Santa Claus is coming to Southwest Capital Bank
Santa Claus is coming to town, or rather, the island this week. On Thursday, Dec. 3, kids of all ages are invited to participate in the annual Christmas Tree Lighting celebration to be held at Southwest Capital Bank near the island center. Festivities will begin at 7 p.m. with signing, dancing, a visit from Santa and of course, lighting the Christmas tree.
This annual event was first brought to island families several years ago when Elsie Stearns began her banking career on the island.
“This island tradition began back in the early 80s when I worked at what is now Bank of America. Then when I went to South Trust we continued the tradition of the tree lighting at the fire station at the center. When I left South Trust however, the tradition vanished and now that I am here at Southwest Capital we are bringing it back, We had several people ask us to bring the tree lighting back and since is was problematic to hold it at the fire station, we will be having it here at the bank,” said Stearns. “We are looking forward to having the whole community involved. My kids all went to the tree lighting when they were little and this year my grandchildren will be here. It has become one of our family traditions, and we hope that others will make it part of theirs.”
The decorations adorning the nine-foot tree have been created by youngsters from Pine Island. The traditional style tree, which will grace the lobby of Southwest Capital throughout the holiday season was donated by Garth Moreau of Edward Jones and Carlyn Herring from Century 21. Students from Pine Island Elementary School also will sing Christmas carols while waiting for the arrival of Santa. In addition, dance performances will be presented by Pine Island Dance from Matlacha.
According to Stearns this is a combined effort of all of the banks on Pine Island which include Southwest Capital, Bank of America, Wachovia, SunTrust and TIB.
“When Elsie called to say she wanted to bring back the annual tree lighting we were delighted to come on board. We will be there with cookies and to lend a helping hand,” said Robin Parmerlee, TIB branch manager. “This will be a fun community event and a great way to kick off the holiday season. We are happy to be involved.”
In addition to the contribution of cookies from TIB, SunTrust Bank will supply juice and Bank of America and Wachovia will share the cost of candy canes and photos of the children with Santa which will be offered to parents free of charge.
As the evening progresses, Santa will arrive via fire engine escorted by members of the Matlacha-Pine Island Fire Department. This will be the first opportunity for children from Pine Island to tell Santa what they are hoping to find under their trees on Christmas morning. Santa is far from camera shy and parents will have an opportunity to capture this memory of their children visiting with jolly old Saint Nick.