OXFORD — Ho ho ho! Santa Claus is coming to town.

And he’ll have presents for children when he arrives in a lighted sleigh at three local stores Christmas Eve.

It’s a holiday tradition that began in 1989 and continued for 30 years until COVID-19 hit in 2020.

And it’s a tradition near and dear to Ed Knightly, who along with his father, Fred, and Don Ayotte were instrumental in starting the all-volunteer program.

“When it came to this year, the group stepped down and that was when I, who was one of the first members of the group, stepped up and said it was going to run this year with help or no help, and we are back for 2022,” Ed Knightly said.

So far, he’s a committee of one, he said.

The holiday gift-giving effort runs on donations left in containers at Steve’s General Store at 1573 Main St., Parkside Variety at 130 Skeetfield Road, and Polly’s Variety at 115 King St. Those are the three stops Santa will make Christmas Eve.

“If we want to keep it going we need donations,” Knightly said. Donations can also be sent to Santa Visits Oxford, care of Ed Knightly, 384 King St., Oxford, ME 04270.

The money pays for Santa’s transportation and stockings full of goodies for children of all ages from Oxford and surrounding towns. People can go to one of the three stores, pick up a name tag, put it on a present for a child and bring the present to the store before noon on Christmas Eve. The present will be on the sleigh for Santa to give, along with a stocking full of goodies.

Santa’s sleigh will be at Steve’s General Store at 5 p.m.; Parkside Variety at 6 p.m.; and Polly’s Variety at 7 p.m.

It’s a route that’s changed since the tradition began in the summer of 1989.

According to a history written by Fred Knightly, the first president of the organization, it all started when he saw the town of Poland’s sleigh outside his general store.

“When I saw it and heard the sounds coming out of it, I knew we had to have one in Oxford,” he said.

He visited Paul Hodsdon at his auto repair garage on state Route 26, because he’d heard he had a Santa suit.

“He agreed to be our Santa,” Knightly wrote, and his wife, Lucille, joined him in her red cloak and hat.

Knightly next visited Don Ayotte’s junkyard in Oxford where they found an old Ford truck frame, and from there things rolled along. John and Debbie Conrad cut and painted the reindeer and had a plan for tin soldiers for the sleigh. Roger Smedberg of Crystal Spring Farm donated Christmas trees.

Next was sound, which Radio City provided at cost and installed. Eventually, Bessey Motors in Paris offered a vehicle for the original 19 members of the group.

Knightly also credited Robinson Manufacturing for donating material for stockings, Phil and Frannie Perkins for sewing them and Mickey Liimatta for artwork and lettering.

Over time, other volunteers dressed as Smokey Bear, Sparky the fire dog, Frosty the snowman, the winter mouse, Big Bird, Kermit the Frog, and Raggedy Ann and Andy as part of the entourage.

According to Knightly, there have been some mishaps at times along the route, which grew to include stops at other Oxford businesses, private residences, Oxford Hills stores, town fire stations and area nursing homes and group homes.

“Some of the first trips were a little scary,” he wrote. “Santa would get carried away on the sound system and I would have to keep my hand on the volume knob at all times for emergency shutdown.

“One night in East Oxford, Santa took a nosedive over a snowbank and landed at a woman’s feet. This same night we lost the generator going through an apple orchard. It landed in the road still running,” he said.

And Knightly wrote about one special moment when they were returning with Santa and Mrs. Claus from a late-night sleigh ride.

“The one tale that beats them all is the night we were coming back from the Robinsons’ house on Bow Street in Otisfield,” he wrote. “It was very cold and late and we were going along with the lights and sound on. No houses in sight when we noticed two kids in their pj’s. They had run out of a long driveway in the snow when they heard Santa coming.”

And stories like that — the magic of Christmas seen in children’s eyes — will continue this year with the sleigh already out for a test run after two years in storage, the sound system operating and Santa waiting to climb aboard on Christmas Eve.

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