Corp. to schedule events throughout the day.
    The 12th annual holiday parade will start at 4 p.m. at Dundalk Elementary School, travel through Dundalk Village Shopping Center and stop at the Heritage Park gazebo.
    More than 20 local groups will be represented in the parade, including the Wise Avenue and North Point-Edgemere volunteer fire stations, Antique Car Club, Charm City Chopper, the Chick-fil-A Santa Cow and Baltimore County Corvette Club.
    “The parade is getting a little bigger each year,” said Alan Holcomb, chairman of the Dundalk Christmas Parade and Santa in the Park.
    As in years past, Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive on a 40-foot flatbed truck and be led into the Heritage Park pavilion-turned-Winter Wonderland by all of their reindeer, according to Holcomb.
    The Dundalk-Eastfield Recreation Council-sponsored Santa in the Park will give children the chance to meet with Santa at 5:30 p.m. for about 30 minutes and receive a gift as well as receive drinks and snacks from Mrs. Claus’s kitchen.
    “It’s for the kids, but it’s a lot of fun,” Holcomb said.
    The Handel Children’s Choir of Baltimore will sing on the steps of the Heritage Park gazebo before Santa’s arrival at about 5 p.m. Songs will include traditional Christmas tunes as well as carols in Spanish, French and Hebrew, said Jennifer Funn, Main Street manager for the DRC.
    Dundalk Village Shopping Center, the gazebo and the historical society museum will be simultaneously brightened with decorative lights in a ceremony at 6 p.m. followed by the DRC-sponsored cookie tour.
    Main Street businesses will hand out free cookies, hot beverages and cookie recipes. The 13 participating  shops will be marked with a candy cane on the door. Dundalk High School students pledged to bake 78 dozen cookies for the tour, according to Funn. The students’ treats will be available at several locations.
    The DRC is also hosting a cookie recipe contest. The winning baker will win a cookie jar full of gifts and prizes.
    “It’s been a great experience … to really kick off the holiday season as a real community effort,” said Funn. “Many businesses have stepped up to support the community coming together.”